{"id":212,"date":"2012-03-08T10:19:47","date_gmt":"2012-03-08T15:19:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/?p=212"},"modified":"2012-03-15T10:23:40","modified_gmt":"2012-03-15T15:23:40","slug":"dont-get-complacent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/?p=212","title":{"rendered":"Don’t Get Complacent"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/font><\/p>\n

Thursday of 3rd Week in Lent<\/o:o:o:p><\/span><\/h2>\n

Jer 17: 5-10; Lk 16: 19-31<\/o:o:o:p><\/span><\/h3>\n

<\/font>Don\u2019t get too comfortable in this world.\u00a0 <\/span>Because when you do, you tend to get complacent.\u00a0 <\/span>And complacency is the ally of the devil.\u00a0 <\/span>When you are complacent, you don\u2019t think about God;it\u2019s as if you are your own master; you are in control; you are self-sufficient; your heart, as Jeremiah says ..\u201dturns away from the Lord\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/o:o:o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

<\/font><\/p>\n

Take the rich man in the Gospel story.\u00a0 <\/span>He was certainly complacent in his lifetime.\u00a0 <\/span>He was comfortable, dressing in fine clothes and dining on the best foods.\u00a0 <\/span>All his earthly needs and desires were met.\u00a0 <\/span>He doesn\u2019t seem to even have taken notice of the suffering going on around him.\u00a0 <\/span>It\u2019s a surprise that he even knew who Lazarus was.\u00a0 <\/span>It wasn\u2019t so much that he was a mean miserly man; but more that he was oblivious to suffering.\u00a0 <\/span>He lived in the comfort of his own world, unconcerned about others.\u00a0 <\/span>You can bet that he had friends- lots of them.\u00a0 <\/span>Because, as a rich man, he was the source for, the benefactor of, others.\u00a0 <\/span>Such a person does as the Jeremiah\u2019s reading suggests:\u00a0 <\/span>He \u2026\u201cTrusts in human beings and seeks his strength in flesh\u201d.\u00a0 <\/span>Why? Because that is where he has found his fulfillment.\u00a0<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/o:o:o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

<\/font><\/p>\n

Perhaps that\u2019s why there is such an emphasis on two things during Lent:\u00a0 <\/span>First, self-mortification, like fasting and almsgiving; and second, prayer- getting in contact with God.\u00a0 <\/span><\/o:o:o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

<\/font><\/p>\n

First, we need to feel uncomfortable to shake us out of our complacency so that we get in tune with some realities about life as a human.\u00a0 <\/span>One reality is that a comfortable life is not what it\u2019s all about. But also, we must realize that we are not at all in control, and in fact, we shouldn\u2019t be in control.\u00a0 <\/span>And so, when we fast and abstain from something, that helps us to understand that life\u2019s finer things are just an illusion of happiness.\u00a0 <\/span>They are passing, and we will pass away from this life as well.\u00a0 <\/span>So, there is something more to plan for and look forward to than this life.\u00a0 <\/span>As a result, we really can\u2019t be in control- God controls whether we are going to be happy forever after- not us.\u00a0<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/o:o:o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

<\/font>And so, the self-mortification can help motivate us to pray.\u00a0 <\/span>To pray that God will help us to unlock the key to our everlasting happiness.\u00a0 <\/span>Just like Jesus, we need to seek and find the Lord\u2019s will for us.\u00a0 <\/span>Because\u00a0 <\/span>as Jeremiah says:\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cBlessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose hope is in the Lord\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thursday of 3rd Week in Lent Jer 17: 5-10; Lk 16: 19-31 Don\u2019t get too comfortable in this world.\u00a0 Because when you do, you tend to get complacent.\u00a0 And complacency is the ally of the devil.\u00a0 When you are complacent, you don\u2019t think about God;it\u2019s as if you are your own master; you are in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[119],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=212"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}