The Lord will guard your coming and going

"The LORD will guard you from all evil;
he will guard your soul.
The LORD will guard your coming and going
both now and forever." (Psalm 121: 7-8)

What a gracious and precious promise.  Thank you Gracious Father for this comforting word.  How it gives me a feeling of well-being and security
St. Paul must  be thinking of this scripture when he says:

"The Lord will rescue me from every evil threat and will bring me safe to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory forever and ever. Amen." (2 Timothy 4: 18)

Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit

"Remain in me, as I remain in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me.
I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing." (John 15:4-5)

How do we bear much fruit?  Abide in Christ.  What is the principle of productivity?  Abide in Christ.  What does abiding in Christ mean?  Abiding in Christ means that we are solidly and completely attached to Christ just as a branch is attached to the trunk of a tree.  The detached branch has no life of its own.  It withers and dies.

How do we abide in Christ? When we are baptized, Christ lives in us as our hope of glory.  The most Holy Trinity takes it abode in our soul.  We sustain this supernatural life in us by means of prayer and feeding on the word of God.  Jesus Christ gives us His flesh and blood for our food. This is the most direct and concrete way in which Christ abides in us.  We respond with faith and use prayer and the word of God to keep this communion alive.

If the communion with Christ is  broken by sin, Christ has given us the Sacrament of Reconciliation as a means of cleansing us and reestablishing the communion.

Our fruitfulness depends therefore on this dynamic relationship with Christ in us our hope of victory and glory.

"For it is the will of God that by doing good you may silence the ignorance of foolish people." (1 Peter 2:15)

"For it is the will of God that by doing good you may silence the ignorance of foolish people."  (1 Peter 2:15)

The world is constantly scrutinizing every action of the believer in order to have some ground to criticize.  There is the suppressed rage that the Christian carries himself loftily as if superior to other men.  They will be delighted to pull him down a notch or two.

"Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect," Jesus stipulates.  In the Gospels and other parts of the New Testament, we see similar counsel to be irreproachable in behavior. I tend to cringe when I come across these prescriptions of behavioral standard for Christians.   I cringe because I fear that I may not be able to live up to the high standard.  And the idea of constant scrutiny of your every move is discomforting to me.

What shall we do in order to live this word of God with joy and peace?  The answer is to trust the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit is in us to help us to live the Christian life.  If we practise every day acts of surrender to Him, He will lead, guide, teach and use us.

Bless the LORD, my soul; and do not forget all his gifts

"Bless the LORD, my soul;
and do not forget all his gifts,
Who pardons all your sins,
and heals all your ills,
Who redeems your life from the pit,
and crowns you with mercy and compassion,
Who fills your days with good things,
so your youth is renewed like the eagle’s."  (Psalm 103: 2 - 5)

 The topic of our RCIA class today is Grace.  The presenter asked the class of any example of how God's grace has touched our lives.

I gave an example of how God's grace healed me of four addictions.  The healing from alcoholism was the most dramatic.  I received the grace through the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  After a long confession in which I felt the confessor gave me a rather long counseling on the evil effects of alcoholism, I got back to my pew.  As soon as I knelt down to pray, I heard this  voice clearly:  "Do you want to be healed?"  "Yes Lord, I answered."  And with that, the craving for alcohol dried up.  When I finished my testimony, BAM said, "It is a miracle."  I said I knew it was a miracle.

"Bless the LORD, my soul;
and do not forget all his gifts,
Who pardons all your sins,
and heals all your ills,
Who redeems your life from the pit,
and crowns you with mercy and compassion,
Who fills your days with good things,
so your youth is renewed like the eagle’s."  (Psalm 103: 2 - 5)

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
before you were born I dedicated you,
a prophet to the nations I appointed you"  (Jeremiah 1: 5)

Jeremiah received sanctifying grace in the womb for his prophetic mission.

"Before birth the LORD called me,
from my mother’s womb he gave me my name.*
He made my mouth like a sharp-edged sword,
concealed me, shielded by his hand.
He made me a sharpened arrow,
in his quiver he hid me."  (Isaiah 49: 1 - 2)

Isaiah is another prophet who received supernatural grace in the womb for his mission.  Supernatural or sanctifying grace is the unmerited favor and permanent disposition God places in or soul that enables us to love God, respond to His love, love our neighbor and be god-like.  This is the same grace given to every Christian in Baptism. In the scriptures, we see instances of this in Isaiah, Jeremiah and John the Baptist.