A NEW HEART AND A NEW SPIRIT
A covenant
relationship with God needs to be mutual, needs to have a commitment. It means
that you want to give yourself wholeheartedly to the relationship.
The
prophet Ezekiel, in today's first reading, proclaims God's hopeful message of a
return home. A major transformation needs to take place - they need to be
purified by God. We also pray about this in the Responsorial Psalm: "I
will pour clean water on you and wash away all your sins" (Ez 36:25). God
wants His people to receive a new heart and a new spirit - to be restored in a
covenant relationship with Him. What makes this remarkable is that it is
totally initiated and carried out by God. Purification, returning home, and a
newly restored relationship with Him, makes a divine transformation!
In
Matthew's Gospel, the parable of the wedding feast reflects concerns similar to
Ezekiel though they are expressed differently. Reflecting perhaps the devastating
experience of the total destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in 70 A.D.,
Matthew links that to the people's rejection of a covenant relationship with
our heavenly Father, symbolized by the wedding feast. A whole new people are
invited which implies transformation and conversion. God's Kingdom, the Wedding
Feast, is not just for anyone who might have received an invitation. One has to
have a change of heart and mind, as Ezekiel proclaimed. A covenant relationship
with God needs to be mutual, needs to have a commitment. It means that you want
to give yourself wholeheartedly to the relationship. Without the appropriate
heart, spirit, and behavior, we will not have this relationship.
Auxiliary
Bishop Robert Morneau, wrote a book about the characteristics of holiness
called, "A New Heart: Eleven Qualities of Holiness." I would like to
share them with you:
1.
Give me a pure
heart, that I may see Thee
2.
A humble heart, that I may hear Thee
3.
A heart of love, that I may serve Thee
4.
A heart of faith, that I may abide in Thee
5.
A heart of courage, that I may follow Thee
6.
A heart of joy, that I may sing with Thee
7.
A heart of praise, that I may adore Thee
8.
A heart of gratitude, that I may thank Thee
9.
A heart of kindness, that I may emulate Thee
10. A
heart of hospitality, that I may welcome Thee
11. A
heart of hope, that I may trust in Thee.
Lord,
help us on our journey to holiness! Amen.