Daily Retreat 07/21/08

2008 Jul 21 Mon: Weekday Mi 6: 1-4. 6-8/ Ps 49(50): 5-6. 8-9. 16bc-17. 21 and 23/ Mt 12: 38-42   From today's readings:  "You have been told, O man, what is good, and what the LORD requires of you: Only to do the right and to love goodness, and to walk humbly with your God.... To the upright I will show the saving power of God....   At the judgment, the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and there is something greater than Jonah here."   God's People on Trial   The most famous passage from the Book of Micah is skipped for now and saved for the fourth Sunday of Advent: Micah 5:1-4, the Messianic prophecy that specifies Bethlehem as the future birthplace of the Christ.  The lectionary text for today is from the beginning of chapter six: the Lord's trial with His people.  The plaintive charge leveled by the plaintiff God in verse 3 might sound a bit familiar:  "O My people, what have I done to you, or how have I wearied you?"  It can be helpful to supply the implied continuation of the question: "...that you mistreat Me so?"  This verse is adapted during the Triduum as the first stanza of the moving "reproaches" of Good Friday.   God's question is not just for the people of Micah's time, nor should we only consider it once a year on Good Friday.  In fact, it makes an excellent examination of conscience: God has done literally everything good for you and for me - how have we repaid Him?  The truth is, we have done much to weary our God with our sins, though He has done nothing to weary us!   What then are we to do (vv. 6-7) - try to appease God with extravagant animal, oil, or even human sacrifices?  No!  That's not what God wants at all, for "You have been told, O man, what is good, and what the LORD requires of you: Only to do the right and to love goodness, and to walk humbly with your God!"