Thursday of the 3rd week of Lent
First reading – Jeremiah 7:23-28
In the words of Jeremiah, we can read how one can go against God. But they did not listen, they did not pay attention; they followed the dictates of their own evil hearts, refused to face me, and turned their backs on me. Not listening, not paying attention, following the dictates of their own evil hearts, refusing to face God, and turning the back on God. These are the actions by which we move away from the way God indicates us. Begins by not listening to the Word of God, not reading nor listening. Then the second step is not to pay attention to the Word of God. Listen but without attention. This becomes clear when we continue to act in the way our evil hearts dictate and not according to the Word of God. We follow our selfishness. When we follow our selfishness, we can never face God. We refuse to make changes, to repent, to do penitence. And finally, we turn our back on God. We turn towards our selfishness and our ego, turning our back on God. The Lent is the time to analyze our actions and to find out whether we are in any of these steps or whether elements of these steps are in our actions. Let’s reflect: Lent is the time to analyze our attitude towards the Word of God.