READINGS for 2007-08-02

ADULT OR CHILD?

Whenever the cloud rose… the Israelites would set out… – Exodus 40:36

Don’t you sometimes wish…

1. That when you struggle between choosing one guy over another to be your boyfriend, the one who’s bad for you would just grow horns and a tail?

2. That when you have to pick between two investment opportunities the business plan that will make you the most money would just start glowing or burst into flames?

3. That when you have to decide between this job or that, the one with the best future co-workers and bosses would leap out and do a dance step or two?

Well, God’s directions aren’t that easy to discern anymore. But I like to think that that’s not such a bad thing. You know why? Because it gives me a glow to know that God treats me like an adult.

Only adults are able to reason well enough.

Children have to be spoonfed.

So which one are you? Adult or child? Victoria L.

 REFLECTION:

Do you appreciate  how God treats you?

When the way seems unclear, Lord, help me to use all my capacities and intellect to decide and peacefully accept all consequences with You by my side.

1st READING

Exodus 40:16-21, 34-38

We hear again here how the House of Israel moved when the Lord moved and how they stopped when He came to rest. It is this sort of obedience that characterizes men and women of God today. It is important that we learn to move under the grace and direction of God or we may be spending our energy upon things that are irrelevant. God wants to make a difference in our lives and for our lives to make a difference in the world.

16 Moses did exactly as the LORD had commanded him. 17 On the first day of the first month of the second year the Dwelling was erected.  18 It was Moses who erected the Dwelling. He placed its pedestals, set up its boards, put in its bars, and set up its columns. 19 He spread the tent over the Dwelling and put the covering on top of the tent, as the LORD had commanded him. 20 He took the commandments and put them in the ark; he placed poles alongside the ark and set the propitiatory upon it. 21 He brought the ark into the Dwelling and hung the curtain veil, thus screening off the ark of the commandments, as the LORD had commanded him. 34 Then the cloud covered the meeting tent, and the glory of the LORD filled the Dwelling. 35 Moses could not enter the meeting tent, because the cloud settled down upon it and the glory of the LORD filled the Dwelling. 36 Whenever the cloud rose from the Dwelling, the Israelites would set out on their journey. 37 But if the cloud did not lift, they would not go forward; only when it lifted did they go forward. 38 In the daytime the cloud of the LORD was seen over the Dwelling; whereas at night, fire was seen in the cloud by the whole house of Israel in all the stages of their journey.

P S A L M

Psalm 84: 3, 4, 5-6, 8, 11

R: How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord, mighty God!

2 [3] My soul yearns and pines for the courts of the LORD. My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. (R) 3 [4] Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest in which she puts her young — your altars, O LORD of hosts, my king and my God! (R) 4 [5] Blessed they who dwell in your house! Continually they praise you. 5 [6] Blessed the men whose strength you are! 7 [8] They go from strength to strength. (R) 10 [11] I had rather one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I had rather lie at the threshold of the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked. (R)

G O S P E L

Matthew 13:47-53

When we come to the end of our life, or in fact at any point of time up until then as well, I think that we will find our lives to be full of all sorts of things and experiences. Some of them we should hang on to and treasure; others we should discard as quickly as possible. The Spirit will help us in the God’s special verse/thought for me today discernment process if necessary. It is important that we do not carry “excess baggage” in life or we will find that we become weighed down by it all.

47 “The kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea, which collects fish of every kind. 48 When it is full they haul it ashore and sit down to put what is good into buckets. What is bad they throw away. 49 Thus it will be at the end of the age. The angels will go out and separate the wicked from the righteous 50 and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth. 51 “Do you understand all these things?” They answered, “Yes.” 52 And he replied, “Then every scribe who has been instructed in the kingdom of heaven is like the head of a household who brings from his storeroom both the new and the old.” 53 When Jesus finished these parables, he went away from there.

my reflections

think: God wants to make a difference in our lives and for our lives to make a difference in the world.

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God’s special verse/thought for me today________________

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T O D A Y ’ S BLESSING LIST

Thank You Lord for: ____________________________________

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READ THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR Isaiah 58-60

 

WE HAVE UNTIL THE DAY OF HARVEST

 

Some of the questions that often arise in my ministry as a priest are the following: Why does God allows so much evil to exist in the world? Why doesn’t God just do something?

God is never swift in His anger towards us; in fact He is always seeking to give us the opportunity to repent of our sins and so allow any judgment to  disappear! It is this merciful nature of God that gives rise to the opportunity to get rid of the evil and sin in our lives and the world through repentance and good works. The whole reality of love is meaningless unless we can choose love’s opposite. Similarly, what is the sense of freedom if we are not able to choose evil over good? Herein lies the daily challenge of every human being – to choose love over hatred and goodness over evil. When we fail to do this, the consequences of sin are so well known to us all that I do not need to elaborate upon them at all!

Jesus’ life stands as an example to us of what is possible if we choose to follow the way of holiness and righteousness in our lives and to reject the path of sin and division. However, there is always going to be a day when we have to give an account of our lives to God. This is symbolized by the dragnet sweeping the bottoms of the deep and bringing up both the good and the bad catch. One day each of us will give an account to God of the choices we have made in our lives and it is that justice, albeit the merciful justice, of God that will be meted out. We cannot just go about our lives doing whatever we want and think that we will get away with it all! God will judge us according to the way we have lived our lives.

Therefore, it would be wise for us to consider this fact when we are choosing how we live. It would be an error to think that we can do what we want and then repent before the end as we cannot be sure when our death will come. Accidents are always happening every day. It makes much more sense to seek out the truth and live it from the beginning than to risk living a life of sin and hoping for the chance to repent. It also makes a lot more sense when we realize that life in accordance with God’s will will be much more blessed than one that is lived against Gospel values. Fr. Steve T.

REFLECTION QUESTION: Are there areas in my life that I need to bring into greater faithfulness to God’s will? How can I begin doing this today?

Holy Spirit, awaken in my heart a deeper love for Your calling so that I will follow Your will and remain within the ambit of Your blessing all the days of my life.

St. Maximus of Padua, bishop, pray for us