Dear Friends,
In the Book of Micah, the Lord is very clear: “I will destroy your idols…and you shall bow down no more to the work of your hands” (Micah 5:13). God’s absolute intolerance of idols is a constant theme throughout Sacred Scripture: he will not brook anything that separates his people from himself.
But that leads to a question: What, exactly, is an idol? It seems to me that an idol is anything that feels more real than God. An idol is whatever feels more urgent than the Living God. (In this regard, Pope Benedict XVI once observed that even our worry can become an idol!) This is what God wants todemolish, so that we can worship him freely and without fear (cf. Luke 1:74).
What feels more real than God? What feels more urgent than the Lord? This Lent, perhaps we can open that place in our hearts to him. This Lent, perhaps we can pour out our hearts a bit more to the Living God (cf. Psalm 62), and give him permission to continue destroying our idols and drawing usever nearer to himself.
God bless you,
Fr. John Pietropaoli


