Let Go And Live

 Reflection on Today's Readings, Monday of 16th Week in Ordinary Time, Year 1, July 19th, 2021
Texts: Ex.14:5-18; Ps. Ex. 15:1-6;  Mtt. 12:38-42
Today's first reading reminds us to learn how to let go. King Pharaoh went after the Hebrews to bring them back. That is how our life is sometimes. We will come to water of baptism rejecting sins and renouncing Satan and afterwards running after Satan and embracing sins. We will come to confessional feeling sorry for our sins and begging for pardon and afterwards pursuing the same sin with the same vigour if not with more vigour. We find it difficult to let go. What happened to king Pharaoh was not peculiar to him but common to us all; it is human problem. It is something we must watch out for. It is not as if steadfastness is a bad quality but it is to be directed at good things. It is a quality God gave us so that we can hold firm to Him, the source of all good.
We must learn to let go. Change is a rule of life. If we do not let go, change will not come. To experience change we must let go something. We let go so as to put on a new look. Letting go is a rule of change as change is a rule of life. Put differently, letting go is a rule of life as much as change is a rule of life.
Man sometimes refuse to let go for fear of what the new experience will cost him. Pharaoh feared that they would not have people doing their works. Some people refuse to let go cheat for fear that they may be poor. Some people refuse to let go lies because they fear their business may not progress and for some people because they may not get justice. Some people refuse to let go adultery or fornication because they fear they might not be able to cope. The list can be endless. King Pharaoh was not alone in this problem; it is human problem; we can see ourselves in him. Even the Hebrews refused to let go their slavery, for it is said, " _When Pharaoh drew near, the sons of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them; and they were in great fear. And the sons of Israel cried out to the Lord; and they said to Moses, 'Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us, in bringing us out of Egypt? Is not this what we said to you in Egypt, ‘Let us alone and let us serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.'”_
We fear to let go sins even when we know that letting go sin is good for us. We fear to let go vices even when we know that vice is killing. What a problem! What an enigma of life! We just have to learn how to let go for our good, no matter what. Let us trust in God and be close to Him, He will sustain us. He came to the rescue of His people and saved them from their fear. Whenever we are confronted with fear to let go our sins, our vices, let us hear God saying to us, _“Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today; for the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never, see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be still.”_ What an assurance! What a consoling and calming word! The Lord finally made way for His people where there was no way. That is the God we serve, let us put our trust in Him and call on Him whenever it seems there is no way for us. He did it in the past, He can still do it now; for He is the same God, He does not change nor cast shadow.
Fearing the cost of new experience is to resent growth, development, progress etc. Man often prefers his comfort zone and to enjoy one's comfort zone is to enjoy stagnation. When we refuse to let go, we refuse to grow, we refuse to progress, we refuse to develop. There are certain things that we must let go in our life for our lives to be better. We need to let go sins; we need to let go vices. Let us let go anger, let us let go hatred, let us let go malice, let us let go bitterness; they are not good for our souls, for they quench the grace of God and kill the soul.
The pharisees and scribes in today's gospel reading refused to accept the reality before them; they were looking for sign before they could believe Jesus. They saw God at work in Him; they saw in His message and deeds the action of God. They refused to believe what they saw; they refused the reality and started looking for sign. In this we see how foolish   we can be sometime as human beings. May God heal us of our foolishness. Amen. Whoever wants to grow and develop will not be afraid to accept the reality before him or her.

Lord Jesus, we thank You for Your grace that is abound in us, we beg You  to heal us of our fear to let go sins and vices and help us to always trust in Your grace to conquer. Amen.

Fr. Andrew Olowomuke