November 26, 2010
Friday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time
By Melanie Rigney
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. The former heaven and the former earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. I also saw the holy city, a new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. (Revelations 21:1-2)
Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest in which she puts her young—Your altars, LORD of hosts, my king and my God! (Psalms 84:4)
“Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” (Luke 21:33)
Piety
Stay with me always, Jesus, wherever I may roam.
Study
It’s said that about 40 million Americans move annually, and that nearly 75 percent of us move an average of once every five years. The reasons are myriad: the economy, marriage, divorce, college, work, retirement. It’s estimated that we’ll each move sixteen times in our lives.
And then there are the moves we make in our hearts and souls, even if we don’t relocate physically—away from or toward abusive behavior, away from or toward loved ones, away from or toward meaningful service.
Moves give us a chance to start over, a chance to reinvent ourselves. The new people don’t know about our past bad behavior. They don’t know about our propensity to gossip, to talk rather than listen, to overreact to imagined slights. But they’ll learn about all those things, unless we make changes.
Whether we change or not, and no matter where we relocate physically or metaphorically, we have but one home—with the Lord. Fortunately for us, He never evicts us. His welcome mat is always out.
Action
Advent begins on Sunday. Contemplate what you can do in the next four weeks to show your appreciation to our Landlord.
