God's Messengers

In today's first reading, Acts 8: 26-40, we are told the entire episode of an angel speaking to Philip and directing him to "[g]et up and head south on the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza, the desert route." On the way he sees a chariot ahead of him. And the angel says to him: "Go and join up with that chariot."   Philip does so. The person in the chariot, a eunuch,  is reading the book of Isaiah and has no idea what he is reading and asks Philip to explain the passage, which read "Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he opened not his mouth. In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who will tell of his posterity? For his life is taken from the earth."   God uses Philip to explain this Scripture passage to him. Philip proclaims Jesus to the eunuch. As they come upon a body of water, the eunuch requests that the chariot be stopped so that he could be baptized!

God works in your life and mine in the same way.  Out of the blue, we are instructed to do this or that: "Stop and visit so-and-so." "Go see how so-and-so is!"  "Make that phone call to your mother/father, brother/sister, friend." "Ask forgiveness for what you just said!""Stay awhile with this person; the work on your desk can wait"  and so on!  God sends messengers all of the time. Am I listening?

God Watches Over Us

Today we celebrate the Feast of Holy Innocents, who were murdered by Herod.  Furious that the magi did not cooperate with his plan to "worship" the child Jesus, he ordered that all little children two years and under be slaughtered, in hopes that among them would be Jesus. God had other plans and spoke to Joseph in a dream after the magi left:  "Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you.  Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him" (Matthew 2: 13-18).

Joseph did not question God. He simply obeyed, got up in the middle of the night and left Bethlehem for Egypt!  As with Joseph, God also is intimately involved in our lives, directing us to do certain things to protect us from evil, though we may not be away of danger that is about to come upon us.  God watches out for us, as He watched out for His only begotten Son.  As children of God, the Lord cares about the dangers we may be entering and redirects us through the Spirit of God speaking within us. Those hunches we follow have a divine origin.  Are we listening, as Joseph did?  Do we live our lives as children of God? Do we realize that God watches out for us, day in and day out?  He cares!  He bothers. He takes us by the right hand and walks beside us through the valley of darkness. He is, in fact, our light in the darkness, as He was for Mary and Joseph!

Let us pray for this awareness!

The Closeness of Our God

In Dt 4: 1, 5-9, Moses exhorts the people to obey the “statutes and decrees which I am teaching you to observe, that you may life, and may enter in and take possession of the land which the Lord, the God of your…[ancestors] is giving you….Observe them carefully, for thus will you give evidence of your wisdom and intelligence to the nations, who will hear of all these statutes and say, ‘This great nation is truly a wise and intelligent people.’ For what great nation is there that has gods so close to it as the Lord, our God, is to us whenever we call upon him? Or what great nation has statutes and decrees that are as just as this whole law which I am setting before you today.”

Laws and decrees that are just! Laws and decrees that give life! Laws and decrees that, when observed, reveal the intelligence and wisdom of the observer. A few days ago on the news we were told of the police officers who rescued Lily, a toddler! Also in the news a few days ago we saw two little children running after a man who kidnapped their little brother. The thief was caught! Day in and day out, men and women, the young and the old, obey the laws and statutes of our God to reach out to save others, to rescue persons from that which could cause death, both physical and spiritual: addictions, crime, hate, corruption, abuse of any kind. Good choices are made because our God is so close to us that, from within the core of our beings, we are directed by God’s Spirit of Wisdom and Justice, Mercy and Compassion, Love and Forgiveness to follow laws that give life and reject those that lead to death.