July 28, 2010
Wednesday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time
Thus the LORD answered me: If you repent, so that I restore you, in my presence you shall stand; If you bring forth the precious without the vile, you shall be my mouthpiece. Then it shall be they who turn to you, and you shall not turn to them; And I will make you toward this people a solid wall of brass. Though they fight against you, they shall not prevail, For I am with you, to deliver and rescue you, says the LORD. Jeremiah 15:19-20
The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field, which a person finds and hides again, and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant searching for fine pearls. When he finds a pearl of great price, he goes and sells all that he has and buys it. Matthew 13:44-46
Piety
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3vTNPPMa9c&feature=related
Just A Closer Walk With Thee
Just a closer walk with Thee,
Grant it, Jesus, is my plea,
Daily walking close to Thee,
Let it be, dear Lord, let it be.
I am weak, but Thou art strong;
Jesus, keep me from all wrong;
I’ll be satisfied as long
As I walk, let me walk close to Thee.
Through this world of toil and snares,
If I falter, Lord, who cares?
Who with me my burden shares?
None but Thee, dear Lord, none but Thee.
When my feeble life is o’er,
Time for me will be no more;
Guide me gently, safely o’er
To Thy kingdom shore, to Thy shore.
Study
Matthew describes the revelation, the epiphany that occurs when we realize that God is with us. It is like uncovering buried treasure or finding a pearl in a second hand thrift store. We do whatever we can to obtain it.
Finding the Lord may be the easiest part. Following the Lord may be the hardest part. We merely seek just a closer walk with Him. How easy it is to be disappointed when we place our judgment over the covenant of the Lord. If we want to continue measuring our happiness by human standards, we are bound to continue in disappointment.
Once we obtain the friendship of the Lord and walk with him, we have to follow the Lord’s path, no longer our own. This is where disappointment set in for the prophet Jeremiah. He thought the Lord was his magic bullet, the answer to all his problems. Yet he was upset to see that the people did not listen to him any more than they did before. So Jeremiah characterized the Lord as like a treacherous brook, one that dries up when you need its thirst quenching waters.
Jeremiah, Jeremiah! He is as anxious as Martha last Sunday. The Lord reminds him to change the direction in which he is looking for happiness. If you repent, so that I restore you, in my presence you shall stand; If you bring forth the precious without the vile, you shall be my mouthpiece. If Jeremiah changes his perspective from that of a man to the view of the Lord, he will succeed in the Lord’s eye and the disappointment that breeds from the lack of faith of the people around him will not prevail.
Jesus wants us to understand. We want to say we do. But in reality, we have to learn the hard way. We are not there to learn by watching His sacrifice for us by getting nailed to the cross. So the path to enlightenment only comes through the dark tunnel of disappointment. Yet when we see the light of the world, what a beautiful light it is!
Action
http://arlingtoncursillo.org/CursillosSubweb/w131/w131.aspx
Have you started thinking about ways you can be present to the candidates on the next Cursillo? It is not too early to start thinking about ways to support the Women’s 131st Cursillo at the San Damiano Spirituality Center taking place August 5-8 (and beyond).
Visit the web page where times remain open on the Palanca clock, cook crew, and for candidates. The weekend is only half booked. Mañanita will be at 7 a.m. on August 8 and closing will be at 4 that afternoon at the spirituality center.
