THE WORD BECAME FLESH

Friday of Tenth Week, 2022

1kgs 19:9a,11-16

Ps 27

Matt 5:27-32

Jealous Zeal

Dear friends in Christ, there are many and different ways people encounter God. There is no limitation to the ways God can choose to reveal himself to us. He does so in very ordinary to the most extraordinary of ways. He might choose to reveal himself through other persons, he might do so through voices of others or strange voices, and at other times through strange happenings in one’s life. He reveals himself in nature too. For those who value silence, God is there also in the still small voice.

Today’s first reading (1Kings 19:9a.11-16) continues the story of the Prophet Elijah. Following the contest on Mount Carmel, Elijah had ordered that the priests of Baal be killed to stop them from corrupting the people and that only increased the anger of Jezebel towards him, who was now more determined to kill Elijah himself. The defeat was too much for her to bear. For that, Elijah fled. He knew where to find help, where to seek the face of God. He made a pilgrimage to the same mountain where Moses had received the Laws and had been schooled to lead the people of Israel to the Promised Land. He went to Mount Horeb (Sinai). That was where God had made the covenant with Israel to be their God and for them to be His people. He must have seen his mission as a continuation of that of Moses. Since God revealed himself and his laws to Moses on Mount Horeb, that is also the best place to renew that covenant. In the time of the Exodus, God had revealed himself in the earthquake, the wind, and the fire(Ex. 19:16-19). Though the same signs appear in today’s passage, God was not in them. This time, God chose to reveal himself in the ‘sound of the gentle breeze.’

At this Elijah heard a voice asking him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” and he responded, “I am filled with jealous zeal for the Lord of hosts, because the sons of Israel have deserted you, broken down your altars and put your prophets to the sword. I am the only one left and they want to kill me.” Each one of us is called like the Prophet Elijah to have a jealous zeal for righteousness, for God’s will. The world is redefining itself from time to time to keep God out of the system. To make the individual or the ‘I’, the object of worship. When that happens, it becomes each one to himself and the common heritage suffers.

Jealous zeal for God, his zeal for love, for humanity, for collective survival over the struggle for personal gains. The more we all submit ourselves to God, the less we think about ourselves, and the better it is for everyone. When Jesus cleansed the Temple, it was for the same reason, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” How much of that zeal have you?

Let us pray: Lord, fill us with the zeal to do what is right so that the world will be a better place for us all to live. Amen. 

+Remain blessed