The Goodness and Mercy of our God

In today's first reading, Joshua 24: 1-13, Joshua summons the people and enumerates the many ways in which God blessed them: protecting them from evil, blocking their enemies from destroying them or doing harm to them, snatching them, so to speak, away from idolatrous behaviors or delivering their enemies into their power, so as to defeat them in battles.  He even thwarts curses against them and causes the one asked to curse them to bless them instead (See today's first reading).

In the responsorial psalm, we pray: God's "mercy endures forever."  As God showed great mercy to the Israelites, so, too, does he show such to you and me.  We, too, are delivered and protected from evil, especially from evil within us: deceit, resentment, jealousy, pride, lust, laziness, hate, gluttony and so much more.  When we do fall into the traps Satan sets for us, God is there to pull us out of the pit, so to speak, to save us, restore our integrity and make us whole again, healing our broken spirits and binding up our wounded self.

Let us, in the words of the psalmist, "[g]ive  thanks to the Lord of lords, for his mercy endures forever....[he frees] us from our foes" (Psalm 136) every day and every night!   Why? Because God is good and merciful, slow to anger and full of kindness!  His love is infinite and unconditional!

Happy Thanksgiving

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Thank you, Lord, for all of the graces and blessings of this past year.

How wonderful, Lord, are the blessings you send us every moment of every day, beginning

with waking us up to new life after strengthening us through a good night's sleep.

And, thank you, Lord, for the gift of your Presence that envelopes us throughout the day.

Never may we forget that You wrap your arms of love around us as we journey through life here  on earth.

Kindly, Lord, continue to walk beside us, behind us, and in front of us, even when we forget our need of your protection. 

So in need of you throughout the day, especially as we encounter obstacles and difficulties, we call upon you for your protection on a daily basis.

Grant us, Lord, a heart full of gratitude, knowing that without you we will go astray, giving in to temptations too forceful for us to overcome alone.

In your mercy, Lord, save us, especially when internal enemies wage war against the good within us.

Very often, Lord, our weaknesses have had the best of us, when, like Peter on the waters, we have taken our eyes off you.

In times when we foolishly believe that we can journey through difficulties on our own powers, send someone into our lives to redirect us to the Truth.

Never, Lord, may we abandon our trust and faith in You as our Lord and Savior.

Grateful for your Love and Mercy, we pray with Mary: "My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit finds joy in you, O God....God, you who are mighty, have done great things for me. Holy is your name" (cf Luke 1: 46-49).

The Journey to the Promised Land

In today’s first reading, Jos 24: 1-13, Joshua gathers all of the tribes of Israel and  reviews for them all that the Lord has done on their behalf, tracing God’s presence in their lives all the way back to Abraham’s father Terah. He shows them how God stopped the Egyptians in their pursuit of them, delivered them from nations far more powerful than they,and thwarted a curse against them.  “It was not your sword or your bow”; it was not your military might, Joshua reminds them.  “I [the Lord,  Yahweh] gave you a land which you had not tilled and cities which you had not built, to dwell in; you have eaten of vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant.”

The same is true for us.  As with the Israelites, we are on our way to the Promised Land. As our inheritance as adopted children of God, God has given us a new Jerusalem, a city we did not build, vineyards we did not plant. On our journey here in the wilderness of this earth, God goes before us, leveling “cities,” overcoming powers that  lure us into worshiping false gods:  narcissism, atheistic materialism, consumerism, hedonism,  wealth for its own sake,  the glorification of the body as something to be worshiped, absolute freedom to do whatever we so choose even to assuming that it is okay to violate the rights of the unborn, of the poor and oppressed, of women and children, of immigrants, of persons viewed as minorities, of the earth itself and all that lives on it. 

If you and I gathered our families around us, going back several generations, what would the list of   blessings look like, I ask myself.  What false gods are we following? From what powerful “nations ”-- snares of the devil--has/ is God  rescuing us?  

The miracles God worked for the Israelites God will work for us in the 21^st century. I believe that! What is your belief? I pray for the grace that you and I have the courage and the wisdom  to cooperate with the Lord in bringing about the salvation of the world in some small way by our efforts,to avoid evil and  lead people to Jesus at the foot of the cross.