13 Jan 2011, Thursday of the First Week in Ordinary Time

Reading 1
Heb 3:7-14

The Holy Spirit says:
Oh, that today you would hear his voice,
“Harden not your hearts as at the rebellion
in the day of testing in the desert,
where your ancestors tested and tried me
and saw my works for forty years.
Because of this I was provoked with that generation
and I said, ‘They have always been of erring heart,
and they do not know my ways.’
As I swore in my wrath,
‘They shall not enter into my rest.’”
Take care, brothers and sisters,
that none of you may have an evil and unfaithful heart,
so as to forsake the living God.
Encourage yourselves daily while it is still “today,”
so that none of you may grow hardened by the deceit of sin.
We have become partners of Christ
if only we hold the beginning of the reality firm until the end.

Ps 95:6-7c, 8-9, 10-11
Responsorial Psalm R. (8)

If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Come, let us bow down in worship;
let us kneel before the LORD who made us.
For he is our God,
and we are the people he shepherds, the flock he guides.
R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Oh, that today you would hear his voice:
“Harden not your hearts as at Meribah,
as in the day of Massah in the desert,
Where your fathers tempted me;
they tested me though they had seen my works.”
R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Forty years I was wearied of that generation;
I said: “This people’s heart goes astray,
they do not know my ways.”
Therefore I swore in my anger:
“They shall never enter my rest.”
R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

Gospel
Mk 1:40-45

A leper came to him and kneeling down begged him and said,
“If you wish, you can make me clean.”
Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand,
touched the leper, and said to him,
“I do will it. Be made clean.”
The leprosy left him immediately, and he was made clean.
Then, warning him sternly, he dismissed him at once.
Then he said to him, “See that you tell no one anything,
but go, show yourself to the priest
and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed;
that will be proof for them.”
The man went away and began to publicize the whole matter.
He spread the report abroad
so that it was impossible for Jesus to enter a town openly.
He remained outside in deserted places,
and people kept coming to him from everywhere.

Meditation: Hebrews 3:7-14

Do you remember the saying “Practice makes perfect”? Well, it seems as if the author of Hebrews is saying the same thing to us today. He wants us to practice, every single day, the art of keeping our hearts open to God. Why? Because he knows how sneaky and downright deceitful sin is. It can creep up on us at any time and try to convince us to make choices, whether actively or passively, that drive wedges between us and God or between ourselves and the people around us.

This is why we need to be proactive, taking steps every day that will help us stay close to the Lord. As anyone who has begun a new exercise program knows, it may be challenging at first, but the more you practice, the stronger you become. It takes perseverance and dedication, but the result is worth all the effort.

So what can we do to “hold the beginning of the reality firm until the end” (Hebrews 3:14)? We can start with a daily time of worship. As the psalmist tells us, worshipping the God who made us keeps us humble and keeps our hearts soft. A daily dose of perspective—thanking God for who he is and what he has done—can do wonders for keeping us grateful and committed to him.

Another step might be to spend time every day pondering God’s word in Scripture. We know that the Bible isn’t just words on a page. It is God’s own voice, capable of speaking directly to our hearts. The more time we spend with Scripture, the more opportunity we give the Lord to form us and shape us.

A final step is to examine our consciences at the end of every day. As we get into the habit of looking back on our thoughts and actions, we can become more open to the Spirit’s voice warning us when we are beginning to go astray.

It’s very simple: The more we practice our faith, the better we will get. So let’s take the first step today.

“Lord, awaken my spirit to opportunities to draw close to you today. Give me your grace to turn from things that pull me away from you. I want to practice staying in your presence all day!”

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