God's Restorative and Reconciling Presence in our World

In today’s first reading, Nahum 2: 1, 3; 3:1, 6-7, the prophet  vividly describes the horror that descended upon the Israelites through their enemies.   “Woe to the bloody city, all lies, full of plunder, whose looting never stops! The crack of the whip, the rumbling sounds of the wheels; horses a-gallop, chariots bounding, cavalry charging, the flame of the sword, the flash of the spear, the many slain, the heaping corpses, the endless bodies to stumble upon!....”  Sounds like recent descriptions in our evening news: bodies piling up in Palestine, in Syria, in the Ukraine, in our city streets; children abandoned at our borders, persons dying of Ebola and other diseases, Christians driven out into deserts  left to die by Iraqis.  Many times, we wait to hear what the Israelites heard from Nahum when God delivered them from the violence and destructive forces of their enemies: “Celebrate your feast, O Judah, fulfill your vows! For nevermore shall you be invaded by the scoundrel; he is completely destroyed. The Lord will restore the vine of Jacob, the pride of Israel, though ravagers have ravaged them and ruined the tendrils [vines].”   
 
All of us, obedient to God’s laws,  striving for justice, loving tenderly, and walking humbly with God (Micah 6:8), will experience God’s restorative powers, the reconciling love that unites us with our compassionate, loving, merciful God. Already, we have been made one with the Father through Jesus’ death and resurrection.  As we journey through this “vale of tears” there are times when we experience this union, especially when we receive the Eucharist or are Eucharistic people to others, giving of ourselves in love in our own brokenness to bring healing to others, to comfort those in pain. We will also know the fullness of being one with our Creator when we pass through the doors of our suffering and death and enter into eternal life, as did Jesus in His resurrection from the dead.
 
Praise and thanks to our God!