God of the living

"He is God, not of the dead, but of the living." (Mark 12: 27)

God created man for eternal life. He is God of the living and not God of the dead.

I will not be put to shame

"To you, O Lord I lift of my eyes. In you I trust, let me not be put to shame; let not my enemies exult over me. No one who waits for you shall be put to shame; ……" (Psalm 25: 2-3)

I read the above scripture and I identify completely with the sentiments of the Psalmist. No wonder the Psalter is the prayer book of Israel and the prayer of the Church. The Psalms provide us with ready words in which to express our prayer. We can identify with much of the feelings and aspirations of the Psalmist.

I trust God for everything and I know that I will not be put to shame. He has been faithful every one of the almost 4700 days of the Enterprise. Surely my enemies cannot exult over me or ask: "where is your God?"

Caleb’s encouragement

Reading 1
Nm 13:1-2, 25–14:1, 26a-29a, 34-35

The LORD said to Moses [in the desert of Paran,]
"Send men to reconnoiter the land of Canaan,
which I am giving the children of Israel.
You shall send one man from each ancestral tribe,
all of them princes."

After reconnoitering the land for forty days they returned,
met Moses and Aaron and the whole congregation of the children of Israel
in the desert of Paran at Kadesh,
made a report to them all,
and showed the fruit of the country
to the whole congregation.
They told Moses:  "We went into the land to which you sent us.
It does indeed flow with milk and honey, and here is its fruit.
However, the people who are living in the land are fierce,
and the towns are fortified and very strong.
Besides, we saw descendants of the Anakim there.
Amalekites live in the region of the Negeb;
Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites dwell in the highlands,
and Canaanites along the seacoast and the banks of the Jordan."

Caleb, however, to quiet the people toward Moses, said,
"We ought to go up and seize the land, for we can certainly do so."
But the men who had gone up with him said,
"We cannot attack these people; they are too strong for us."
So they spread discouraging reports among the children of Israel
about the land they had scouted, saying,
"The land that we explored is a country that consumes its inhabitants.
And all the people we saw there are huge, veritable giants
(the Anakim were a race of giants);
we felt like mere grasshoppers, and so we must have seemed to them."

At this, the whole community broke out with loud cries,
and even in the night the people wailed.

The LORD said to Moses and Aaron:
"How long will this wicked assembly grumble against me?
I have heard the grumblings of the children of Israel against me.
Tell them: By my life, says the LORD,
I will do to you just what I have heard you say.
Here in the desert shall your dead bodies fall.
Forty days you spent in scouting the land;
forty years shall you suffer for your crimes:
one year for each day.
Thus you will realize what it means to oppose me.
I, the LORD, have sworn to do this
to all this wicked assembly that conspired against me:
here in the desert they shall die to the last man."

The above scripture was the first reading in today's Mass all over the world. I was fascinated by the lessons. For me the greatest lesson is that every challenge and every trial is a test of faith. Whom do you trust? It is clear that the Israelite scouts who gave the negative and discouraging report on the expedition never put God into the equation. They demoralized the people by their human-based wisdom. On the other hand, Caleb gave a report full of faith and hope because he knew that one with God is always a majority. As I reflected on this, I thought of the Enterprise and all my impediments. I took encouragement from the lesson that one with God is always a majority.

Food for the journey

3

Elijah was afraid and fled for his life, going to Beer-sheba of Judah. He left his servant there

4

and went a day's journey into the desert, until he came to a broom tree and sat beneath it. He prayed for death: "This is enough, O LORD! Take my life, for I am no better than my fathers."

5

He lay down and fell asleep under the broom tree, but then an angel touched him and ordered him to get up and eat.

6

He looked and there at his head was a hearth cake and a jug of water. After he ate and drank, he lay down again,

7

but the angel of the LORD came back a second time, touched him, and ordered, "Get up and eat, else the journey will be too long for you!"

8

He got up, ate and drank; then strengthened by that food, he walked forty days and forty nights to the mountain of God, Horeb. (1 Kings 19: 3 – 8)

 

"There is no surer pledge or dearer sign of this great hope in the new heavens and new earth "in which righteousness dwells,' than he Eucharist. Every time the mystery is celebrated, 'the work of our redemption is carried on' and 'we break the one bread that provides the medicine of immortality, the antidote for death, and the food that makes us live forever in Jesus Christ." (Catechism of the Catholic Church #1405)

 

I came today to the unshakeable conviction that frequent Eucharist is a major reason for maintaining me on course in this Journey. Thank you Jesus.

Prayer is the key

"This time the prayer of each of them (Tobit and Sarah) found favor before the glory of God, and Raphael was sent to bring remedy to them both." (Tobit 3: 16)

Prayer is the key to God's heart. Do not hang up on God. Hang in there. Persevere in prayer. Be assured that the time of answer will come.

To pray is to work

"Pay Caesar what belongs to Caesar and God what belongs to God." (Mark 12: 7)

To Caesar belongs taxes and civil obedience. To God belongs adoration, worship, love and service.

Through my taxes and work, I help to build up the city of man. When I build up the city of man in the spirit of Jesus Christ, I build up at the same time the city of God. Orare est laborare and laborare est orare.