4th Sunday of Lent

After 40 yrs. of wandering in the desert,

Israel had finally settled into the Promised Land

And it was time for a king.

So God sent the Prophet Samuel to the the House of Jesse,

Who had 8 sons to anoint one of them King.

Now if you were Samuel wouldn’t you choose the one who was the strongest, or the most intelligent or who had leadership and organizational skills to run a country.

Not God!

God chose David, the youngest and the least of them all.

Because God sees things in us that we don’t even see in ourselves.

Let alone see in other people.

For God has all the talent, skills, intelligence and strength that we need;

He only needs an open heart willing to do His Will,

And He will take care of the rest.

In other words,

God is looking for an Instrument with which He can work.

Imagine if a conductor wanted the symphony to play

Beethoven’s 5th, and all of the instruments wanted to play The Rolling Stones instead.

Or a carpenter wanted to do some hammering,

And the hammer didn’t feel like hitting the nail today.

Or an author wanted to write a novel

And and the pen felt like writing poetry instead.

Just imagine if all of these inanimate objects had a mind of their own,

What chaos the world would be in.

Well, each one of us has a mind of our own,

And no wonder the world is in the shape it is in nowadays.

What kind of Instrument are we in God’s hands?

We may be saying to ourselves,

I am no King David, or St. Francis, or Mother Teresa.

We don’t have to be.

The Divine Carpenter needs all kinds of Instruments in His tool box.

We just have to be willing to be an Instrument in His hands,

Docile and open to whatever way, He wants to use us.

Lord make Me an instrument of Your peace

Where there is hatred let me sow love.

Where there is injury, pardon.

Where there is doubt, faith.

Where there is despair, hope.

Where there is darkness, light.

Where there is sadness joy.

O Divine master grant that I may

Not so much seek to be consoled as to console

To be understood, as to understand.

To be loved. as to love

For it's in giving that we receive

And it's in pardoning that we are pardoned

And it's in dying that we are born...

To eternal life.

Amen!

God Bless