Reading and meditation on the Word of God on Monday of the 16th week in ordinary time, July 24, 2023
SPIRITUAL ADULTERY
The theme for today's meditation is: Spiritual Adultery. The word adultery or fornication is found in the scriptures, both the Old Testament and the New Testament. In our daily use, the term adultery is also part of the conversation everywhere. The most normal intention for an act of adultery is the relationship between a man and a woman like husband and wife without being legally married.
But the scriptures also raise the issue of spiritual adultery which refers to human actions that are unfaithful to God. Many stories in the old testament as well as the new testament show this unfaithfulness. The Lord Jesus was sent by the Father first of all for the scattered Israelites so that they would be gathered and saved. And Jesus had worked so diligently through teaching, awareness, healing, and various miracles in Jerusalem and its surroundings. It is hoped that the Israelites would repent and believe in God.
But they didn't even want to know and believe in Jesus. They asked for signs which in their calculation were sufficient to make them believe. This is what made Jesus angry. They are considered to have committed spiritual adultery, that is, against God by rejecting and not acknowledging Him who came in the name and person of God. This sin of adultery is breaking the covenant between God and the ancestors of Israel.
Being unfaithful and breaking a covenant with God are serious and grave sins. People can easily choose to worship and glorify material things, money, position, pleasures of the flesh, social status, fame as their life partner. Then God is forgotten or left alone. God can be jealous and hurt, so to speak.
The temptation to commit adultery spiritually remains in our current generation, just like the temptation to commit adultery physically and biologically. Moses saw that the temptation was so great for his people when they were wandering after leaving Egypt. Likewise, we are currently faced with the temptations of today. Maybe many of us don't commit spiritual adultery so badly. There are those who are disappointed with God and then avoid to talk to Him, they don't want to communicate, they forget Him for some times. There are those who live their faith during the day worshiping worldly wealth, at night they actively worship God. There is one foot in the Church, the other foot in the fields of corruption, violence, lust of the flesh and all forms of lies. All of this is part of spiritual adultery. All of this must be stopped, swerved and returned to true loyalty to God alone.
Let's pray. In the name of the Father...God Almighty, may Your Spirit help us to always be faithful in the way of Your Son Jesus Christ, and keep us away from all temptations that cause us to lose heart in believing in You and even leave You. Hail Mary... In the name of the Father...
