Recently, I attended a movie and in that film there was a scene where two men from two different competing organizations met in a bar secretly. Later, a newsreporter tells one of the men that she is aware of the meeting. That man seeks to find out who leaked the fact. He could not imagine, but went to report the reality to his best friend who was also his boss, the only person he told of the meeting. There he learns that his friend was the one who leaked it to press.

He was shocked as he listen to his friend explain his reasoning which to the man appeared to be a betrayal.

I bring this up in light of today’s first reading. For we see a similar dynamic. The priests in the ancient Jewish world of the mid 5th Century BC are suffering and made to look contemptible in the eyes of the world. They cry out to God only to learn that like the scenario from the movie, it is the Lord who makes them so contemptible. The reason is that His discipline is calling upon the people to grow in their faithfulness. It is he that is behind everything. They had turned from God and He is disciplining them to call them back.

In light of the struggle we as Church have been going and we can cry out to God, but is it possible that God himself may be behind some of this struggle. Is He calling us to greater faithfulness and calling to our attention our need to change our hearts and our lives? I clearly think that is a reality here in the United States and maybe Europe as well. The reason is that there is this great emphasis at least from my perspective here in the United States that our focus is to live good moral lives and this will gain us a place in Heaven. Yet, look at that picture and you will see no concept of a relationship with God and this may be the problem. Further, if you base your faith strictly on a moral code outside of a relationship, it is not a stretch to change the moral code to fit your circumstances. These issues are affecting us today in our church. However, when we return to deepen our relationship with Christ, you can see that our moral code is rooted in that relationship and is not divorced from it. Further, that relationship also defines the moral code, because it is based on the relationship and not a changeable morality. I believe this is what we are being called to in this country, a deepening in our relationship with Christ that leads us to a whole new level of our faith that is far deeper than as a standard for a moral code. When one makes as their morality their desire to please God, their behavior will go beyond just a moral code and go deep into personal relationships.

I would have to say yes. We have to realize that Jesus Himself makes it clear that our lives must reflect our relationship with Him and if it does not then we are not living our faith. Our faith is rooted first in our seeing God as father and being in relationship to Him. Therefore, our being is focused on doing the will of God and being whom God wants us to be. That cannot happen without being people of prayer and holiness. However, when it does happen, our focus is not just living the moral life but being in love with God and acting on that love. Consider it this way, a man is married to his wife, obviously, and defines completely his love for her by not being with another woman. He does nothing else for her, but he is not with another woman. How is that little but correct action going to lead the two to flourish in marriage. It is not. Instead, being faithful to her stems from love of her and love of God, but that faithfulness is just the beginning. He supports her, not only financially (or maybe vice versa) but also is there emotional support. They find not only love, but companionship, and mutual emotional support. Then the issue of fidelity becomes an act of love that is outside the realm of possibility for the man as opposed to just a rule that must be followed.

This is what God calls us to, a relationship with Him that leads to a life changing way of living. However, if we put the relationship with God last, then we just live rules and then we fall into that category, “Rules are made to be broken.”

Let us take today as a time to ask the lord into our lives, into our weaknesses, into our worries, and joys, into our marriages and vocations, into our work, our school and in every part of our lives. Let first seek to be in relationship with Our Father through Jesus Christ and the rest will follow.

God Bless You.

Fr. Robert J Carr

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