Thursday of the Third Week of Lent
“If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts” (Ps 95:8). This responsorial refrain echoes throughout the readings in today’s liturgy. In the first reading, the prophet Jeremiah proclaims the Lord’s message in unvarnished words: “Listen to my voice; then I will be your God and you shall be my people. Walk in all the ways that I command you, so that you may prosper. But they obeyed not, nor did they pay heed.” And also, “This is the nation that does not listen to the voice of the LORD, its God, or take correction” (Jer 7:23-24; 28). The Lord reminds his chosen ones that he has untiringly sent them prophet after prophet to call them back to faithfulness, but they have stiffened their necks, blocked their ears, and behaved worse than their fathers. They have forgotten the wonders he did in Egypt in freeing them from slavery and the marvels he performed in their desert trek by giving them the miraculous manna each day and water from the rock.
Jesus faces the same hardness of heart in his encounter with the crowds in the gospel from St. Luke. He has just freed a man from a demon that had rendered him mute, yet the crowds disbelieve that this power could have come from God. They said, “By the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons, he drives out demons” (Lk 11:15). They fail to hear God’s voice so clearly spoken through Jesus’ actions. Earlier in the gospel Jesus said to the messengers of John the Baptist: “…the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the good news proclaimed to them. And blessed is the one who takes no offense at me” (Lk 7:22-23). And still, they disbelieve?
How carefully do we listen to the Lord’s voice in day-to-day events? Do we take the time each evening to review God’s actions in our lives and express gratitude for what He has accomplished? Let the psalmist’s prayer become our own: “O, that today we might hear his voice and harden not our hearts.”
Reflection by Br. Michael Marcotte, OSB
Posted in Articles for Lent, Daily Reflections