But Mostly, I Pray

I see the destruction of Superstorm Sandy all around me, and I wonder how people will deal with the giant trees on their houses.  Or the debris blocking the roads.  Or not having power for two weeks.

But mostly, I pray.

I wonder how we could get a Nor'easter in November, and how people with no power kept warm in the middle of a snowstorm.

But mostly, I pray.

I wonder how people can give blankets and coats to those who lost everything, and then curse each other out while waiting on a mile-long gas line.  

But mostly, I pray.

I wonder if America made the right decision to re-elect President Obama, and how much more of God's will will be removed from this country.

But mostly, I pray.

I wonder if people used these past two weeks to reflect on all that God has given them, and realize that even if they lost their home, clothes, gadgets, cars and power, they will still have the most important thing in the world.  His love.

But mostly, I pray.

God Bless.

Son of David

This week we read about Bartimaeus.  

While Jesus restoring his sight is nothing short of a true miracle, there is another amazing fact that often goes overlooked.

Bartimaeus calls Jesus the Son of David, which is a Messianic phrase.  

Assuming that phrase was not added later by Mark, that means this blind man knew what all the people with sight did not.

That Jesus was the Messiah.   

Which goes to show you that sight is not always as important as insight.

God Bless.

It's a Celebration

I was visiting another church this weekend, and the deacon ended the mass by saying:

"Go in peace ... this Celebration of the Eucharist has ended."

I'm used to hearing "The Mass has ended, go in peace," or something to that effect, but I really liked that Deacon's perspective.

In one short phrase, he reminded us that the Mass is really one 
big celebration of the Body and Blood of Christ.   

Something I sometimes take for granted.

God Bless.

LaGuardian Angel

"Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in Heaven."

That line was from this week's Gospel - a Gospel that is mainly known for a line about a dromedary and needle.  

You know that story, so no need to repeat it here.

But our Deacon told us a different one this weekend.  One that focused on what it means to help the poor. 

Fiorello LaGuardia was the mayor of New York city during the Great Depression.   He often took over the judge's bench in one of the poorest parts of the city.  

One night, when he was presiding, a poor woman was brought before him.  She was charged with stealing a loaf of bread to feed her family.  

LaGuardia reportedly told her that the law is the law, and he could not make exceptions for her. He fined her $10, then reached into his wallet and paid the fine himself.

He then turned to the courtroom and fined each person fifty cents for living in a town where a woman had to resort to stealing bread so her family could eat.  

In other words, even the poor in the Great Depression were expected to help those less fortunate.

I imagine the same applied, tenfold, to the rich.

God Bless.

Jesus Saw in Black and White

Today we read about Jesus' first prediction of His Passion.  

The part that always strikes me about this reading is the clarity in which our Lord saw things.

Peter had just told Jesus that He was the Messiah.  To anyone around, this probably looked like a friend acknowledging a Friend.  Or a disciple reiterating what His Master hinted at.  But Jesus, who saw things for what they truly were, saw God working through Peter.  And speaking to Him through Peter. 

Fast forward a short period of time, and we see Jesus rebuking Peter because He saw Satan working through him.  Again, anyone around who saw Peter upset that his Lord would have to suffer would have probably seen this as a friend offering support to his Friend. Or a pupil wanting to protect his Teacher.

I know that is how I would have seen it.  (And often times, still do when I read this passage!)

But that would have been the clouded, human view of things.  

Luckily, Jesus did not suffer from those vision problems.  

Instead of seeing His friend in both scenarios, He saw His Father and Satan.  Good and Evil.  Black and White.

I wonder what the world would look like to us if we had that clarity?

God Bless.

Now Hear This

"Ephphatha!"

And immediately the man's ears were opened.

Having heard this passage many times,  I am guilty of sometimes taking it for granted.

Instead of thinking about what  it must have actually been like, I lump it into all the miracles that I will never fully appreciate.

And when Mark continues writing about our Savior, I usually follow right along with him, leaving that former-deaf man in the annals of biblical history.

But a few days ago, on the show 20/20, they played a video of a woman fully hearing for the first time.   (you can see it here)  

She was pretty much in tears from the second they turned her hearing device on, and I realized all the emotion that goes along with the words "his ears were opened".  

Now I envision that man having the same mix of speechlessness and tears when Jesus healed him.  

The world as he experienced it - on many levels - would never be the same again.  His life changed forever.  

And thanks to a timely TV show, that for some reason I watched when I usually don't, so did my appreciation for one of our Lord's miracles.

God Bless.

Our Terms or God's Terms?

I was listening to the Daily Audio Bible the other day, and Brian was reading from the Book of Job.

There was a line from Elihu's second speech that really hit home.

Just because you refuse to live on God's terms,
do you think He should start living on yours?  

A pretty powerful rhetorical question.  

Let's be honest, we all have bouts in our life where we stubbornly plead for God to do things our way.  But Elihu reminds us that we are here - and we were created - to follow God's plan. Not the reverse.

Now, interestingly enough, I didn't remember coming across this line before.  I wondered if it was because Brian had been reading from the Message version of the Bible.

So I checked the Douay-Rheims version and it offered this translation for the same line:

Doth God require it of me, because it hath displeases thee.

And the King James version offered this one:

Should He repay it according to your terms,
Just because you disavow it?

Neither is quite as straightforward as the Message version, in my opinion, so perhaps that is why I missed it the first umpteen times I read it.

Is this translation pure to the original intent?  I don't know.  Far smarter minds than mine can weigh in on that.

But there is no disputing the message itself is spot on.

God Bless.