A light to enlighten the pagans
and the glory of your people Israel.
My Soul's Beloved,
You, O Lord, are Truth, unvarnished and blinding Truth. Uncompromising Truth, and Truth will always prevail. The Commandments given by God to Moses are applicable yesterday, today, and until You return. They are not suggestions or a set of rules that we may keep or not, as we wish, no matter how relentlessly the children of the Father of Lies sell this lie.
The Commandments of God are the rule of life of every committed child of God, grafted into Your Body. They keep us from falling over the cliff to certain spiritual death. The Commandments are guideposts that we keep not because we are obliged to do so, but because we trust our Abba, who desires us to live good, holy, healthy lives in this world to receive eternal life with Him forever. We will receive our inheritance in the Kingdom of God only by keeping all the Commandments.
Only those who recognize the voice of the Good Shepherd walk on the side of Truth and are kept safe from ravenous wolves who prowl about seeking to devour, steal, and murder the children of God. The children of the world may be a great multitude, but the children of the Light, though fewer in number, are stronger, and they will triumph because You, O Lord, have already won the victory.
We can be sure that we know God
only by keeping his commandments.
Anyone who says, ‘I know him’,
and does not keep his commandments,
is a liar,
refusing to admit the truth.
But when anyone does obey what he has said,
God’s love comes to perfection in him.
We can be sure that we are in God
only when the one who claims to be living in him
is living the same kind of life as Christ lived.
My dear people,
this is not a new commandment that I am writing to tell you,
but an old commandment
that you were given from the beginning,
the original commandment which was the message brought to you.
Yet in another way, what I am writing to you,
and what is being carried out in your lives as it was in his,
is a new commandment;
because the night is over
and the real light is already shining.
We can be sure that we know God
only by keeping his commandments.
Anyone who says, ‘I know him’,
and does not keep his commandments,
is a liar,
refusing to admit the truth.
But when anyone does obey what he has said,
God’s love comes to perfection in him.
We can be sure that we are in God
only when the one who claims to be living in him
is living the same kind of life as Christ lived.
My dear people,
this is not a new commandment that I am writing to tell you,
but an old commandment
that you were given from the beginning,
the original commandment which was the message brought to you.
Yet in another way, what I am writing to you,
and what is being carried out in your lives as it was in his,
is a new commandment;
because the night is over
and the real light is already shining.
Anyone who claims to be in the light
but hates his brother
is still in the dark.
But anyone who loves his brother is living in the light
and need not be afraid of stumbling;
unlike the man who hates his brother and is in the darkness,
not knowing where he is going,
because it is too dark to see.
PSALM 95(96):1-3,5-6
Let the heavens rejoice and earth be glad.
but hates his brother
is still in the dark.
But anyone who loves his brother is living in the light
and need not be afraid of stumbling;
unlike the man who hates his brother and is in the darkness,
not knowing where he is going,
because it is too dark to see.
PSALM 95(96):1-3,5-6
Let the heavens rejoice and earth be glad.
O sing a new song to the Lord,
sing to the Lord all the earth.
O sing to the Lord, bless his name.
Proclaim his help day by day,
tell among the nations his glory
and his wonders among all the peoples.
It was the Lord who made the heavens,
his are majesty and state and power
and splendour in his holy place.
sing to the Lord all the earth.
O sing to the Lord, bless his name.
Proclaim his help day by day,
tell among the nations his glory
and his wonders among all the peoples.
It was the Lord who made the heavens,
his are majesty and state and power
and splendour in his holy place.
Let the heavens rejoice and earth be glad.
LUKE 2:22-35
My Soul's Beloved,
My Soul's Beloved,
When the world is in our soul, we become deaf, blind, and insensate to the things of God. Mother Mary and St. Joseph understood very little of the astounding events that unfolded to them day by day; however, their faith in God was uncompromising. The arrival of the shepherds who received the Good News through angels, the Magi, and the abject poverty in which they had to raise the Son of God, they did not ask to understand. But they trusted in God implicitly.
They did as the Law of the Lord demanded, not thinking themselves above it because God was born to her. Together, she and Joseph raised their Son in the Jewish tradition and faith. When Simeon prophesied the most marvelous things regarding the Babe in her arms and of the suffering she herself would have to endure, she listened in silence, remembered every word he said to her, and pondered on it all her life. Each prophecy concerning her treasured Babe as well as her came to pass just as Simeon had foretold. But with the Triune God always with her and with Joseph at her side, she lived her life in the Presence of God. Pleasing to Him in every way.
So may it be for us, Lord, who believe. Even when we have to experience the difficulties, hurdles, and sorrows that come our way, let us remember that through it all, You are Emmanuel, the God who is always with us.
When the day came for them to be purified as laid down by the Law of Moses, the parents of Jesus took him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord – observing what stands written in the Law of the Lord: Every first-born male must be consecrated to the Lord – and also to offer in sacrifice, in accordance with what is said in the Law of the Lord, a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons. Now in Jerusalem there was a man named Simeon. He was an upright and devout man; he looked forward to Israel’s comforting and the Holy Spirit rested on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death until he had set eyes on the Christ of the Lord. Prompted by the Spirit he came to the Temple and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the Law required, he took him into his arms and blessed God; and he said:
‘Now, Master, you can let your servant go in peace,
just as you promised;
because my eyes have seen the salvation
which you have prepared for all the nations to see,
a light to enlighten the pagans
and the glory of your people Israel.’
As the child’s father and mother stood there wondering at the things that were being said about him, Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, ‘You see this child: he is destined for the fall and for the rising of many in Israel, destined to be a sign that is rejected – and a sword will pierce your own soul too – so that the secret thoughts of many may be laid bare.’
‘Now, Master, you can let your servant go in peace,
just as you promised;
because my eyes have seen the salvation
which you have prepared for all the nations to see,
a light to enlighten the pagans
and the glory of your people Israel.’
As the child’s father and mother stood there wondering at the things that were being said about him, Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, ‘You see this child: he is destined for the fall and for the rising of many in Israel, destined to be a sign that is rejected – and a sword will pierce your own soul too – so that the secret thoughts of many may be laid bare.’
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