August 11, 2011
Memorial of Saint Clare, virgin
When those bearing the ark came to the Jordan and the feet of the priests bearing the ark were immersed in the waters of the Jordan -- which overflows all its banks during the entire season of the harvest -- the waters flowing from upstream halted, standing up in a single heap for a very great distance indeed, from Adam, a city in the direction of Zatrethan; those flowing downstream toward the Salt Sea of the Arabah disappeared entirely. Thus the people crossed over opposite Jericho. The priests carrying the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood on dry group in the Jordan riverbed while all Israel crossed on dry ground, until the whole nation had completed the crossing of the Jordan. Joshua 3:15-17
"At that, the servant fell down, did him homage, and said, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full.’ Moved with compassion the master of that servant let him go and forgave him the loan." Matthew 18:26-27
Piety
Take Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my entire will, all that I have and possess. Thou hast given all to me. To Thee, O lord, I return it. All is Thine, dispose of it wholly according to Thy will. Give me Thy love and thy grace, for this is sufficient for me.
Ignatius Loyola
Study
What will the Lord do to save us in his love and compassion? Perhaps our question should be "What will He not do?" In our first reading, the Lord helps Joshua and the priests harness the powers of the natural world until the people can pass into safety. In our Gospel, we see how the Lord harnesses the selfish powers of the ego to save his servant. However, when that same servant cannot imitate the forgiveness of the Lord, he ends up paying the debt that was initially forgiven.
Action
What do you need to overcome? Do you need to cross some obstacle like the people being led by Joshua? Or do you need to overcome some interior emotion like the greed that consumed the selfish servant?
Is it some personal self-indulgence toward shopping, food, alcohol or other habit that gets in the way of your spiritual life? Is it some external person or thing that causes you to suffer? These obstacles both interior and exterior must be handled before we can open our life to the Lord and turn over our future to His plan.
Sometimes, these influences are beyond our control. In those cases, we need to be like Joshua and let the Lord take over. In other cases, we can pray for strength to overcome these on our own with the strength provided by the gifts of the Holy Spirit guiding our path.
