Wisdom 1:11-12
11 Beware then, of empty complaints and keep your tongue from faultfinding, since your most secret word will have consequences; a lying tongue brings death to the soul. 12 Do not bring about your own death by your wrong way of living. And do not let the work of your hands destroy you.
Once again, You remind me about not having a complaining or fault finding spirit. How easy it is to point a finger and see all that is wrong in my neighbour. If it were up to me I would be judge, jury and hangman all in one. I lack the wisdom to judge rightly, I lack the compassion to show mercy. I have no way of seeing as You do, of knowing as You know. You are God and all things and the life of everyone is open to You and You are the only just and righteous Judge. All people have a past that shapes their present. It is a past that I know nothing of. Let not the work of my hands or my destructive tongue destroy anyone including me. The only standard against which I must measure myself is You my Lord.
Ephesians 5:21-33
• 21 Let all kinds of submission to one another become obedience to Christ. 22 So wives to their husbands: as to the Lord.
23 The husband is the head of his wife, as Christ is the head of the Church, his body, of whom he is also the Savior. 24 And as the Church submits to Christ, so let a wife submit in everything to her husband.
25 As for you, husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her. 26 He washed her and made her holy by baptism in the Word. 27 As he wanted a radiant Church without stain or wrinkle or any blemish, but holy and blameless, he himself had to prepare and present her to himself.
28 In the same way, husbands should love their wives as they love their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 And no one has ever hated his body; he feeds and takes care of it. That is just what Christ does for the Church, 30 because we are members of his body.
31 Scripture says: Because of this a man shall leave his father and mother to be united with his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. 32 This is a very great mystery, and I refer to Christ and the Church. 33 As for you, let each one love his wife as himself, and let the wife respect her husband.
Many of these verses have been misunderstood in the present culture and in previous cultures. So many, especially women, have found it unpalatable, yet, it is a description of what a relationship in marriage should be. If every Christian marriage was modelled on these lines, the instituion of marriage would not be under threat as it now is and almost on the brink of destruction. Families would be bound with greater love and respect and the world would be a happier place. All St. Paul is saying is that a husband ought to imitate Christ in his love for his spouse in order that he may one day stand before God and present his wife to God unblemished, without wound, or scar to mar her beauty and worth. For this a woman would gladly serve her husband and children as she serves Christ Himself. Who could possibly have a problem with this.
Luke 13:18-21
• 18 Jesus continued speaking, “What is the kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it to? 19 Imagine a person who has taken a mustard seed and planted it in the garden. The seed has grown and become like a small tree, so that the birds of the air shelter in its branches.”
20 And Jesus said again, “What is the kingdom of God like? 21 Imagine a woman who has taken yeast and hidden it in three measures of flour until it is all leavened.”
Beloved, You came to give us a glimpse of the Kingdom of God and since is is beyond description, You revealed what it is like by comparing it to various things in order that we could have some grasp of its meaning. Here Your compare it to a mustard seed. You began Your mission alone - You were sent by the Father, You then hand-picked Your apostles and they in turn were sent by You and they in turn sent others and so it has been with the Church passing down the mission to all the faithful until the Good News has reached the ends of the earth. One Seed, You, were buried into the ground and dying to Yourself, we see Your Church - Your One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church which is flourishing today.
You also compare the Kingdom to yeast. You, Your apostles and all those that followed are the yeast hidden and losing their identity completely as they allows themselves to be absorbed and become one with humanity. They work tirelessly to make God present among men.
The Church is the seed and the yeast. All may come and feed, shelter and nest in her protective branches. Like the yeast she loses herself in service to the world, becoming one with humanity. She helps to transform the people of God to grow into the beautiful Bride of Christ within her embrace.
The seed and the yeast are signs of Christ living and working actively in the Church. We begin with Christ and we end with Him in eternity.
Psalm 128:1-5
1 Blessed are you who fear the Lord
and walk in his ways.
2 You will eat the fruit of your toil;
you will be blessed and favored.
3 Your wife, like a vine,
will bear fruits in your home;
your children, like olive shoots
will stand around your table.
4 Such are the blessings bestowed
upon the man who fears the Lord.
5 May the Lord bless you from Zion.
May you see Jerusalem prosperous
all the days of your life.
This is such a beautiful Psalm. Bless us Beloved and bless our children so that we might be the sign of Your life in the world. Amen!!!
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