Wednesday of the Third Week of Lent
Obedience is arguably not a very popular virtue in contemporary times. One need only glance at the news or other entertainment media to observe that the messaging of the day is clear: “We should be able to do what we want when we want to. We make our lives the way we want them to be. Our morality is whatever is convenient for us in the moment. We don’t want to recognize our natural limits. If we don’t like our reality, we will change it to accommodate our desires. There is no objective reality…there is no right or wrong…no real good…there is only the satisfaction of whatever desire we have at any given moment. This is our only good.”
The reality God has made us for love, for greatness, for happiness, and for glory. But he has made us in a very particular way. We are custom made for relationship with Him. The commandments of the Lord are not meant to limit us. They are meant to unlimit us. The instructions of the Lord lead us to peace, love, joy, and true freedom. When we make satisfaction of our desires our guiding light, we become slaves to something that can never truly satisfy us. The obedience that Christ calls us to is nothing less than an invitation to authentic freedom and true fulfillment of the human heart.