Harden not your hearts today,
but listen to the voice of the Lord. PS 94:8
JOB 38:1,12-21,40:3-5
My Soul's Beloved,
You O Lord are far greater than anything that our mortal minds can ever imagine or comprehend. This however we do know, that we are creatures whom God deigned to create and He loves us so much that even after we broke His command He did not annihilate us as we deserved but passionately desired to save us. Who are we Lord but foolish sheep who constantly veer from the path of life, truth, goodness, and grace. We deserved death but God who is love did not desire the death of his poor creatures but desired instead to give us life in its abundance. The Father has so loved us that He sent You into the world not to condemn us but to become the means by which we are saved.
Yet we constantly question Your ways, Your goodness, Your wisdom, and we get upset and angry when we do not understand or comprehend that as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are Your ways higher than our ways and Your thoughts than our thoughts. When we are perplexed Lord and we suffer because we are struggling to make sense of life and the suffering that is our lot in this life, it is good to recall Your response to Job's cry of the heart:
Have you ever in your life given orders to the morning
or sent the dawn to its post,
telling it to grasp the earth by its edges
and shake the wicked out of it,
when it changes the earth to sealing clay
and dyes it as a man dyes clothes;
stealing the light from wicked men
and breaking the arm raised to strike?
Have you journeyed all the way to the sources of the sea,
or walked where the Abyss is deepest?
Have you been shown the gates of Death
or met the janitors of Shadowland?
Have you an inkling of the extent of the earth?
Tell me all about it if you have!
Which is the way to the home of the light,
and where does darkness live?
You could then show them the way to their proper places,
or put them on the path to where they live!
If you know all this, you must have been born with them,
you must be very old by now!
or sent the dawn to its post,
telling it to grasp the earth by its edges
and shake the wicked out of it,
when it changes the earth to sealing clay
and dyes it as a man dyes clothes;
stealing the light from wicked men
and breaking the arm raised to strike?
Have you journeyed all the way to the sources of the sea,
or walked where the Abyss is deepest?
Have you been shown the gates of Death
or met the janitors of Shadowland?
Have you an inkling of the extent of the earth?
Tell me all about it if you have!
Which is the way to the home of the light,
and where does darkness live?
You could then show them the way to their proper places,
or put them on the path to where they live!
If you know all this, you must have been born with them,
you must be very old by now!
Like Job let us be still and remember in all the storms, trials, and difficulties we are bound to face in our journey from this life to the next and say with him:
My words have been frivolous: what can I reply?
I had better lay my finger on my lips.
I have spoken once... I will not speak again;
more than once... I will add nothing.
PSALM 138(139):1-3,7-10,13-14
Lead me, O Lord, in the path of life eternal.
O Lord, you search me and you know me,
you know my resting and my rising,
you discern my purpose from afar.
You mark when I walk or lie down,
all my ways lie open to you.
you know my resting and my rising,
you discern my purpose from afar.
You mark when I walk or lie down,
all my ways lie open to you.
O where can I go from your spirit,
or where can I flee from your face?
If I climb the heavens, you are there.
If I lie in the grave, you are there.
If I climb the heavens, you are there.
If I lie in the grave, you are there.
If I take the wings of the dawn
and dwell at the sea’s furthest end,
even there your hand would lead me,
your right hand would hold me fast.
and dwell at the sea’s furthest end,
even there your hand would lead me,
your right hand would hold me fast.
For it was you who created my being,
knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I thank you for the wonder of my being,
for the wonders of all your creation.
knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I thank you for the wonder of my being,
for the wonders of all your creation.
Lead me, O Lord, in the path of life eternal.
LUKE 10:13-16
My Soul's Beloved,
My Soul's Beloved,
When Christians reject You, Lord, it is usually pride, a hard heart, and a stubborn clinging to our weaknesses we are unwilling to give up. Often we desire things that are not unlawful but indulging in them while not sinful in themselves is detrimental to spiritual growth. There are also a great number of nominal Christians who allow the culture to dictate their way of life. It is far easier to flow along with the current leads rather than against it.
All too often, Lord, people ignore the laws of God and His Church taking both lightly and for granted. They refuse to accept that breaking God's law of love has serious consequences, eternal consequences if they do not repent and turn away from the way of unrighteousness. They know You Lord, yet they refuse to act on that knowledge because they do not wish to change their ways. So it was with the people in Your time who rejected You even though they saw the signs that pointed clearly that You came from God.
Jesus said to his disciples:
‘Alas for you, Chorazin! Alas for you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. And still, it will not go as hard with Tyre and Sidon at the Judgement as with you. And as for you, Capernaum, did you want to be exalted high as heaven? You shall be thrown down to hell.
‘Anyone who listens to you listens to me; anyone who rejects you rejects me, and those who reject me reject the one who sent me.’
‘Alas for you, Chorazin! Alas for you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. And still, it will not go as hard with Tyre and Sidon at the Judgement as with you. And as for you, Capernaum, did you want to be exalted high as heaven? You shall be thrown down to hell.
‘Anyone who listens to you listens to me; anyone who rejects you rejects me, and those who reject me reject the one who sent me.’
My Beloved, hear the prayers of Your faithful remnant in the Church, in monasteries, in convents, in parishes, in the great cities, in the small ones, in towns, and in the country, in villages and in the desert, and wherever Your little ones are crying out to the Father to have mercy on us and the world for the sake of Your sorrowful passion. Be merciful O Lord and hurry and save us lest sinners perish in their sins and are cast into the eternal fire that never goes out and where the worms do not die.
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