| FROM THE SERVANT GENERAL Thought for the Day(Part 116) |
| GOD’S COVENANT March 17, 2024 Today’s reading: Jeremiah 31:31-34 God took the initiative to choose a people and enter into covenant with them. These were the Hebrews who were enslaved in Egypt. His first covenant had been with Noah (Gen 9:9), then with Abraham (Gen 17:10), then with the people through Moses at Mount Sinai (Ex 19), then with David (2 Sm 7:16; Ps 89:4). With the covenant, God enters into a sacred agreement where He promises to bless His people, but also has terms that the people need to fulfill. Tragically, God’s chosen people violated and were not mindful of the covenant, and eventually lost it all. But God is faithful. So through the prophet Jeremiah, God promised a new covenant. “See, days are coming—oracle of the Lord—when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.” (v.31). God says it will not be like the previous covenant which the people broke (v.32), but will be written in their hearts (v.33). This was fulfilled with the coming of Jesus, and made with those Jews who put their faith in him, who were then called Christians. Christians are now the new people of God who are in covenant with Him. Again tragically, after the Christian faith grew and flourished, today the faith is in decline. There is massive apostasy, and even the Church has been infiltrated by the enemy. We are in grave danger of losing it all. Jesus calls us to holiness and perfection. It will not fully happen, of course, until the time we are cleansed in Purgatory and enter heaven. But in this life, we are to strive to come as close to holiness and perfection as we can, and God’s grace is there to empower us. What is God’s ideal? “They will no longer teach their friends and relatives, ‘Know the Lord!’ Everyone, from least to greatest, shall know me—oracle of the Lord—for I will forgive their iniquity and no longer remember their sin.” (v.34). Tragically, we are today not only far from this ideal, but we are going backwards. Many Christians do not really know the Lord and His ways. And many Christians are not being taught the faith, as even the Church hierarchy is remiss, or worse, is teaching errors and heresy. God is merciful and forgives, but He who calls us to holiness will not forgive our sins if we do not repent. God gave us a great gift with the covenant, but we have been unknowing, unmindful, uncaring, violative of His law, and abusive of His mercy and generosity.* * * |
