Monday of the 5th Week of Lent

Have you ever noticed how some people are so easily duped with certain leaders and hang on to every word they say? Some of these folks are not necessarily simpletons, as some of them are quite highly educated, but when it comes to certain matters such as faith and religion, some of these folks prefer not to think carefully what the leader is saying, and blindly follow the instructions and pronouncements made by the leader, without even thinking or considering whether such words uttered by the leader are truth, or actual teaching of the faith, or they are merely rubbish meant to benefit the leader.

In today's reading, we come across two elderly men who had been selected from the people that year to act as judges. These elderly men were judges posing as guides to the people, and their hearts were filled with filled and uncontrollable lust, especially towards Susanna. Because of this, the reading tells us that these two men "threw reason aside, making no effort to turn their eyes to heaven, and forgetting its demands of virtue." Instead, they managed to have Susanna condemned to death via trumped up charges, and the people were so naive to listen to these judges without proper investigation, just like what some people do even today. But thankfully, God "roused the holy spirit residing in a young boy named Daniel who began to shout, 'I am innocent of this woman’s death!'" Daniel even added (perhaps in a mocking way): "Are you so stupid, sons of Israel, as to condemn a daughter of Israel unheard, and without troubling to find out the truth? Go back to the scene of the trial: these men have given false evidence against her." In the end, instead of Susanna, the two elderly perverted men were the ones condemned to death.

What about us? Do we just follow a leader blindly, regardless whether the leader is a religious or political one? Have we come to realise that sometimes a leader may be dishing out commands or instructions merely for his or her own benefit? May we not be so "stupid" or so easily duped into obeying blindly, but take caution in what certain leaders say, so that in all things, we glorify God.