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40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday in the Third Week of Lent, 16 March 2023
Jeremiah 7:23-28   >>> + <<<   Luke 11:14-23

Lord, teach me to listen.
Let me not harden my heart
if today I hear your words,
O Lord.
Your people in Jeremiah's time
have indeed committed the most
grave sin of disregarding your
covenant:

Thus says the Lord: This is what I commanded my people: Listen to my voice; then I will be your God and you shall be my people. Walk in all the ways that command you, so that you may prosper. But they obeyed not, nor did they pay heed. They walked in the hardness of their evil hearts and turned their backs, not their faces, to me.

Jeremiah 7:23-24

But we are no different from them,
Lord!  We are like them, totally
disregarding your commands,
walking in the hardness of our evil
hearts and turned our backs, not
our faces, from you!  Worst than
the time of Jeremiah, we have imitated
the people at the time of Jesus,
accusing him too of casting out demons
by the power of Beelzebul
when media glorify satanic
cults, promoting same sex relationships,
abortion, and contraception;
when we speak about life
and justice, we are laughed upon
and when we cry for decency,
we are accused of hypocrisy.

Teach us to listen to your words,
O Lord; enable us to distinguish your
voice from that of the world and
the devil; most of all, help us
gather than scatter.
Amen.