16 Yahweh says this to her:
“Weep no more and wipe the tears of your eyes;
your sorrow will have redress.
They will come back from the enemy’s land.
17 There is hope for your descendants;
your children will return to their own borders.
Beloved, I have been praying for years for the conversion of those I love and for the return of Your prodigal children home. Thank You for the promises contained in these verses that You will bring these children of Yours home.
1 Corinthians 10:16-22
16 The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a communion with the blood of Christ? And the bread that we break, is it not a communion with the body of Christ? 17 The bread is one, and so we, though many, form one body, sharing the one bread.
18 Consider the Israelites. For them, to eat of the victim is to come into communion with its altar.
19 What does all that mean? That the meat is really consecrated to the idol, or that the idol is a being. 20 However, when the pagans offer a sacrifice, the sacrifice goes to the demons, not to God. I do not want you to come into fellowship with demons. 21 You cannot drink at the same time from the cup of the Lord and from the cup of demons. You cannot share in the table of the Lord and in the table of the demons. 22 Do we want, perhaps, to provoke the jealousy of the Lord? Could we be stronger than he?
My Beloved, St. Paul does not mince words in these verses. When we eat Your Body and drink Your Blood we become one body in You and with one another. Likewise he says whoever eats what is consecrated to idols fellowships with evil. My heart would be broken in sorrow Lord for those I love who have strayed, had You not spoken to me in the earlier verses and given me hope through Your promise.
Luke 6:43-49
• 43 No healthy tree bears bad fruit, no poor tree bears good fruit. 44 And each tree is known by the fruit it bears: you don’t gather figs from thorns, or grapes from brambles. 45 Similarly the good person draws good things from the good stored in the heart, and an evil person draws evil things from the evil stored in the heart. For the mouth speaks from the fullness of the heart.
46 Why do you call me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ and not do what I say? 47 I will show you what the one who comes to me and listens to my words and acts accordingly, is like. 48 That one is like the builder who dug deep and laid the foundations of his house on rock. The river overflowed and the stream dashed against the house, but could not carry it off because the house had been well built.
49 But the one who listens and does not act, is like a man who built his house on the ground without a foundation. The flood burst against it, and the house fell at once: and what a terrible disaster that was!”
My Love, my Life, my Hope, reading the scripture verses in the Gospel today, one is left in no doubt about what a person who is rooted in You is like and one who lives apart from You. In You everything in life is sweet, fruitful and meaningful - even sorrow and disappointment lose their power to sting when we understand that all things work for good, for those who love You.
When You make Your dwelling place in me, how can I not draw only good from the sweetness of Your Presence in me. But apart from You my Lord, life loses its meaning and savor. Laughter loses its innocence, smiles their sweetness and the light in my eye losing its sparkle of divine light and becomes dull. Sorrow and disappointment without You giving meaning to it through union with Your own bitter passion and death becomes like an iron ball and chain that weigh the heart, soul, body, mind and spirit to a place without hope.
Psalm 116:12-13, 17-18
12 How can I repay the Lord
for all his goodness to me?
13 I will lift up the cup of salvation
and call on the name of the Lord.
17 I will offer you a thanksgiving sacrifice;
I will call on the name of the Lord.
18 I will carry out my vows to the Lord
in the presence of his people.
How apt my Beloved. The only sacrifice pleasing to You is the one, holy and perfect sacrifice offered for mankind on Calvary. This is the only sacrifice pleasing to God and because this is so, I shall offer You every day, this sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving in Your house together with Your people. Thank You for the bliss of knowing You and loving You and living in intimate union with You.
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