By: Sister Mary Colombiere, O.C.D.
Try to define this word in today’s culture and you will be led down many varied roads. If you check out its meaning in a dictionary, you will probably be directed to a Thesaurus which will give you a stream of words of diverse interpretations. If you speak of zeal for life you will probably be shown Zurvita for nutritional supplements. If you manage to latch onto the synonym “fervor” you will undoubtedly be told that it is an emotion fitful or short-lived.
However, if you reach back into the Book of Kings in the Old Testament, the prophet Elijah will set you straight with his proclamation:
“Zelo zelatus sum pro Domino Deo exercituum.”
(1 Kings 19:10)
“With zeal have I been zealous for the Lord God of Hosts.”
Elijah did not straddle the fence. His deep faith in the One True God enabled him to boldly belt out the truth even if it seemed that he stood alone putting his life in danger.
What about us? Through our Baptism, as followers of Jesus Christ and members of His Church, we are summoned by God to bear witness to the reality of the Omnipotent Triune God. One of the strongest temptations that we face today amid such faced-paced progress in all areas of our lives is the one that assailed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. While they were not privy to our scientific and technological advances, they had all they needed to live full lives. But the one thing to which they were not to have excess became the trap for them and made them feel less than the God who created them.
Are we today trying to exist by deciding God’s authority over us? Let us take the advice of Saint Peter who had much to learn from his blunders:
Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand,
That he may lift you up in due time.”
We realize that without His almighty power, we can do nothing.
(1 Peter 5:6)
