Rejoice and be glad:
your reward will be great in heaven. MT 5:12A
1 KINGS 1:17:1-6
My Beloved, Soul of my soul,
All we receive comes from Your bountiful hand. You provide for all our needs but during the times, like the present, when You seem to withdraw from us and hide Yourself from our gaze, it is time for us to do some soul-searching. Too often we sin and separate ourselves from You. When we are deaf to the pleading of the Holy Spirit to give up our unholy, sinful ways we find ourselves in arid land without food or drink to sustain us. But all who faithfully obey Your commandments will find, like Elijah, that You ensure they will be neither hungry or thirsty. You never forsake Your own.
PSALM 121
My Beloved, Soul of my soul,
Thank You for the blessed assurances in today's psalm. Yes, You are never far from us. We call on Your Name and You are with us. You hear our cries and You hasten to help us.
You are faithful. You never sleep and Your gaze upon us is unwavering lest we stumble and fall. You know we are weak and so You provide us with all the grace and help we need through the power of Your Holy Spirit abiding in us.
Because we are called by Your Name we rest in Your shade and the power of Your right hand is raised against our enemies so they cannot smite us. We have Your promise that evil will not prevail for You have appointed angels to stand guard over us and watch over us forever.
MATTHEW 5:1-12
My Beloved, Soul of my soul,
You are the living proof of the authenticity of the promises of the Beatitudes. Countless saints, beginning with the Apostles, have given witness to the joy of living the Beatitudes by making them the guiding principles of their lives.
From the moment of Your incarnation, through the 30 years of Your hidden life in Nazareth with Mary and Joseph, through the 3 years of Your very eventful public ministry full of signs and marvels and of making known the Father's great love for us, through Your passion leading up to Your ignominious, shameful, horrific death on the Cross, Your glorious resurrection and ascension into heaven, You have lived every one of the Beatitudes You taught on that Mount 2000 years ago. The life of the true Christian is a bed of glorious roses but filled with terribly long, and sharp thorns that will sometimes cause us to bleed and perhaps even die but in the end, all who have lived by these blessed principles will behold You face to face in the Kingdom of God.
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