‘God burns with a jealous love for you. It means he wants to be your only lord, your only love! He calls us to conversion, which means we must turn away from everything that pushes us from away from the lord to whom we belong. We must turn away from everything that pushes us away from the Lord. Turn away from our egoism that desires a security which is set deeply in our souls.

He strips you of that which is your enslavement, and which leads to a lack of faith in his love’, said, Father Tadeusz Dajczer, a Polish priest and a professor of theology. We know for certain to prove his love, he did the ultimate sacrifice of giving himself and became sin to destroy death forever and give us eternal life. In the reading from Prophet Jeremiah and the Responsorial psalm, it is as if Jesus him- self is speaking, “But I was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter.”

In the Gospel we see how people found it hard to accept him for who he really was. They only saw him through their veiled perceptions. He was the son of a carpenter. How could they believe that this ordinary young man was truly the ‘Son of God?’ Even so the officers of the temple could not but be, in awe of him when he spoke.

Nichodemus who was a man of God was challenged by Jesus, his wisdom and teaching. The other Pharisees were blinded by their knowledge of the law and historical understanding, above all their own importance in the hierarchy of the system. Aren’t we caught up in some way with our own understanding of who God is? Because we too are blinded by the pleasures of the world and our own pursuit for happiness as we understand it. It is always suc- cess driven whether it is in our lives or those of our children. Even those of us who have committed our lives to follow the Lord, try to manipulate and use God for our purposes. We say things but never mean it. Most often we pay lip service, but our hearts are closed. Let us question our motives and realign the purpose of our life.
What is my baptismal calling? Let him be the center of our lives. Let us be true disciples.

Prayer: Abba Father, we need your love! Open our hearts and minds to experience it in our depths and let our conversion be real! Amen