A great prophet has appeared among us;
God has visited his people. Lk7:16
HEBREWS 4:1-5,11
My Soul's Beloved,
We have the wonderful privilege of being born at an age when people in every nation have heard of You and of the Good News that saves. In today's Epistle, we are warned not to be like the people of Israel. To every unbeliever, God says, 'And so, in anger, I swore that not one would reach the place of rest I had for them.'
Faith in the Good News has power to move mountains, to calm the waves, to gentle the wind, to restore order from chaos, to make whole what was broken, and make all things new. All who hear and believe are saved those who hear and refuse to believe are condemned to eternal separation from God.
We trust in Your promise to return in glory and take all who have believed, hoped, and trusted in You, to that place of eternal and joyous rest in You, 'We must therefore do everything we can to reach this place of rest, or some of you might copy this example of disobedience and be lost.'
PSALM 78:3-4,6-8
My Soul's Beloved,
We forget all too easily the wonderful blessings You have showered on us when the road gets rough and narrow. We are prone to complaining and whining, We are dissatisfied, meanspirited, and disagreeable when things don't go the way we planned. Our greatest failure is neglecting our mission to share the beauty and the glory of our faith with our children and those closest to us although we are commanded to do and are guilty of not only failing but doing them a great disservice by our neglect.
The psalmist reminds us not to hide the treasures of our faith from our children, if we do how can it be handed over from generation to generation? We have only to look at our world today to see the results of our failure to do so.
You are so good to us, how marvelously You care for us. You always come to our rescue in times of trouble and distress, but the moment the difficult moments pass we forget You and become once again, 'a defiant and rebellious race, a race whose heart was fickle, whose spirit was unfaithful to God.'.
We need constant reminding to, 'Never forget the deeds of the Lord.' From this day forth may we never fail to testify aloud to all that You have done to save us and to save the whole world.
MARK 2:1-12
My Soul's Beloved,
Once again St. Mark tells us of another miracle that reminds us of the necessity of faith, and of being forgiven and absolved of our sins, in order to be restored to perfect health in mind, body, soul, and spirit. Sin has consequences, and grave sin has grave consequences that affect our whole being and robs us of our inheritance as children of God.
St. Mark describes the scene vividly, it is a small house tightly packed with people even up to the front of the door leaving no room for anyone to enter. People, hungering for the truth, have come from all around to be fed by Your Word, the Word of God. Four friends heeding the great desire of their paralytic friend to be healed bring him to You. They are not deterred by the fact that the crowds make it impossible for them to enter by the doorway instead they seek another way, 'they stripped the roof over the place where Jesus was; and when they had made an opening, they lowered the stretcher on which the paralytic lay.'
Everyone's eyes are on the scene unfolding before them, excitement is building in the packed house, they know they are about to witness a miracle. You perceive their great faith, the paralytic's in desiring to be healed by You and his friends' in consenting to bring him to You. Those present expect You to touch the man and command him to be healed as You have done so often in the past, but instead, to everyone's surprise, You look at the man with fatherly tenderness and love and say, ‘My child, your sins are forgiven.’
There would have been a stunned silence in the room but it was the scribes who judged You secretly in their hearts, ‘How can this man talk like that? He is blaspheming. Who can forgive sins but God?’
You know their thoughts and reveal them, 'Why do you have these thoughts in your hearts? Which of these is easier: to say to the paralytic, “Your sins are forgiven” or to say, “Get up, pick up your stretcher and walk”? But to prove to you that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,’ – he turned to the paralytic – ‘I order you: get up, pick up your stretcher, and go off home.’
Who but God can absolve sins on His own merit and who but God can work a complete and immediate miracle of healing? The scribes were given a befitting response by both Your actions proving that You are indeed God.
The crowds gazed astounded as the man got up, picked up his stretcher at once and walked out in front of everyone and they praised God saying, ‘We have never seen anything like this.’ Thank You for continuing to astound the world by Your supreme act of love by dying on the Cross to save us.
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