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[Jesus
said,] "Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty
deeds done in your midst had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would
long ago have repented, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it will be
more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you. And as
for you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will go down to
the netherworld."
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"The smell of your skin
lingers on me
now; you’re probably on your flight back
to your home
town. I need some shelter of my own
protection, to be with myself and center: clarity, peace,
serenity. I hope you know that this has nothing to do
with you. It’s personal. We’ve got some
straightenin' out to do, and
I’m gonna miss you like a child misses their blanket, but
I’ve got to get a
move on with my life; it's time to be a big girl now, and big girls
don’t
cry."
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Actually, big girls do cry, but that’s not the
point. The
point is that she has some serious
thinking to do as she puts her life back together. And it's personal,
she sings, no one else can do it. She has to face the situation and do
something about it herself. When she sings, "I need to be with myself
and center, [seeking] clarity,
peace and serenity," she is doing exactly what Jesus wanted the people
of his time to do--taking time to recognize that there are some areas
in their lives
that need changed. Fergie sings that after she has done that, she
must move on in her
life; Jesus wanted the people of the towns in his ministry to change
and
move a different direction.
Jesus' thought was simply, "If you truly recognized what I am saying to you, you would change and repent." The person in Fergie's song has studied the relationship with her boyfriend, realizes that he has some serious, perhaps insurmountable problems (in the video, he is on drugs), and she decides to get out of the relationship. As Fergie sings in her song, such a decision is personal--no one else can make it for her. If something radical is to change in our lives, we are the ones that must do it. No one else can make us change. We can have great encouragement, wonderful incentives, inspiration from others, but in the end, we are the ones who have to make the decision. If change is going to happen, it must be personal, and we must do it. |
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THOUGHT
What is most in need of change in your
personal world around you?
PRAYER Good
and gracious God, you told us through your Son that you want us to
repent and change our behavior for the better. Help us accept the
challenge to do what you ask by sincerely looking at our lives, and
determining how we can be better than we are. Be with us, we pray.
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©2007
Capuchin Province of Mid-America
Fr. Mike Scully is a member of the Capuchin Province of Mid-America |
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