DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS: 1 Kings 18:20-39,
Psalm 16:1-2, 4-5, 8 & 11,
Matthew 5:17-19
My Beloved, You will have no part of a divided heart. You want all of us - heart, mind, soul, body and spirit. We are called to love You with all the strength of our being. In this thought provoking and awe inspiring narration of God's power we see a foreshadow of the Sacrifice that You were to make and which was so pleasing and acceptable to the Father.
We run after false gods, idols and we have the false prophets of the culture touting various mantras that are supposed to be a panacea to heal all our self-inflicted wounds, fill every artificial need and provide unending thrills on the merry-go-round of dizzying distractions. There is a cacophany of sound in ever rising decibels that drown the soft, still gentle voice of the Holy Spirit. All our clamoring to satisy our senses leaves only the taste of bitter ashes in our mouth and we remain as empty as we ever were.
In verse 30 the prophet Elijah says, "Draw closer to me." It is an invitation to all. At every Eucharist God invites us to draw close to Him and we respond to His loving invitation by doing so. In our worship of You at the Eucharistic feast we prepare the Altar of Sacrifice. The Wood of the Cross is the Altar, the Lamb is prepared for the Sacrifice, He is laid on the wood of the Cross, His flesh is torn and His Body is broken, His Blood is spilled. We offer to the Father the only acceptable Sacrifice in atonement for our sins and the sins of the whole world and the all consuming fire of God's love accepts the unbloody Sacrifice of His Son, the Lamb without stain or blemish and cleanses us of all sin, purifies us, redeems and restores us to health once more. This Sacrifice has power to make all things new - we fall on our faces and proclaim that our God is indeed God.
I make every verse in this heartfelt psalm of praise my own prayer of thanksgiving to You today. You are my God and my heart exults in You. In You I am safe. Your love and Your Spirit are the beacons that guide my steps to the Kingdom.
My Beloved is these short verses from the Gospel of Matthew You speak clearly and forcefully about Your mission and the reason why the Father sent You from heaven to earth. The Old Testament laid the foundation and prepared the way for Your coming into the world as the fulfillment of all the prophecies ever made since the creation of the world.
As You rightly point out all the commandments must be obeyed. They are timeless and are necessary if we are to live according to the will of God. Verse 19 is a clear warning to all who have ears and are willing to listen. We live in an immoral and amoral age. Sin is called everything but its true name and every sin is now embraced as a virtue. Truth by its very nature is unchanging - it is the same yesterday, today and forever. The latter part of verse 19 is a promise to those who walk with and on the side of Truth.
To Pilate's question, "What is truth?" we answer, Jesus Christ is the Truth, the never-changing, all embracing Son of God who reconciles all things to the Father is Truth.
No comments:
Post a Comment