A great prophet has appeared among us;
God has visited his people. LK 7:16
NUMBERS 13:1-2,25-14:1,26-29,34-35 ©
My Soul's Beloved,
God knew what the land of Canaan and its people were like and He could have commanded Moses to go in and take it and they would have prevailed for it is the land that God promised to give His people. Yet, God wanted the people to make a survey of the land and see the goodness of the land for themselves. Each of the leaders of the tribes of Israel was entrusted with this task. When they returned they brought with them proof of the fertility of the land in the good fruit it produced.
This is what they reported to Moses and the people:
‘We went into the land to which you sent us. It does indeed flow with milk and honey; this is its produce. At the same time, its inhabitants are a powerful people; the towns are fortified and very big; yes, and we saw the descendants of Anak there. The Amalekite holds the Negeb area, the Hittite, Amorite and Jebusite the highlands, and the Canaanite the sea coast and the banks of the Jordan.’
Of the 12 leaders of the tribe only Caleb was quite confident that they could march in and conquer the land. For whatever reason the other 11 told such outlandish lies that the people cried aloud all night in fear. The land flowing with milk and honey that God promises Abraham would have been theirs for the taking had the leader been truthful, instead the whole community who believed them instead of Caleb suffered. The God of Justice in righteous indignation spoke to Moses and Aaron saying:
‘“As I live – it is the Lord who speaks – I will deal with you according to the very words you have used in my hearing. In this wilderness your dead bodies will fall, all you men of the census, all you who were numbered from the age of twenty years and over, you who have complained against me. For forty days you reconnoitred the land. Each day shall count for a year: for forty years you shall bear the burden of your sins, and you shall learn what it means to reject me.” I, the Lord, have spoken: this is how I will deal with this perverse community that has conspired against me. Here in this wilderness, to the last man, they shall die.’
Beloved, when our leaders fudge eternal truths and promote half-truths instead and soft-peddle sins because they seek to pander to the desires of sinners rather than correct them and direct them in the way of life then our world will be in the exact position in which we find ourselves today. We live in a decaying, sterile, dying world. The stench of sin is everywhere. Innocence, purity, truth, beauty, and goodness have fled because evil is hell-bent on plunging the entire world into the deepest, darkest pit of hell.
For the sake of the remnant, O Lord have pity on us and deliver us. Eternal Father for the sake of Jesus' sorrowful passion have mercy on us and on the whole world.
PSALM 105(106):6-7,13-14,21-23 ©
My Soul's Beloved,
Together with the psalmist, we cry out to You today as we pray: O Lord, remember me out of the love you have for your people.
We look at our world in horror Lord, the world that God created by the utterance of His Eternal World and through the power of His Spirit and who said after all He had created, "It is very good." Sin entered the world and we are broken. We are guilt-ridden. We have turned our back on You. We carelessly cast behind our backs God's saving Love revealed to us in the incarnation, passion, death, and resurrection and choose to pant after what is perishable and transient.
We have shut our ears to the wonder of God and His love. We are ignorant of the love story that is revealed in His Word and the world encourages this ignorance because it is given over to evil.
The desert is barren and yet we choose the wastelands instead of the goodness of our God constantly putting Him to the test as the Israelites did. We have forgotten You, our Savior who although being God humbled Yourself, taking the form of a slave and giving Your life for us to save us.
This is why we deserve the same destruction that the Israelites suffered in the wilderness but we plead O Lord, for the sake of Your remnant and say, 'Remember me out of the love you have for your people.'
MATTHEW 15:21-28 ©
My Soul's Beloved,
The people of the House of Israel have rejected You. The people whom You have chosen to live in the new city of Jerusalem have rejected You as well and continue to do so. We have only to look at the hierarchy and the shepherds appointed to guard the flock to see how scandalously they have betrayed God and His children. They not only committed grave sins but hid each other's sins allowing wickedness and evil to continue to grow and thrive until the evil within could no longer be contained and it exploded threatening to destroy the Church and all in it.
Today's Gospel of the Canaanite woman pleading with You to have pity on her daughter tormented by the devil and heal her gives hope to those who are outside the Church as well as cautions those who are within. It seemed for a moment that You would ignore her completely despite the ruckus she was creating. She cried aloud, ‘Sir, Son of David, take pity on me. My daughter is tormented by a devil.’
It was Your disciples who pleaded on her behalf, ‘Give her what she wants,’ they said ‘because she is shouting after us.’ To which You replied, ‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of the House of Israel.’ Where are our good shepherds Lord who plead on our behalf night and day? Are there any?
The persistent woman came up to You, knelt at Your feet, and said, ‘Lord, help me.’ There is no more powerful prayer than this. You will hear such a prayer and You will answer even from Your response, ‘It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the house dogs,’ You appeared reluctant to do so. But she would not give up until she received what she asked for. In humility, she pleaded, ‘Ah yes, sir; but even house dogs can eat the scraps that fall from their master’s table.’ She did receive an answer to her prayer, ‘Woman, you have great faith. Let your wish be granted.’ And from that moment her daughter was well again. Grant me a humble, persistent faith Beloved, and may I have every confidence that You will never refuse anything I ask for if it is good for me.
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