If today you hear the voice of the Lord, harden not your hearts! Indeed!
Today's first reading is a very profound one. It is the announcement that after many ages of darkness and gloom things will no longer be the way they were. For it is God who is speaking saying to Abram "I change your name – I change your life – I change your destiny!" "You are to become a father to a host of nations" "You are now Abraham!" I will maintain a covenant with you throughout the ages as an everlasting pact: to be your God; your part and the part of your spiritual children will be to have faith in me and to trust me unconditionally. "I will be faithful to my end, even if you are not faithful to yours – but especially so if you are!"
In the gospel passage we see Jesus dealing with the Jews (true – even physically descended - children of Abraham). They just "don't get it!" They just won't allow themselves to get it! They just can't hear Jesus speaking because their faith is very weak. The whole dialogue in the passage takes place on two different levels because of their unwillingness to let the truth in! If they only could experience (as it said in yesterday's gospel passage) the freedom that comes from the truth! Freedom does not produce truth, but rather truth produces freedom!
For us today this means that faith is essential for communicating with God and God communicating with us! We too are spiritual children of Abraham because our entire relationship with God is based on faith and truth; and the freedom that comes from them. We pray then for an increase of faith and trust, so that we may accept more readily God's words of truth, so that we might truly be free to glorify God with our lives of loving service to our brothers and sisters. Today, if you hear the voice of the Lord, harden not your hearts.
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