Salvation Is By Choice, Not By Force

 

God will not save us by force but by love.

Reflection on Today’s Readings, Thursday of 14th Week in Ordinary Time II, July 11th, 2024
Texts: Hosea 11:1-4.8-9; Psalm 80; Mark 1:15
Celebration: The Memorial of St. Benedict, Abbot.  

It is clear in today’s readings that salvation is by choice, not by force. Today’s first reading reveals the unconditional love of God for man. We read, “Thus says the  Lord: When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. The more I called them, the more they went from me”. God adds, “My heart recoils within me, my compassion grows warm and tender. I will not execute my fierce anger, I will not again destroy Ephraim; for I am God and not man, the Holy One in your midst, and I will not come to destroy.” 

God will not save us by force but by love. St. Augustine is reputed to say, “God who created man without his consent will not save him without his consent”. The first reading assures us that God loves us, no matter what. God wants us to respond to Him out of love as He treats us with love. He wills that we love Him unconditionally as He loves us unconditionally. The question is “Why is it difficult for us to love God unconditionally?  

Take no gold, nor silver, nor copper in your belts

We are unable to love God unconditionally because of our love for the world. Hence, in today’s gospel reading, Jesus instructs His disciples thus: “You received without paying, give without pay. Take no gold, nor silver, nor copper in your belts, no bag for your journey, nor two tunics, nor sandals, nor a staff; for the labourer deserves his food.” It is an injunction to be detached from worldly things and hope in God alone. 

St. Benedict becomes a light for us follow in the service of God. He despise the world and all its glory to live in the desert. “Benedict was born in Nursia, in Umbria, and studied in Rome; but he was unable to stomach the dissolute life of the city, and he became a solitary hermit at Subiaco” (Universalis). What St. Benedict teaches us by his life is detachment from worldly things; he teaches us to love God above all things. 

Prayer 

O God, who made the Abbot Saint Benedict an outstanding master in the school of divine service, grant, we pray, that, putting nothing before love of you, we may hasten with a loving heart in the way of your commands. Amen  

Fr. Andrew Olowomuke