Choosing the One True God and His Will for Us

In today's first reading, Hosea 11: 1-4a, 8e-9, the Lord confronts His people for placing strange gods before Him: "When Israel was a child I loved him, out of Egypt I called my son. The more I called them, the farther they went from me, sacrificing to the Baals and burning incense to idols. Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk, who took them in my arms; I drew them with human cords, with bands of love; I fostered them like the one who raises an infant to his cheeks; Yet, though i stooped to feed my child, they did not know that I  was their leader."

The Israelites abandoned God and followed other nations in their worship of false gods.  They wanted a king, rejecting God as their king, and fell into idolatry like so many others around them.  We, too, have a tendency to worship idols: wealth, pleasure, sex, consumerism, materialism, power and control, technology, TV, entertainment--anything that we allow to consume our attention and occupy our time above God is idol worship.  With what, we need to ask ourselves, do we spend most of our time to the extent that we do not take time to pray, to study the Scriptures,  to meet out responsibilities to build up God's Kingdom on earth, to foster unity among those with whom we live, to save those suffering starvation--starving physically, emotionally, spiritually, socially--in ways we are able to bring relief?  To and from what do I seek comfort and peace more than I do from God, my Creator?

Let us heed the words of today's responsorial psalm: "Let us seek your face, Lord, and we shall be saved"(Psalm 80) from our misguided pursuit of happiness in place of seeking happiness in You above all!  Save us, Lord, from pursuing security in accumulating more and more material things, in increasing excessive wealth, that crowds out our awareness of You and of our responsibilities to love
others as we truly love ourselves and to love them above material comforts.

Needing God's Intervention

In today's first reading, 1 Kings 19: 9b-11, 14-21, 31-35a, 36, Hezekiah, king of Judah, receives a letter from Sennacherib, king of Assyria, reminding him that Assyria has destroyed any city or nation into whose territory they enter and Judah will be no exception.   Hezekiah takes the letter from the messengers, goes to the Temple, lays out the letter to the Lord and says to the Lord:  "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 words of Sennacherib which he sent to taught 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 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."

WOW! the wisdom, faith, and surrender of Hezekiah!  Like Hezekiah, you and I know that God is God alone. There is no other. Do we, like Hezekiah, when faced with threats of destruction, go immediately to God? Do we spread the situation out before the Lord, knowing that God is listening? As we listen to the news each night, each week, each month, do we go to the Lord and spread out  before him the issues  that threaten to destroy earth by poisons being put into it because we want
to make billions of dollars in profits? Do we take to the Lord the fact that animals, fishes, and birds of the air are becoming extinct as the results of the air and the water and the vegetation needed for survival being depleted? Do we spread before the Lord the legislative efforts to deprive individuals of their basic human rights to secure jobs that enable them to sufficiently provide for their families' right to education, to housing, to adequate food, to freedom from violence by the very people who are to protect them?  Do we spread before the Lord the fact that persons seeking asylum from  life-threatening situations in their own countries are being sent back to face abuse and even death?  Do we spread before the Lord the ways in which the basic human rights of persons of color, of other sexual orientations and of different beliefs are being challenged in our courts?

What would my list, your list, look like that we take to the Lord in prayer each day on behalf of a suffering, wounded world, a world as in danger of destruction as was the country and the people of Israel. The ways in which we are threatened may be different from real just the same! Are we seeking God's help? Remember, He is waiting for us to be honest with Him about what is going on in the world, not covering it up, and not trying to "fix it" alone--that is beyond our ability. We need God's intervention!

Consciously Seeking God in Silence or Solitude

In today's responsorial psalm, we ask God how we can escape His spirit.  The answer is that it is impossible to escape from God. God is everywhere:  in the heavens above and the earth below,  in the light and in the darkness, in the day and in the night, in the nether world and in the farthest limits of the sea, in the core of every human being, in all of creation, and in every situation we encounter here on earth!

Human beings try to escape God's sight and God's presence by keeping super busy. What the compulsive activist does not realize is that he or she is actually searching for his/her God!  There is an insatiable hunger within each one of us to know God, find God and be with God.  To achieve that goal, as far as humanly possible,  one needs to withdraw from frenetic activity and enter into solitude.  "Be still and know that I am God," God tells us in Psalm 46:10--The Jerusalem Bible).

When was the last time, you or I sat down quietly and listened to the stillness found, for instance, in nature, in churches, in a quiet place in our homes or on our decks, a place where we are not distracted by TV, i-phones, i-pads, computer games or any other gadget or addictive activity that we grab onto to escape the emptiness within and around us.

Let us, each day, choose to be quiet for 5-10 minutes to know that God is God and we are not! One of my retreat directors said to me: There is nothing more like God than solitude.  Let us ask God for the grace to consciously seek Him above all in 5 or more minutes of solitude each day!

God Fights for Us against Satan

God Fights for Us against Satan

In yesterday's reading from  Exodus 14: 21-15:1, "the Egyptians sounded the retreat before Israel, because the Lord was fighting for them against the Egyptians."  The same is true for us. Enemies may be pursuing us on every side and especially from within our own beings: pride, selfishness, gluttony, idolatry (God substitutes such as compulsive use of alcohol, drugs, food,  pleasure, relationships,  sex or whatever we use to distract ourselves or as sole means to meet insatiable needs, calm excessive fears, and avoid feeling whatever pain is beckoning us to look at the truth of what is going on in our lives). As with the Israelites, God fights for us as well.

By our use of God substitutes, we are likely to deafen ourselves to God's voice and develop a  blindness to God's presence and action in our lives.  How do we keep our ears and eyes open?  How do we maintain our focus on God, realizing and discovering that God is on our side and that God is enough for us? By calling upon the Holy Spirit or reverently uttering Jesus' name, asking God to help us.  It is at those times that Satan sounds his "retreat" from us,  because he knows then that the Lord is fighting for us against him in the same way as the Lord fought for the Israelites, His Chosen People.

Consulting the Lord above all else!

In today's first reading, Galatians 1: 13-14, St. Paul tells us that, after Jesus revealed Himself to him,  he  "did not immediately consult flesh and blood, nor did [he] go up to Jerusalem to those who were Apostles before me..."  How often when something amazing or overpowering--good or evil, triumphs or failures--happens to us do we not go to "flesh and blood," or rush to our "Jerusalems" to seek counsel or share our stories.  What if we went first to the Lord and poured out our souls to Him and, after prayer,  consulted "flesh and blood."

A few days ago, I had an experience in which I did not approve of the way I reacted. Tonight I first shared it in prayer with the Lord. In my heart, I heard the Lord say to me:  "Seek Me, Dorothy Ann, not justification or approval from anyone. I am enough for you."  How humbling but how true!

As, in many of my prayer times when I pour out my soul to the Lord, my loved ones in  heaven want "a piece of the pie", so to speak. In my heart I heard my mother say to me:  "Dort, your mom! .... (she then gave me expert advice that applied to the situation).  Other family members also let me know that they love me and were supporting me. Then, in the depths of my heart, I heard my mom say to me: "Dort, [w]e are here for you. Seek our counsel." 

I need to learn, or the Lord is teaching me, to seek Him above all, to trust Him above all, to rely upon His counsel above all.  How much heartache I would spare myself, if I followed this advice!

How about you?

Seek the Lord above All

Today's first reading, Isaiah 26: 7-9, 12, 16-19, begins with the following statement: "The way of the just is smooth; the path of the just you make level. Yes, for your way and your judgments, O Lord, we look to you; your name and your title are the desire of our souls. My soul yearns for you in the night, yes, my spirit within me keeps vigil for you; when your judgment dawns upon the world's inhabitants learn justice. O Lord, you  mete out peace to us, for it is you who have accomplished all we have done."

We have a lot to learn from that passage and questions to ask. First of all, how smooth is the way upon which I walk? If not smooth, is it because I am involved in unjust practises or burdened down by pursuits that are fleeting and unnecessary? Second of all, am I looking for God's way and God's judgments or am I busy seeking other people's judgment, hoping to be appraised mightily? Thirdly, what are my desires? "God's name and title"? Fourthly, for what does my soul yearn in the night?

If it is God's judgment that we are seeking, Isaiah tells us, then we will learn justice (and, I add, practice it)!  If we realize that whatever good we accomplish is God at work through us, we will then be filled with peace.

In the Gospel, Jesus says to us: "Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened and I will give you rest."  "Come to Jesus" to learn the ways of the Lord! Jesus tells us that He has come that we might have fullness of life (in Him) and that He has not come to condemn the world but save it!  In seeking other people's judgment and looking to the law, we set ourselves up for condemnation! Jesus is meek and humble of heart and relates to us in that way!  Go to Jesus when you are burdened and when you are not!

Praising God in all of the Vicissitudes of life

Today's praises in place of the responsorial psalm are from Daniel 3: 52, 53, 54, 55, 56. One of the blessings is:  Blessed are you who look into the depth from your throne upon the cherubim, praiseworthy and exalted above all forever."

As I encountered the difficulties of this day and lost my "cool," I did not, for sure, pray a blessing or praise God.  I felt anything but blessed nor did I feel like blessing the person who "got under my skin."  I do know, however, that God sees into the depth of this person. He sees what I do not see and He loves her unconditionally.  He reads her heart--a heart that overflows with love for all and for whom she will go to any length to show her love.

The other lesson that God may be trying to teach us when "turbulence" appears is that it is important to praise God in both the pleasant or unpleasant situations of any given day! Truly we need to say: Blessed are you who look into the depths from your throne upon the cherubim, praiseworthy and exalted above all forever.  
  

Blessings and Encouragement

In today's first reading, 2 Corinthians 1: 1-7, Paul greets the people of Corinth by saying: "[G]race and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."   That same greeting is given to us today wherever we are and whoever we are.  Also in  this passage, Paul proclaims that our God is a God "of all encouragement," a "Father of compassion," one  who "encourages us  in our every affliction, so that we may be able to encourage those who are in any affliction with the encouragement with which we ourselves are encouraged by God."

Here in this life you and I are an extension of God. We are blessed by God in order to be a blessing to others. We are encouraged by God in our suffering,  pain, and challenges of life in order that we, in turn, will encourage others as they encounter realities of this life that leave them baffled, confused, hurting or traumatized, not because God wills life's calamities but that, in them, we may seek the Lord, discover God's presence and rely on God's power to bring about our salvation.  

The psalmist, in today's responsorial psalm, invites us to "taste and see the goodness of the Lord."  With the psalmist, may we be able to say at the end of the day: "I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears."  May I also accept the invitation of the psalmist to "[l]ook to him [God] that...[I] may be radiant with joy, and ...[my face] may not blush with shame."    May I "glorify the Lord,...extol his name", and take "refuge" in the Lord" in every circumstance of life and especially in the difficult times.

One with Our Creator

In today's first reading, Acts 17: 15, 22-18:1, Paul speaks to us of our origins: In God, Paul tells us,  "we live and move and have our being....[W]e are the offspring of God"!

We spring off of God. God has given "life and breath"  to every member of the human race and has given us the option of dwelling "on the entire surface of the earth."  God also made the entire universe for us: the sun and the stars, the galaxies, each of the seasons--spring, summer, fall and winter.  He set boundaries for each of the seasons, for each of the bodies of water, for all humankind, really, so that we  "might seek God, even perhaps grope for him and find him, though indeed he is not far from any one of us,"-- remember that we "live and move and have our being" in God Himself.

WOW! Listen to God say to you personally:

"(Your name)____________, I, your God, made the world for your enjoyment, for your learning about Me.
I, your God, made all that is in the world as a means for you to "grope" for me and "find" Me.
I am not served by any of you because I need nothing from you (See this statement in this passage of Acts).
I serve you, bathe you in grace.
I protect you from the Evil One.
My Son returned to Me on Ascension Day in order to send you the Holy Spirit on Pentecost and He is preparing a place for you in heaven.
I, Your God, am the one who sent My Son to take on human nature. He lives in Me and I in Him. He was sent to show you my love for you by ransoming you from death by His death on the cross and resurrection from the dead. By His death and resurrection,  He destroyed death's power over you. So, if you believe in Me, I will see you in heaven, also."

Being a Disciple of Jesus

In today’s first reading, Jeremiah 18: 18-20, we are told about the people of Judah’s plot to kill Jeremiah: “Come, let us contrive a plot against Jeremiah. It will not mean the loss of instruction from the priests, nor of counsel from the wise, nor of messages from the prophets. And so, let us destroy him by his own tongue; let us carefully note his every word.”   Jeremiah asks God to spare him this kind of suffering:

                Heed me, O Lord,

                And listen to what my adversaries say.

                Must good be repaid with evil

                that they should dig a pit to take my life?

                Remember that I stood before you

                To speak in their behalf,

                to turn away your wrath from them.

               

Obviously, Jeremiah is a prefiguration of Jesus. Throughout Jesus’ public ministry, the scribes and the Pharisees plotted to put Him to death by his own words.  ”Carefully, [H]is every word” was noted.   Like Jeremiah, Jesus begs His Father to take note.  In the Garden of Gethsemane, “he threw himself on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, this hour might pass him by. ‘Abba, Father! For you everything is possible. ‘Take this cup away from me. But let it be as you, not I, would have it.”

How willing, when I encounter suffering, am I to pray: “Abba, Father! For you everything is possible. Take this cup away from me. But let it be as you,  not I, would have it”?

In today’s Gospel, Matthew 20: 17-28, Jesus tells the Twelve that they are on their way up to Jerusalem. “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death, and hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and scourged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day.”

You and I, throughout our life time, also are on our way to Jerusalem.  And, like the Twelve, we don’t always get it (See today’s Gospel)!  Sadly, we could, like them, still be clamoring for first place, for places of privileges, for special favors that put us above others, as in the case of James and John, who, through their mother, begged to be given special privileges in Jesus’ kingdom, which at that point they still believed would be an earthly one!

For what am I clamoring? Do I realize that, as a follower of Jesus, I, too, am going up to Jerusalem, where, through the process of dying and through death itself, I will be raised to a new life of grace, a life where good triumphs over evil, where I am put in right relationships with God, self and others, where there are no more tears or suffering,  and where sin will not prevail?

God Beckoning Us as a Lover Beckons His Bride

In today’s first reading, Song of Songs 2: 8-14, we encounter our Lover God and God, our Beloved,  beckons and  encounters us:  “Hark! My lover—here he comes springing across the mountains, leaping across the hills. My [L]over is like a gazelle or a young stag. Here [God] stands behind our wall, gazing through the windows, peering through the lattices. My [L]over speaks; he says to me, ‘Arise, my beloved, my dove, my beautiful one, and come!....O my dove in the clefts of the rock, in the secret recesses of the cliff, let me see you, let me hear your voice, for your voice is sweet, and you are lovely.”

Today we buried one of our Sisters and I could not help but think of Sister seeing her Beloved “springing across the mountains, leaping across the hills,” coming to take her into Paradise. I also imagined the Lord saying to her: “Arise, my beloved, my dove, my beautiful one, and come! O my dove in the clefts of the rock, in the secret recesses of the cliff, let me see you, let me hear your voice, for your voice is sweet, and you are lovely.” And vice  versa, I would hear Sister saying the same thing to the Lord.

Are you and I ready for that day or night when our “Lover…comes springing across the mountains, leaping across the hills…like a gazelle or a young stag”?  Yes, I believe, that God stands behind the walls we build to protect ourselves from taking risks to love as God loves, to forgive as God forgives, to be His hands, His feet, His mouth caring for others in need.  I believe that God holds out His hands beckoning us to take that step that we are afraid to take, to trust that we will be given the graces we need to meet whatever challenge frightens us, including the challenge of death itself. I believe that God gazes through the windows, peers through the lattices of our souls, seeking to enter our hearts and minds and lives with an abundance of graces we most need. He says to us, as we say to God: “O my dove in the clefts of the rock, in the secret recesses of the cliff, let me see you, let me hear your voice, for your voice is sweet, and you are lovely.”

Praising God, Seeking God, Looking to God

Today’s responsorial psalm, Ps. 34,  is filled with wisdom, giving us direction on how to, truly, be filled with the Lord.  “Bless the Lord at all times,” the psalmist says to us.  May God’s “praise…be ever in my mouth. Let my soul glory in the Lord.”  We are then asked to invite others to “extol [God’s] name.” The psalmist then gives personal witness: “I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears.” The author of the psalms is King David, who had to flee from his son Absalom, who was seeking to kill him.  David says to us: “Look to [God] that you may be radiant with joy, and your faces may not blush with shame.”  When, in our own poverty, we call out to the Lord, the Lord hears our cry, and “from all [our] distress [God] saves [us].” Not, necessarily, removing that which is disturbing to us  but calming our spirits, strengthening our  innermost beings, filling us with a divine power the world cannot give. It is the same power, for instance, that gave martyrs of old, and those of today,  the courage they needed in the face of martyrdom.

When I encounter disturbing events, do I focus on the Lord or on the disturbance?  Whichever I choose determines my disposition or my attitude. If I choose to focus on the disturbance, my anxiety, my confusion, my anger mushrooms. If go to the Lord and share my concerns, my frustration—especially if I do so in writing and ask for the Lord’s feedback, also in writing, I will be comforted, strengthened, made whole, uplifted.  What is your choice?

Doubt Changed to Belief

In today's Gospel, John 20: 24-29, Thomas says to his fellow apostles, who testify to Jesus' resurrection from the dead, that he will not believe, unless he personally encounters the Risen Lord. Thomas does not put on airs. He is honest about his faith at that point.  He has seen Jesus horribly crucified, dead on the cross, as any criminal crucified by the Romans. How could Jesus possibly be anything but dead. His hopes shattered. His belief destroyed, so it seemed, by doubt. "Unless I put my hands into the marks of His hands and side, I will not believe."

Thomas believes on his own merits. He believes after a personal encounter with the Risen Christ.  That, too, is how our faith  grows, namely, by developing a personal relationship with the Lord, by talking to the Lord, by spending time in His presence, by being honest with the Lord, not pretending, by seeking the Lord and sharing our doubts, fears, hurts, concerns, our love and faith, by being involved in what is happening in the world and striving to do good!

In the first reading, Eph. 2: 19-22, St Paul tells us that we are no longer strangers, aliens, or sojourners. We are members of the household of God with all of the saints and angels in heaven; yes, with St. Thomas and all of the apostles.  Just as Thomas and the apostles shared intimately with Jesus, experienced what Jesus went through, so, too, do you and I. We are not strangers to suffering or resurrection, to doubt or faith, to love or a lack of love, anymore that Jesus was! Also, reflect on what it means to you to be a member of the household of God--think of what it means to be a member of your family and then translate that into being part of God's household. What a gift! What a privilege! What an honor! Just as I drop in anytime and am welcome in my family here on earth, am I welcome into God's house, day or night!

The Coming of the Lord

Today’s first reading, Malachi 3: 1-4, 23-24, opens with the statement “Lo, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me; and suddenly there will come to the temple the Lord whom you seek.”  We can apply that message to ourselves.  Today in each of its events and encounters, the Lord sends a messenger to prepare you and me for His coming. Every day, God does this.  Does God find me sleeping, inattentive, distracted?  We are told by the prophet Malachi that “[s]uddenly there will come to the temple the Lord whom you seek.”  Suddenly the Lord, whom we seek and for whom we long, will come to the temples of our bodies in the host consecrated at every Catholic Liturgy and received in Holy Communion.  This Christmas we celebrate God coming on earth as a living, gentle, smiling, dependent infant.

God also comes to us in a whisper of hope,  a touch of caring love, as an inspiring thought,  a gentle reminder, as a spring rain or softly falling snow whitening the ground , flowers opening/revealing their beauty in the spring of the year,  as sunrises and sunsets bursting with bright light across the horizon. Am I awake to the Lord’s coming? Am I aware? Am I seeking the Lord in all of the events of the day, in the changing of the seasons, in the awakening of the dawn and the approach of darkness? Or am I too full of selfishness, too busy with projects, too angry and resentful or anxious over worldly cares to notice?  When that is so, Lord, I ask for forgiveness and healing, mercy and love so that I may see you each day, working quietly and lovingly in my midst.

Born Anew in the Spirit, in the Transcendent, Holy One

In today’s  Gospel, John 3: 7b-15, Jesus says to Nicodemus and to us: “You must be born from above.”   He also reminds us that “just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” What does it mean that you and I must be born from above? For me, that means that everything--all of my activities, all my relationships, the challenges and difficulties of any given day, the joys and exciting moments of a day, the disappointments and moments of sadness--has both an earthy reality and a transcendent one.  I can meet God or ignore God in any of my experiences. If I am genuinely seeking God and if let God find me in each of the day’s events, if I look upon Him whom they have pierced, repent and believe,  I will “be born from above,”  that is, I will be transformed into Christ’s way of seeing things, Christ’s way of dealing with difficult situations, Christ's way of loving and forgiving.  What I need to work at is training myself to look for God above all else.  When I troubled about my behavior or about anything, I need to take those experiences to the Lord in prayer, seeking His counsel and asking for His help. Yes, I need to bare by soul to the Lord.   When I recognize  my need my need to help and for mercy, I then open my being to being "born from above." Earth and heaven then touch each other. That which is below and that which is above meet in a humble embrace of love in those moments.

Speak, Lord, Your Servant Is Listening

In today’s first  reading, 1 Samuel 3: 1-10, 19-20, young Samuel is asleep when he hears his name being called.  He goes to Eli, his superior and mentor, thinking Eli called him. He does this three times.  Eli then realizes that it is the Lord who is calling Samuel and instructs him to go back to sleep and if he hears his name called again that he should answer: “Speak , Lord, your servant is listening.”  Until that point, Samuel “was not familiar with the Lord, because the Lord had not revealed anything to him as yet.”  Note the statement “as yet.”  You may not, yet, be familiar with the Lord.  However you will be, that is part of our call as baptized Christians to get to know the Lord and His ways, to put on His thoughts, to recognize His will and follow it.  “I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her” (Hosea 2:14). Sometimes, as we say in the addiction’s field, people have to hit rock bottom before they cry out: “Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.”   Somehow we need to experience the absolute emptiness of the promises of this world and in that desert come to realize that it is the Lord whom we  seek, and need, that it is His voice for which we need to be listening. Out of our sleep, the Lord calls us to be His instrument in a world darkened by sin, led astray by ego-demands to accumulate material things and to climb the corporate ladder of success while neglecting those of the Spirit. 

Am I ready to be awakened? Do I have a wisdom figure, a spiritual director,  like Eli whom I trust, who encourages me to listen for the Lord’s voice amid the darkness of night?

My God Image: How It Impacts How I Approach God

In the Gospel of today, Mt 7: 7-12, Jesus tells us to “ask and you shall receive, knock and the door will be opened, seek and you shall find.”    A God who cares, who wants us to knock at the door of His heart, and who wants us to seek Him, to seek His face, to seek His love, to seek His help, to seek His forgiveness in all things is the God  with whom Jesus invites us to fall in love and to get to know intimately.

Ever go to the door of your superiors, or to another person, in trepidation? “Will he/she receive me? Will I be turned away? Will my boss/this person be too busy? Will I be treated with scorn? Will I be chastised? Will the tables be turned against me? Will my boss/this person retaliate against me?” we may wonder.No surprise that we approach God with little confidence, or don’t approach Him/Her at all!  Past experiences with authority figures, or with other persons who treated us badly,  may be very much alive in our sub- or unconscious minds. We may also have been taught, as youngsters, that God is a God of revenge, a demanding God, a God keeping score of our wrongdoing; who, with no hesitation, throws His/Her “enemies” into the everlasting flames.

This is not the God Jesus reveals to us.  Jesus reveals a God who is compassionate, eager to wipe away our tears, heal our wounds, bring us back to health, put His arms around,  forgive our sins and reconcile us to Him/Herself-- a God who quickly reassures us, comforts us, especially when our sins are scarlet red: “This day you will be with me in paradise.”  We will always encounter a God from whom healing power flows when we touch but the hem of His garment, a God who confronts our accusers and says to us “I do not condemn you.” 

We might be saying: “Whew!  What an encounter. Why did I not prostrate myself before God sooner? Why was I afraid to approach the God who Jesus taught, by His words and actions, is a God of compassion, love, and, kindness toward all who call upon Him.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Honor God’s name!

Acknowledge God’s presence!
Prepare God’s way!
Probe God’s messages!
Yes, know that God is always speaking Truth, seeking Truth, and inviting us to Truth!

The Lord is King!

Halleluiah!
Always present is my God! Halleluiah!
Now and forever near to those who seek Him,
Knowing my comings and goings and my thoughts from afar!
Sound the trumpet! God is near!  Halleluiah!
Give glory and honor and praise to God’s holy name!
In times of darkness and of light, in sorrow and in joy, in life and in death
Verify that God is God,
Invisible and infinite,
Never far from the brokenhearted is our
God and Savior!

Faith Alive

In today’s first reading, 2 Kings 19: 9b-11, 14-21, 31-35a, 36, we hear the story of how Hezikiah, King of Jud, handled the news of impending disaster.  Sennacharib, King od Assyria,  was planning to attack Judah, the Southern Kingdom of Israel, to do to them what had been done to the Northern Kingdom: disperse them, exile them from their inherited land and destroy the Temple, their place of worship.  Hezikiah went to the Lord and prayed:

“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 words of Sennecherib

 which he sent to taunt 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.”

Hezikah’s prayer was answered and 185,000 men of Sennacherib’s army died that night. Sennacherib retreated.

Your response might be: “What magic!” It was not magic. Hezikiah was a God-fearing person, a man who lived by faith.  He expected to see God in the events of his day.  If we live by faith, we will  also see God at work in our lives and in the world of today. If we do not keep our covenant with God, if we do not rely upon God, if we do not look for God, we, obviously will not find Him nor will we see Him at work in our lives. Disaster will be disaster period and not something out of which God brings a good.  Chaos will be chaos and chaos alone, not something out of which order will emerge in God’s time with our cooperation and reliance upon God.