Frederick, Maryland, United States - Daily Mass Reading & Meditation for Thursday, 27 March 2014 - Catholic Meditations

Frederick, Maryland, United States - Daily Mass Reading & Meditation for Thursday, 27 March 2014 - Catholic Meditations
Meditations: Psalm 95:1 Oh come, let’s sing to Yahweh.
    Let’s shout aloud to the rock of our salvation!
2 Let’s come before his presence with thanksgiving.
    Let’s extol him with songs!
6 Oh come, let’s worship and bow down.
    Let’s kneel before Yahweh, our Maker,
7 for he is our God.
    We are the people of his pasture,
    and the sheep in his care.
Today, oh that you would hear his voice!
8     Don’t harden your heart, as at Meribah,
    as in the day of Massah in the wilderness,
9 when your fathers tempted me,
    tested me, and saw my work.
3rd Week of Lent
Oh that today you would hear his voice: Do not harden your hearts. (Psalm 95:7-8)
“Is my heart hard or soft? Am I open to the Lord or just going through the motions? I don’t know!”
Instead of focusing all of our attention on whether our hearts are hard or not, today’s psalmist offers us a different strategy—something designed to help keep our hearts soft. Doesn’t that sound more hopeful and more useful than wondering all the time if your heart is hard?
Let us sing joyfully to the Lord (Psalm 95:1). Singing has been a part of worship for thousands of years. There is something about using our voices in this way to honor the Lord that helps us keep our hearts focused. As St. Augustine said, “He who sings prays twice.” Don’t worry about sounding great. Another psalm even encourages us to “shout joyfully to the Lord” (Psalm 100:1). So don’t hold back!
Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving (Psalm 95:2). Giving thanks to God helps us recognize that the Lord has provided for us. The food we eat, the clothes we wear, and even our friends and family are all gifts from the Lord. The more we remember this, the more inclined we will be to put God in a place of honor, to turn for help, and to listen to his word.
Let us bow down in worship (Psalm 95:6). If Pope Francis were to walk into your home right now, you’d probably stand up, right? Without even thinking about it, you would take a position of respect before him. We can do something very similar by kneeling and bowing before the Lord as we pray. As we use our bodies to express what is in our hearts, we’ll find our hearts following suit and rejoicing even more.
Today, try to incorporate these three approaches into your prayer. Choose a hymn or song of worship and sing it out. Spend some time finding things to be thankful for. Kneel down or lift your hands or even dance when you pray. As you do these things, watch the Lord soften your heart and help you hear his voice.
“Lord, I worship you. Keep my heart soft so that I can hear you today.” Amen.
Jeremiah 7: 23 but this thing I commanded them, saying, ‘Listen to my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people; and walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.’ 24 But they didn’t listen nor turn their ear, but walked in their own counsels and in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward. 25 Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt to this day, I have sent to you all my servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them: 26 yet they didn’t listen to me, nor inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff: they did worse than their fathers.
27 “You shall speak all these words to them; but they will not listen to you: you shall also call to them; but they will not answer you. 28 You shall tell them, ‘This is the nation that has not listened to Yahweh their God’s voice, nor received instruction. Truth has perished, and is cut off from their mouth.’
Luke 11:14 He was casting out a demon, and it was mute. When the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke; and the multitudes marveled. 15 But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of the demons.” 16 Others, testing him, sought from him a sign from heaven. 17 But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation. A house divided against itself falls. 18 If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul. 19 But if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your children cast them out? Therefore will they be your judges. 20 But if I by God’s finger cast out demons, then God’s Kingdom has come to you.
21 “When the strong man, fully armed, guards his own dwelling, his goods are safe. 22 But when someone stronger attacks him and overcomes him, he takes from him his whole armor in which he trusted, and divides his plunder.

23 “He that is not with me is against me. He who doesn’t gather with me scatters.
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