The Writing on the Wall

Wednesday of the Thirty-Fourth Week in Ordinary Time

Daniel 5:1-6, 13-14, 16-17, 23-28

When the gold and silver vessels taken from the house of God in Jerusalem had been brought in, and while the king, his lords, his wives and his entertainers were drinking wine from them, they praised their gods of gold and silver, bronze and iron, wood and stone.

Suddenly, opposite the lampstand, the fingers of a human hand appeared, writing on the plaster of the wall in the king’s palace. When the king saw the wrist and hand that wrote, his face blanched; his thoughts terrified him, his hip joints shook, and his knees knocked.

Imagine the Lord watching you from heaven's telescope video recording something truly awful.  You cheat on an exam; take a watch from a store; sleep with a neighbor's husband or wife; steal a church's gold & silver communion cups melting them down for money!  Do you think God would be happy?  Certainly not!   Do you think you can just get away with doing something dishonest, unethical, and downright illegal without repercussions?   

Our action and inaction always produce consequences.  We may not see the writing on the wall (i.e. how much harm we caused) until its too late.  We receive an indictment, divorce papers, or hefty fine.  We may sincerely regret our evil ways, or we may deny anything wrong!  How easy for us weak humans to justify every little thing we think, say, or do.  That writing on the wall is illegible!  What do the words of honesty, integrity, and truth really mean?

Imagine once again you are in the middle of a terrible act and a hand magically appears.  Out of thin air, and not necessarily a brick wall, the following words appear:  Stop Look Listen  

What on earth is this all about?  Simply put: 

STOP doing what you know is wrong.

LOOK into yourself and realize the sin is not worth the negative consequences.

LISTEN and follow your conscience.

It doesn't take a the prophet Daniel to help us interpret our sinful ways.  It doesn't take a creepy-looking hand appearing magically to spell out for us how much our wrong offends God, our neighbors, and even ourselves!  What makes us truly understand right from wrong is faith in God.  Moreover, we must be committed to live in holy, honest ways.  Follow The Commandments and the Beatitudes to the best of our abilities. Amazing how we can change for the better by letting go of acts that separate us from God and replace them with actions that unite us to Christ and others.

-J.