Bounded into the Doomed Land

Saturday of the Thirty-second Week in Ordinary Time

When peaceful stillness compassed everything and the night in its swift course was half spent, your all-powerful word, from heaven's royal throne bounded, a fierce warrior, into the doomed land, bearing the sharp sword of your inexorable decree. And as he alighted, he filled every place with death; he still reached to heaven, while he stood upon the earth. Wisdom 18:14-16

The Lord said, "Pay attention to what the dishonest judge says. Will not God then secure the rights of his chosen ones who call out to him day and night? Will he be slow to answer them? I tell you, he will see to it that justice is done for them speedily. But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?" Luke 18:6-8

Piety

Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophetic utterances. Test everything; retain what is good. (1 Thessalonian 5:19-21)

Study

Who else needed the footnotes today to fully understand the wisdom served up today via the Book of Wisdom?  Reading the first sentence of the reading initially had me place this as a description of the Nativity.  Think of how that first line might be describing that scene that came upon a midnight clear in the silent night at a little town called Bethlehem.

When peaceful stillness compassed everything and the night in its swift course was half spent, Your all-powerful word, from heaven's royal throne bounded, a fierce warrior, into the doomed land…

However, the incarnation did not bring death.  And the little baby did not stand on earth reaching to heaven until his adult arms were stretched to the ends of the cross.

Only by reading onward does the scene of Passover emerge. Yet, perhaps my mind can be forgiven for the confusion in the Feast of the Holy Innocents calls to mind the fate of the Egyptian baby boys borne under rooftops when there was no blood smear on the lintel. They felt the sting of death from the sharp sword of God’s inexorable decree.

It was faith-in-action that saved the boys in Jewish households and faith, too, that saved the nagging widow in the reading about the impatient judge.

Will God find his children calling out to him day and night?  Will he answer those who pray unceasingly?  Will he find faith in Fairfax?

Action

Do we have the persistence to pester our Abba constantly?  St. Paul told the people in Thessalonika (1 THES 5:16-17) to do two things.

1. Rejoice always.
2. Pray without ceasing.

What else do you do non-stop?  Talk?  Eat?  Drink? Actually, the correct answer is none of these.

Our hearts beat without ceasing. We breathe without ceasing. Is your prayer as constant as your heart and your breathing?  You might be able to hold your breath for a few seconds – even for a minute – but you can not stop your heart.

Our challenge is that we do not pray without ceasing.  The next time you pray the Confiteor, think about your commitment to pray when you ask for forgiveness for “what I have failed to do.”