Good News Reflection
Monday of the 4th week of Advent
December 20, 2010
Available as a Good News Ministries Podcast:
http://gnm.org/DailyReflections/podcasts
Today's Readings:
Isaiah 7:10-14
Ps 24:1-6 (with 7c and 10b)
Luke 1:26-38
http://www.usccb.org/nab/122010.shtml
USCCB Podcast of the Readings:
http://ccc.usccb.org/cccradio/NABPodcasts/10_12_20.mp3
The Gift of an Open Heart
In what ways do you feel unloved? "Let the Lord enter!" we proclaim in today's responsorial psalm. Are there any doors inside your heart that are closed and locked?
Today's first reading shows us a man who kept his heart closed even when God offered him help during a crisis. King Ahaz could not have received a clearer message if God had sent him an email.
Ahaz had become Judah's king in 732 B.C. When his little kingdom came under attack from fearsome enemies, he devised a plan that totally ignored God. To rescue him and the nation, God spoke to Ahaz through the prophet Isaiah. He warned him that his strategy was going to fail and that it was unnecessary because the enemies would soon be defeated by an even stronger kingdom.
Ahaz chose not to trust him, so God offered to give him proof, any sign of his choosing. But Ahaz didn't want a sign, because if he got it, he'd have to give up his false belief that he was his own highest authority. Rather than letting God be King, he appeased the invaders by closing the Holy Temple and letting them use God's altar for divination, child sacrifice, sexual rites, and spirit channeling. His pride led him deeper and deeper into darkness, and he took with him the whole nation of Judah.
In what ways have we closed the door on God? How are we refusing to listen to God, because we're sure that we know a better way? Which family and friends and co-workers are we taking with us on the road that leads away from God?
Whenever we insist on doing things our way, ignoring God, we're repeating Ahaz's self-worship, which is idolatry. To open the locked doors in our hearts and let God be our King, we must first identify the ways and times in which we try to usurp him.
Heart-breaking loneliness, for example, is a sign that we've locked God out; it's caused by insisting that God's love isn't enough, because we want to get our happiness and love from the people who are not giving it to us.
Unrelenting anger and frustration are signs that we've closed out God, because we're trying to control a situation that's not going well. The lock that keeps this door closed is the false belief that God isn't going to make good come from the problems we're facing.
Angry impatience is a sign that we have shut the door on God's perfect timing.
Confusion is a sign that a closed door is muffling God's voice.
These enemies that block us from living in the fullness of love have, in fact, been defeated by an even stronger kingdom: the kingdom of Jesus Christ. Let him give you the victory!
Give to Jesus the key that opens the door to his love. Take any negative, dissatisfying feeling you have and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal the closed door that it indicates. Then, seeking God's help, work to overcome the idolatrous, closed-door attitude behind it. Watch for the bad feelings to be replaced by the loving reassurances of Jesus.
© 2010 by Terry A. Modica
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