Reflection for Thursday of the Fourth Week of Lent
We can all be forgetful and impatient at times, especially of God’s goodness toward us. The dialogue between God and Moses in the reading from the Book of Exodus recounts the grievous incident of the golden calf. When Moses was delayed in returning from the mountain, the Israelites turned to Moses’ brother Aaron and had him make an idol for them. It was a physical idol, like the ones they had seen in Egypt. They felt that God didn’t respond to them in their distress, and they grew impatient and created their own god to worship.
When life is difficult, we tend to be quick to forget the good things God has done in our lives—we would rather things be different, or we become insistent on immediate change. We grow impatient, give into complaining, and sometimes turn aside from our relationship with the Lord and turn to other things. The people forgot their relationship with the Lord and turned aside from God’s way and made for themselves a molten calf. Whatever images or expectations we might construct, we have to remember that there is no substitute for an authentic relationship with the One True God.
Reflection: What is testing my patience? How have I taken my trials to prayer and entered into a fruitful dialogue with God?
Reflection by Fr. Paul Sheller, OSB
Posted in Daily Reflections, Lenten Resources