4 March, Thursday — God-centricity

Thursday of the 2nd Week of Lent

Jer 17:5-10
Lk 16:19-31

“…whose heart turns from the Lord…”

I have been hooked on watching Korean dramas since the circuit breaker began in Singapore last year, and have slowly but surely been going through the streaming services.

What I love about these drama series is the complexity of the interactions with other characters. Often, they would start innocent, before new circumstances arise such that the ‘evil’ characters begin plotting against the heroes. Often, there is a story of misplaced trust, and the accompanying betrayals.

While it is not quite so dramatic, real life does sometimes reflect art. We find our confidences betrayed, or our associations with certain persons sometimes steer us the wrong way. In fact, when I first read the first reading, I mistakenly thought that we were not to trust other people; and must choose, instead, to only trust the Lord.

However, upon further reading and reflection, the reading does not ask us to do that. Instead, the stress is on the words “whose heart turns from the Lord”.

This heart we place in our Lord is the key to everything; our true North. This connection with our God allows us to discern what is right from what is wrong, and warns us if we are being “led astray”. In choosing to focus on people, and not on God, our vision rests on the temporal and the materialistic, and our goals become that of maximising pleasure, and minimising pain.

It is with this understanding that the Gospel makes sense.

Because the rich man was so embroiled in living his life of luxury and of maximising pleasure, he is so self-absorbed, that he has not put his mind to doing good. From my younger years, when I did not take time to reflect on it, the Gospel passage seems to imply that the rich man is in Hades because of his wealth, but it must have been more than that. That is the reason behind the request for Lazarus to “come from the dead” and warn them to repent; it is to ask them to begin placing their hearts with God.

Brothers and sisters, let us truly begin to connect our hearts with our Lord and God.

(Today’s OXYGEN by Paul Wee)

Prayer: Help us Father, to connect our hearts with you daily. May we always be guided by You, and make decisions that are God-centred. 

Thanksgiving: We praise You and thank You Father, for teaching us the importance of being God-led, of not being so self-involved that we forget about You.