Thursday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time
(I Kings 11:4-13; Mark 7:24-30)
When St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians that it is better for
a man not to marry because he may try to please his wife and not the Lord, he
might have had today’s first reading in mind.
Solomon, married to many woman, pandered to his pagan wives by building
altars for sacrifice to their deities.
These sins led to his downfall as a king and as an individual.
God demands sole allegiance from His people for their own
sake. Devotion to other gods will
inevitably lead one off the way to holiness. The One God has given the world
the truth which leads to virtue and sanctity.
Following other gods or arcane ways of worshiping the Christian God will
end in distortion of that truth and then to corrupt actions.
We may be tempted to offer worship to a New Age goddess or
perhaps to make money or pleasure our own god.
We must be careful not to yield to these desires. The One God deserves our singular allegiance
because He alone will make us eternally happy.
