Seeking God's Protection

In today's first reading, 2 Kings 19: 9b-11, 14-21, 31-35a, 36,  the king of Judah is taunted by the king of Assyria. Assyria has destroyed many countries and next on their list is Judah!  A threatening letter is sent to the king of Judah, who takes refuge in the Lord. He goes into the Temple and reads the letter to the Lord and then prays: "O Lord, God of Israel, enthroned upon the cherubim! You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made the heavens and the earth. Incline your ear, O Lord, and listen! Open your eyes, O Lord, and see! Hear [the threats of the king of Assyria, taunting] the living God. Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands, and cast their gods into the fire; they destroyed them because they were not gods, but the work  of human hands, wood and stone. Therefore, O Lord, our God, save us from the power of this man, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone, O Lord, are God."  The Assyrians did not succeed in their plans to destroy Judah!

It seems as though the Assyrians in warring with other nations and destroying them and then threatening Judah may have been attempting to become THE nation, superior to all others. Is that what is happening in the world of today by dictatorial regimes? The King of Judah sought help from the Lord God!  What do you and I do when leaders of world powers threaten one another? Do we go into the Temple of the Lord and share our concerns with God as did the king of Judah?  And just as importantly, what do we do when evil from within and without threaten our security in the Lord?

Jesus' Glorious Triumph: its Meaning

The Entrance Antiphon to today’s liturgy invites us to “sing to the Lord, for he has gloriously triumphed.”  We then pray: “The Lord is my strength and my might; he has become my salvation, alleluia.”  I was deeply touched by t he word “is”.  God is, not was or will be, but IS my strength and my might; He is my salvation.  The work of God is going on every moment of every day, in every circumstance of my life today and yours!  Jesus has “gloriously triumphed,”  that is He is gloriously triumphing over sin and death, over selfishness and greed, over deceit and jealousy, over anger and moodiness, over faithlessness and hopelessness, over hatred, blindness and deafness to the Spirit in my life right now, right here! Jesus is making a difference now!  I am overcoming evil in my life right now  because Jesus “has gloriously triumphed” in His resurrection, in the sacrificing of His life, in becoming sin for us on Calvary.

Yesterday I took a day off and went to see “Heaven is for Real.”  Heaven and earth are one in the resurrection of Jesus.  Heaven and earth are one in the Eucharist, when the Son of God descends upon our altars every single day to feed us with the Bread of Life, the Living Bread, that wells up into eternity making us more and more life Christ every day, reconciling us to the Father, cleansing the Temple of our souls with this Living Water, this Living Bread!  Alleluia!