Thursday of the Fourth Week of Lent

Readings of the Day

Two important lessons stand out to me in today’s first reading. The first is idolatry; the second is God’s mercy.

As we progress through Lent, I can’t help but think of the molten calf as my Lenten sacrifice – this thing I abstain from to refocus my life on God. In the scripture, God makes a good point: after drawing his people out of Egypt and saving them, what repayment is it for them to go and worship some material thing?

And what about us? Are we giving God his due? Or are we idolizing the things of this world – money, status, material goods? Lent is a season to put aside earthly possessions and to refocus on who has saved us and look towards our heavenly reward.

While the reading continues with God saying that his wrath will blaze up, Moses stops him and reminds us of God’s mercy. While we will continue to make mistakes and fall down, God is there to help us up and to draw us back closer to him. We are God’s favored people. We are the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel.

At Catholic Charities, sometimes we get caught up in serving those in front of us and forget that there is a whole lifetime of a person in front of us. We must ask ourselves: are we seeking to act with mercy as God as shown us? Or are we “idolizing” the job and not seeing the mission behind the paperwork? As we approach these next two weeks before Holy Week, let us renew our Lenten promises, and re-center our eyes on God and his unending mercy that he has shown us since the very beginning of Creation.

Kimberly Phelan is the Parish Engagement Coordinator for Catholic Charities Fort Worth.

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