Discover the colour of wickedness says Fr Ebido - ITREALMS

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Friday, First Week of Lent B (February 26/2021) 

Your Daily Blessing: May the Lord grant you the grace to always bless with your mouth! Amen.

Read Ezek 18:21-28; Matt 5: 20-26; pray Ps 130 [or 129].

NARRATION: In one of my earlier reflections, I distinguished between religiosity and spirituality. The former is concerned with observing religious rituals aimed at fulfilling certain minimum requirements of law so as to be seen as ‘good,’ while the latter is about striving to be really good. 

The former is at home with being seen as devoted to God while at the same time at home with all forms of wickedness; but the latter grieves at his or her weaknesses that often lead one to unintentionally hurt other people.

It is against this background we should read Ezekiel 18 and the Gospel of today. The true color of wickedness is to know that what we are doing (or have done) is not good, and it is hurting other people, but persist in doing it anyway, again and again. 

Conversely, the color of goodness is when we realize that what we are doing (or have done) is not good and we repent of them and seek to remedy the hurt we have caused. This is the background for all forgiveness (from God and humans).

The Gospel in particular touched on the wickedness of what we say to (or about) one another. Interestingly many of us do not seem to be in touch with the wickedness of the things we say about others. 

A brother preacher this morning touched on this point saying, this calls for deep reflection because we are actually killing people’s zeal for anything good they are doing or intending to do. If this is possible among religious priests/sisters, how much more among the laity? Some have developed unforgiving spirit because their siblings called them names they cannot easily put aside. It literally killed the goodness in them.

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That is why Jesus says we are “liable to Gehena!” We must be careful what we say about others. Please pray Psalm 130 for yourself and them.

PRAYER: Dear Lord, I am guilty of speaking ill of others and listening to such as part of a culture of gossip in our families and communities. Please help me realize the hurt I cause. Heal those I have hurt, and heal me too of the pain of bad things said about me too! Amen.

🙏🏽©️Fr Augustine Ebido, O.P.