When I was a teenager I was asked by parents, teachers, and my girl scout leader: “Judy, what are your priorities? Where are you going with your life?” It took me a while to catch on that the reasons I chose to be with someone or do something reflected my feeble development of a value system, a code of morality. Well, in all the readings for today, each of us is asked, “What do you treasure? What or whom do you follow?”
The people of Israel strayed from their allegiance to God and discovered many other gods. They felt that these idols would satisfy their every desire: lust for pleasure and power, gluttony to satisfy selfish whims. As long as they worshipped their multiple gods, these Israelites felt satisfied. Only when Elijah proved that their gods were not real but a figment of their overly active imaginations, did the people begin to understand.
So, where are we in our understanding and relationship with the Divine? When we, like the Israelites, attempt to take the easier way or follow the loudest promoters, do we not discredit all the gifts that our God has given to each one of us personally? After I hear or read about the daily national and international news, I have a ta tete a tete with God. Where are my priorities in supporting a group of people or a cause? All of us have been given a unique personality loved unconditionally by our God. But just as the Israelites needed Elijah to jar them into reality, we need our own God to guide us in choosing what or who is important to each of us.
The Jesuit, Anthony DeMello, had challenged us. He wrote that if we allow our minds and hearts to absorb all the cacophony of the streets and the media, we will not be able to hear the sweet melody of the God who really cares for us—the sweet melody of knowledge, understanding, and wisdom. Any musician knows that to play well that sweet melody, we need to practice, practice.
“You will show me the path to life,
fullness of joys in your presence.” Ps 16