Reflection for Thursday of the Third Week of Lent

Today's readings are here: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/031512.cfm

In the first reading, God chides the Israelites for turning their backs on him by not listening to the prophets who were deliverers of his word.  In the Gospel, Jesus, the prophet of God, proves by his exorcising a demon that his teachings are from God and that the kingdom of God has come to earth in his person; yet the Jewish religious leaders turn their backs on him by not listening to his word.

For us, the prophets of God are the popes and bishops who, together, faithfully teach us God's word.

God's prophets for us are also the saints whose teachings and way of life prove that Christ and his kingdom were alive in them.  As such, in order to follow God, we would do well to imitate their virtues and discipline, even if we have to tailor their virtues and discipline to our manner of life.  For example, some of the saints were celibate men and women who participated in long and rigorous fasts.  It would not be wise for us who are married and involved with careers to fast in the same way the celibates did; but we should still fast, albeit for a shorter period of time and with less rigor.

May our Lord give us the grace to turn our faces to him by listening to the word he teaches us through his prophets: the Magisterium (bishops in union with the pope) and the saints.