Missionary Renegade

Thursday, October 31, 2013

Upper Room Daily Reflections ~ ”Protestant Prayer Beads” ~ Friday, 1 November 2013

Today’s Reflections:

“IN THE 1980S a group of Episcopalians developed a new format for prayer beads.” I held up the strand of beads I had brought with me. “These are called ‘Anglican prayer beads,’ or ‘Protestant prayer beads.’ They are made up of four large beads. When you spread the beads out, these beads form the shape of the cross, so they are called ‘Cruciform beads.’ Between these beads are 7 smaller beads, called ‘Week beads.’ There is also one more bead called the ‘Invitatory bead.’ All together, there are 33 beads, to represent the number of years that Christ lived on earth.”

“How do you use them?”

“There is no set form for how to use them. You can hold them as you pray your own prayer, or follow the beads as you read scripture. You can also use them to provide structure for your prayer For instance, you can use the first set of 7 beads to praise God, the next set to confess your sins, the third to offer your prayer concerns, and the fourth to thank God for whatever God is doing in your life.”

“Interesting. I’ve never heard of them.”

Not many people have. It’s an idea that is slowly gathering speed,” I said.~–Kristen E. Vincent - Weavings, May/June/July 2013

From “Beads of Prayer, Beads of Peace” by Kristen E. Vincent, in Weavings: A Journal of the Christian Spiritual Life, May/June/July 2013 (theme: Diversity). Copyright © 2013 by The Upper Room. Used by permission. [NOTE: To learn more about "Protestant prayer beads," see Kristen E. Vincent's book A Bead and a Prayer: A Beginner's Guide to Protestant Prayer Beads.] http://bookstore.upperroom.org/ Learn more about or purchase this book.

Today’s Question:

What are you thoughts about using prayer beads in your prayer life?

Today’s Scripture:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.~~2 Thessalonians 1:2, NRSV

This Week: pray for those who serve the homeless.

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How do you empower your congregation to share the Good News with others? Join The Upper Room Evangelism Partnership. Increase your church’s standing order for The Upper Room by any amount and we will provide you with free adult education materials to help prepare members to share the Good News with others. Register here.

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This week we remember:

Donald M. Baillie (October 31)

Born in 1887, Donald M. Baillie was a Scottish pastor, teacher, systematic theologian, and ecumenist; considered one of the most influential Presbyterian scholars of the twentieth century. Baillie was Professor of Systematic Theology at St. Andrews University from 1934 until the time of his death in 1954.

Baillie believed that any Christian spiritual or devotional life needed a foundation based on a sense of the Trinity as a living reality. Beyond this, just as Jesus bore the essence of God through the incarnation in his life, he also bore the divine nature of atonement through his passion and death on the cross. For Baillie, the church truly becomes the body of Christ in the world to tell the sacred story of what God has done in Jesus Christ.

In The Theology of the Sacraments (1957) Baillie argued that the sacraments were concentrations of the much more widespread sacramental significance of everyday life. Why else, he posited, would Jesus incorporate the divine essence in something as mundane and commonplace as bread and wine? For him the sacraments were the vehicle through which the divine word broke into the wider world and sanctified it.

If Donald M. Baillie had taken the Spiritual Types Test, he probably would have been a Sage. Donald M. Baillie is remembered on October 31.

[Excerpted with permission from the entry on Donald M. Baillie by Samuel F. (Skip) Parvin, from The Upper Room Dictionary of Christian Spiritual Formation, edited by Keith Beasley-Topliffe. Copyright © 2003 by Upper Room Books®. All rights reserved.]

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Lectionary Readings:

(Courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library)

Habakkuk 1:1 The revelation which Habakkuk the prophet saw. 2 LORD,* how long will I cry, and you will not hear? I cry out to you “Violence!” and will you not save? 3 Why do you show me iniquity, and look at perversity? For destruction and violence are before me. There is strife, and contention rises up. 4 Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails; for the wicked surround the righteous; therefore justice comes out perverted.;2:1 I will stand at my watch, and set myself on the ramparts, and will look out to see what he will say to me, and what I will answer concerning my complaint.

2 The LORD answered me, “Write the vision, and make it plain on tablets, that he who runs may read it. 3 For the vision is yet for the appointed time, and it hurries toward the end, and won’t prove false. Though it takes time, wait for it; because it will surely come. It won’t delay. 4 Behold, his soul is puffed up. It is not upright in him, but the righteous will live by his faith. (Messianic WEB)

Psalm 119:TZADI

137 You are righteous, LORD.

Your judgments are upright.

138 You have commanded your statutes in righteousness.

They are fully trustworthy.

139 My zeal wears me out,

because my enemies ignore your words.

140 Your promises have been thoroughly tested,

and your servant loves them.

141 I am small and despised.

I don’t forget your precepts.

142 Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness.

Your Torah is truth.

143 Trouble and anguish have taken hold of me.

Your commandments are my delight.

144 Your testimonies are righteous forever.

Give me understanding, that I may live.(Messianic WEB)

2 Thessalonians 1:1 Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, to the assembly of the Thessalonians in God our Father, and the Lord Yeshua the Messiah: 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Yeshua the Messiah.

3 We are bound to always give thanks to God for you, brothers,* even as it is appropriate, because your faith grows exceedingly, and the love of each and every one of you towards one another abounds; 4 so that we ourselves boast about you in the assemblies of God for your perseverance and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions which you endure.11 To this end we also pray always for you, that our God may count you worthy of your calling, and fulfill every desire of goodness and work of faith, with power; 12 that the name of our Lord Yeshua† may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Yeshua the Messiah.(Messianic WEB)

Luke 19:1 He entered and was passing through Jericho. 2 There was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. 3 He was trying to see who Yeshua was, and couldn’t because of the crowd, because he was short. 4 He ran on ahead, and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was going to pass that way. 5 When Yeshua came to the place, he looked up and saw him, and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house.” 6 He hurried, came down, and received him joyfully. 7 When they saw it, they all murmured, saying, “He has gone in to lodge with a man who is a sinner.”

8 Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, half of my goods I give to the poor. If I have wrongfully exacted anything of anyone, I restore four times as much.”

9 Yeshua said to him, “Today, salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost.”(Messianic WEB)

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PO Box 340004

Nashville, TN 37203-0004 USA

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Lutheran Seminary ~ Moved By The Promise ~ God Pause ~ Friday, 1 November 2013 ~ John 11

Lutheran Seminary ~ Moved By The Promise ~ God Pause ~ Friday, 1 November 2013 ~ John 11:32 Therefore when Miriam came to where Yeshua was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you would have been here, my brother wouldn’t have died.”

33 When Yeshua therefore saw her weeping, and the Judeans weeping who came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled, 34 and said, “Where have you laid him?”

They told him, “Lord, come and see.”

35 Yeshua wept.

36 The Judeans therefore said, “See how much affection he had for him!” 37 Some of them said, “Couldn’t this man, who opened the eyes of him who was blind, have also kept this man from dying?”

38 Yeshua therefore, again groaning in himself, came to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone lay against it. 39 Yeshua said, “Take away the stone.”

Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to him, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.”

40 Yeshua said to her, “Didn’t I tell you that if you believed, you would see God’s glory?”

41 So they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying.‡ Yeshua lifted up his eyes, and said, “Father, I thank you that you listened to me. 42 I know that you always listen to me, but because of the multitude that stands around I said this, that they may believe that you sent me.” 43 When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”

44 He who was dead came out, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth.

Yeshua said to them, “Free him, and let him go.”(Messianic WEB)

What does it mean for us to hear that Jesus wept? It is compelling to think of the Son of God weeping at the loss of a friend, embracing Martha and Mary in their grief. But I wonder who comforted Jesus in that moment? Jesus knows grief and loss. Not in some hypothetical way, but in a deep and personal one.
What seems to be at stake for Jesus in every encounter he has with others is his deep and personal love for the world. He invites people to follow him who seem stuck where they are. He heals the untouchable with a simple touch of compassion. He speaks a word that forgives even the worst sinners and challenges the holy people who overhear it. Even in the midst of his own suffering upon a cross he pleads, "Father forgive them, for they know not what they are doing." Yet Jesus does know what they are doing, because in his humanity he understands our hardships and our joys so completely. Jesus offers his presence fully at every key moment of human life—he is there in the weeping at a funeral, there in the joy of the banquet, there in the surprising promise of life that comes when death appears to have the final word.
Jesus doesn't just understand us; he transforms our understanding of life and its limits. Jesus raises Lazarus, not just to teach us something or give us an object lesson on what the kingdom might be. He defies death, looking it right in the face. Out of his own pain and loss, he shouts, "Lazarus, come out!" Can we be as defiant as we care for one another?

Loving God, you know us better than we know ourselves. Our fear and pain overwhelm us at times, especially as death stares at us. Grant us the defiance to stare back at death with confidence. In your presence death runs away, knowing that you will prevail. Amen.

Geoff T. Sinibaldo
New Canaan, Conn.
Master of Divinity , 2002

John 11:32 When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died."
33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved.
34 He said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to him, "Lord, come and see."
35 Jesus began to weep.
36 So the Jews said, "See how he loved him!"
37 But some of them said, "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?"
38 Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it.
39 Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, "Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days."
40 Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?"
41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, "Father, I thank you for having heard me.
42 I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me."
43 When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!"
44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go."(New Revised Standard Version)

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Luther Seminary

2481 Como Ave

St. Paul, MN 55108 UNITED STATES

651-641-3456

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Daily Gospel ~ Sunday, 3 November 2013

At this, many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.(John 6:68, Messianic WEB)

Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year C
Saint of the Day:

SAINT MARTIN de PORRES
Religious
(1579-1639)

Born at Lima in Peru in 1579 of a native mother and Spanish father, Martin entered the Dominican Order in Lima, where he continued his profession as medical assistant.

He lived a life of fasting and prayer and died in 1639.

The Weekday Missal (1975)

SAINT HUBERT
Bishop
(657-727)

St. Hubert's early life is so obscured by popular traditions that we have no authentic account of his actions. He is said to have been passionately addicted to hunting, and was entirely taken up in worldly pursuits. One thing is certain: that he is the patron saint of hunters.

Moved by divine grace, he resolved to renounce the world. His extraordinary fervor, and the great progress which he made in virtue and learning, strongly recommended him to St. Lambert, Bishop of Maestricht, who ordained him priest, and entrusted him with the principal share in the administration of his diocese.

That holy prelate being barbarously murdered in 681, St. Hubert was unanimously chosen his successor. With incredible zeal he penetrated into the most remote and barbarous places of Ardenne, and abolished the worship of idols; and, as he performed the office of the apostles, God bestowed on him a like gift of miracles.

He died in 727, reciting to his last breath the Creed and the Lord's Prayer.

Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]

Saint Winifred

Feastday: November 3

According to legend, she was the daughter of a wealthy resident of Tegeingl, Flintshire, Wales, and the sister of St. Beuno. She was most impressed by Beuno, was supposedly beheaded on June 22 by one Caradog when she refused to submit to him, had her head restored by Beuno, and sometime later, became a nun of the convent of a double monastery at Gwytherin in Denbigshire. She succeeded an Abbess Tenoy, as Abbess and died there fifteen years after her miraculous restoration to life. A spring supposedly springing up where Winifred's head fell, is called Holy Well or St. Winifred's Well and became a great pilgrimage center where many cures have been reported over the centuries. She is also known as Gwenfrewi. Her feast day is November 3.

Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year C

Book of Wisdom 11:22 Indeed, before you the whole universe is like a grain from a balance,*

or a drop of morning dew come down upon the earth.o

23 * But you have mercy on all, because you can do all things;

and you overlook sins for the sake of repentance.p

24 For you love all things that are

and loathe nothing that you have made;

for you would not fashion what you hate.q

25 How could a thing remain, unless you willed it;

or be preserved, had it not been called forth by you?r

26 But you spare all things, because they are yours,

O Ruler and Lover of souls,s

12:1 for your imperishable spirit is in all things!a

12:2 Therefore you rebuke offenders little by little,

warn them, and remind them of the sins they are committing,

that they may abandon their wickedness and believe in you, Lord!(New American Bible)

Psalm 145:A praise psalm by David.*

1 I will exalt you, my God, the King.

I will praise your name forever and ever.

2 Every day I will praise you.

I will extol your name forever and ever.

8 The LORD is gracious, merciful,

slow to anger, and of great loving kindness.

9 The LORD is good to all.

His tender mercies are over all his works.

10 All your works will give thanks to you, LORD.

Your holy ones will extol you.

11 They will speak of the glory of your kingdom,

and talk about your power;

13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom.

Your dominion endures throughout all generations.

the LORD is faithful in all his words,

and loving in all his deeds.†

14 The LORD upholds all who fall,

and raises up all those who are bowed down.(Messianic WEB)

2 Thessalonians 1:11 To this end we also pray always for you, that our God may count you worthy of your calling, and fulfill every desire of goodness and work of faith, with power; 12 that the name of our Lord Yeshua† may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Yeshua the Messiah.2:1 Now, brothers, concerning the coming of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, and our gathering together to him, we ask you 2 not to be quickly shaken in your mind, nor yet be troubled, either by spirit, or by word, or by letter as from us, saying that the day of Messiah had come. (Messianic WEB)

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ According to Saint Luke 19:1 He entered and was passing through Jericho. 2 There was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. 3 He was trying to see who Yeshua was, and couldn’t because of the crowd, because he was short. 4 He ran on ahead, and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was going to pass that way. 5 When Yeshua came to the place, he looked up and saw him, and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house.” 6 He hurried, came down, and received him joyfully. 7 When they saw it, they all murmured, saying, “He has gone in to lodge with a man who is a sinner.”

8 Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, half of my goods I give to the poor. If I have wrongfully exacted anything of anyone, I restore four times as much.”

9 Yeshua said to him, “Today, salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost.”(Messianic WEB)

Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year C

Commentary of the day:

Paul VI, Pope from 1963-1978

General Audience of 26/08/1970

"Zacchaeus was seeking to see who Jesus was"

People today, generally speaking, are no longer looking for God... They look for everything, except God. God is dead, they say; let's not be bothered about him any more. But God is not dead; for so many people of today he is lost. So then, wouldn't it be worth the trouble to look for him?
People are looking for everything: the new and the old; the difficult and the useless; the good and the bad. One might say that this kind of seeking is characteristic of modern life. But why not look for God? Isn't he a “value” worth our looking for? Isn't he a reality who is in need of a better understanding than the purely nominal one in current use? Better than that of certain superstitious and overdone religious expressions that we ought either to reject because they are false or purify because they are imperfect. Better than one that thinks itself to be already well-informed and forgets that God is an inexpressible mystery, that to know God is a question of life, eternal life, for us? (cf Jn 17,3). Isn't God what we might call a “problem” that touches us nearly, that puts into the court our thoughts, conscience, destiny and, inevitably, our meeting with him personally one day?
As for God, might he not be hidden so that we have to go look for him through an exciting and decisive initiative? And what if God himself was seeking for us?

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Daily Gospel ~ Saturday, 2 November 2013

At this, many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.(John 6:68, Messianic WEB)

The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed (All Souls)
The Commemoration of all of the Faithful Departed

It is very significant and appropriate that after the Solemnity of All Saints, the Liturgy has us celebrate the Commemoration of all of the Faithful Departed. The "communion of saints", which we profess in the Creed, is a reality that is constructed here below, but is fully made manifest when we will see God "as he is" (I Jn 3: 2).

It is the reality of a family bound together by deep bonds of spiritual solidarity that unites the faithful departed to those who are pilgrims in the world. It is a mysterious but real bond, nourished by prayer and participation in the Sacrament of the Eucharist.
In the Mystical Body of Christ the souls of the faithful meet, overcoming the obstacle of death; they pray for one another, carrying out in charity an intimate exchange of gifts.
In this dimension of faith one understands the practice of offering prayers of suffrage for the dead, especially in the Sacrament of the Eucharist, memorial of Christ's Pasch which opened to believers the passage to eternal life.
Dear friends, may the traditional visit of these days to the tombs of our dear departed be an occasion to fearlessly consider the mystery of death and to cultivate that constant vigilance which prepares us to meet it serenely. The Virgin Mary, Queen of Saints… will help us.

Pope Benedict XVI (Angelus, 1st November 2005)

The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed (All Souls)

Book of Wisdom 3:THE HIDDEN COUNSELS OF GOD*

A. ON SUFFERING*

1 The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God,a

and no torment shall touch them.

2 They seemed, in the view of the foolish, to be dead;

and their passing away was thought an affliction

3 and their going forth from us, utter destruction.

But they are in peace.b

4 For if to others, indeed, they seem punished,

yet is their hope full of immortality;

5 Chastised a little, they shall be greatly blessed,

because God tried them

and found them worthy of himself.c

6 As gold in the furnace, he proved them,

and as sacrificial offerings* he took them to himself.d

7 In the time of their judgment* they shall shine

and dart about as sparks through stubble;e

8 They shall judge nations and rule over peoples,

and the LORD shall be their King forever.f

9 Those who trust in him shall understand truth,

and the faithful shall abide with him in love:

Because grace and mercy are with his holy ones,g

and his care is with the elect.(New American Bible)

Psalm 23:A Psalm by David.

1 The LORD is my shepherd:

I shall lack nothing.

2 He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside still waters.

3 He restores my soul.

He guides me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil, for you are with me.

Your rod and your staff,

they comfort me.

5 You prepare a table before me

in the presence of my enemies.

You anoint my head with oil.

My cup runs over.

6 Surely goodness and loving kindness shall follow me all the days of my life,

and I will dwell in the LORD’s house forever.(Messianic WEB)

Romans 5:5 and hope doesn’t disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. 6 For while we were yet weak, at the right time Messiah died for the ungodly. 7 For one will hardly die for a righteous man. Yet perhaps for a righteous person someone would even dare to die. 8 But God commends his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Messiah died for us.

9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we will be saved from God’s wrath through him. 10 For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we will be saved by his life.

11 Not only so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.(Messianic WEB)

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ According to Saint John 6:37 All those whom the Father gives me will come to me. He who comes to me I will in no way throw out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. 39 This is the will of my Father who sent me, that of all he has given to me I should lose nothing, but should raise him up at the last day. 40 This is the will of the one who sent me, that everyone who sees the Son, and believes in him, should have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”(Messianic WEB)

The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed (All Souls)

Commentary of the day:

Aphrahat (?-c.345), monk and Bishop near Mosul

Expositions, no.22 ; SC 359

Our dead live for him

Devout, wise and good people are not afraid of death in view of the great hope they have in what lies before them. Every day they think of death as of a departure and of the last day as when the offspring of Adam will be born. The apostle Paul says: “Death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who did not sin, as has happened with all the children of Adam” (Rm 5,14.12)... It has happened, too, in all Moses' descendants to the end of the world. However, Moses declared that its rule would be destroyed; death thought to hold everyone captive and rule over them for ever..., but when the Holy One called to Moses from the heart of the bush he said to him: “I am the God of Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob” (Ex 3,6). When it heard these words, death was terrified, it trembled with fear understanding that... God is Lord over the dead and the living and would come one day when men would escape from its darkness. Now Jesus our Savior has repeated these words to the Sadducees and said: “He is not God of the dead, for all are alive for Him” (Lk 20,38)...
For Jesus has come, the one who has put death to death. He put on a body of Adam's race, has been nailed to the cross and tasted death. It has understood that he would be descending to its abode. Anxiously death fastened its gates but he has broken down its gates, entered in and started to seize those it was holding there. The dead, seeing light in the darkness, raised their heads from their prison house and saw the glory of the Messiah King... And death, seeing how the darkness began to disperse and the righteous to rise, knew that at the end of time he would release every prisoner from its power.

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Daily Readings for Sunday, 3 November 2013

Wisdom 11:22 Indeed, before you the whole universe is like a grain from a balance,*

or a drop of morning dew come down upon the earth.o

23 * But you have mercy on all, because you can do all things;

and you overlook sins for the sake of repentance.p

24 For you love all things that are

and loathe nothing that you have made;

for you would not fashion what you hate.q

25 How could a thing remain, unless you willed it;

or be preserved, had it not been called forth by you?r

26 But you spare all things, because they are yours,

O Ruler and Lover of souls,s

12:1 for your imperishable spirit is in all things!a

12:2 Therefore you rebuke offenders little by little,

warn them, and remind them of the sins they are committing,

that they may abandon their wickedness and believe in you, Lord!(New American Bible)

Psalm 145:A praise psalm by David.*

1 I will exalt you, my God, the King.

I will praise your name forever and ever.

2 Every day I will praise you.

I will extol your name forever and ever.

8 The LORD is gracious, merciful,

slow to anger, and of great loving kindness.

9 The LORD is good to all.

His tender mercies are over all his works.

10 All your works will give thanks to you, LORD.

Your holy ones will extol you.

11 They will speak of the glory of your kingdom,

and talk about your power;

13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom.

Your dominion endures throughout all generations.

the LORD is faithful in all his words,

and loving in all his deeds.†

14 The LORD upholds all who fall,

and raises up all those who are bowed down.(Messianic WEB)

8 Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, half of my goods I give to the poor. If I have wrongfully exacted anything of anyone, I restore four times as much.”

9 Yeshua said to him, “Today, salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost.”(Messianic WEB)

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Daily Readings for Saturday, 2 November 2013

Wisdom 3:THE HIDDEN COUNSELS OF GOD*

A. ON SUFFERING*

1 The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God,a

and no torment shall touch them.

2 They seemed, in the view of the foolish, to be dead;

and their passing away was thought an affliction

3 and their going forth from us, utter destruction.

But they are in peace.b

4 For if to others, indeed, they seem punished,

yet is their hope full of immortality;

5 Chastised a little, they shall be greatly blessed,

because God tried them

and found them worthy of himself.c

6 As gold in the furnace, he proved them,

and as sacrificial offerings* he took them to himself.d

7 In the time of their judgment* they shall shine

and dart about as sparks through stubble;e

8 They shall judge nations and rule over peoples,

and the LORD shall be their King forever.f

9 Those who trust in him shall understand truth,

and the faithful shall abide with him in love:

Because grace and mercy are with his holy ones,g

and his care is with the elect.(New American Bible)

Psalm 23:A Psalm by David.

1 The LORD is my shepherd:

I shall lack nothing.

2 He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside still waters.

3 He restores my soul.

He guides me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil, for you are with me.

Your rod and your staff,

they comfort me.

5 You prepare a table before me

in the presence of my enemies.

You anoint my head with oil.

My cup runs over.

6 Surely goodness and loving kindness shall follow me all the days of my life,

and I will dwell in the LORD’s house forever.(Messianic WEB)

11 Not only so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.(Messianic WEB)

John 6:37 All those whom the Father gives me will come to me. He who comes to me I will in no way throw out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. 39 This is the will of my Father who sent me, that of all he has given to me I should lose nothing, but should raise him up at the last day. 40 This is the will of the one who sent me, that everyone who sees the Son, and believes in him, should have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”(Messianic WEB)

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Daily Mass Readings and Daily Meditation ”The Word Among Us” Friday, 1 November 2013

Daily Mass Readings and Daily Meditation ”The Word Among Us”

Friday, 1 November 2013

Meditation: Matthew 5:1 Seeing the multitudes, he went up onto the mountain. When he had sat down, his disciples came to him. 2 He opened his mouth and taught them, saying,

3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit,

for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.✡

4 Blessed are those who mourn,

for they shall be comforted.✡

5 Blessed are the gentle,

for they shall inherit the earth.*✡

6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness,

for they shall be filled.

7 Blessed are the merciful,

for they shall obtain mercy.

8 Blessed are the pure in heart,

for they shall see God.

9 Blessed are the peacemakers,

for they shall be called children of God.

10 Blessed are those who have been persecuted for righteousness’ sake,

for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.

11 “Blessed are you when people reproach you, persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely, for my sake. 12 Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you.(Messianic WEB)

All Saints

Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God. (Matthew 5:8)

Cultures around the world have a wide range of perceptions about cleanliness. From the crumbs on the floor to the number of showers people take in a week, cleanliness standards are shaped by a mixture of politics, religion, and the availability of clean water.

Today’s readings talk about a different kind of cleanliness, the kind that has been sought by the saints whose lives we celebrate today: purity of heart. The first reading tells us that all the saints in heaven are wearing white robes, which have been washed clean in the “blood of the Lamb” (Revelation 7:14). The responsorial psalm tells us that only “the clean of hand and pure of heart” will be able to stand in God’s presence (Psalm 24:4). And the second reading says that our hope for heaven motivates us to become “pure, as he is pure” (1 John 3:3).

This kind of purity is not something we can attain on our own. It’s a gift graciously given to us by the Lord. At Baptism, he cleansed us of original sin. In Confession, he washes us clean of the sins we have committed. He even cleanses our consciences every time we turn to him in prayer and ask his pardon! Over and over, his grace reaches down to our souls and offers us a new start.

As you celebrate the saints today, think of the many people who have gone before you, all those who have been purified in the blood of the Lamb. Imagine them in heaven, caught up in worship, filled with the love of the Lord. Then picture yourself there with them. This is the promise of the gospel, the promise to everyone who seeks purity of heart. Let Jesus, the Lamb of God, cleanse you all over again today. Stay close to him, and you will end up worshipping him with the great multitude!

“All blessing and glory, wisdom and thanksgiving, honor, power, and might be to our God forever and ever!” AMEN!

Revelation 7:2 I saw another angel ascend from the sunrise, having the seal of the living God. He cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was given to harm the earth and the sea, 3 saying, “Don’t harm the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, until we have sealed the bondservants of our God on their foreheads!” 4 I heard the number of those who were sealed, one hundred forty-four thousand, sealed out of every tribe of the children of Israel:9 After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude, which no man could count, out of every nation and of all tribes, peoples, and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, dressed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands. 10 They cried with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation be to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

11 All the angels were standing around the throne, the elders, and the four living creatures; and they fell on their faces before his throne, and worshiped God, 12 saying, “Amen! Blessing, glory, wisdom, thanksgiving, honor, power, and might, be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”

13 One of the elders answered, saying to me, “These who are arrayed in the white robes, who are they, and from where did they come?”

14 I told him, “My lord, you know.”

He said to me, “These are those who came out of the great tribulation. They washed their robes, and made them white in the Lamb’s blood.(Messianic WEB)

Psalm 24:A Psalm by David.

1 The earth is the LORD’s, with its fullness;

the world, and those who dwell therein.

2 For he has founded it on the seas,

and established it on the floods.

3 Who may ascend to the LORD’s hill?

Who may stand in his holy place?

4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart;

who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood,

and has not sworn deceitfully.

5 He shall receive a blessing from the LORD,

righteousness from the God of his salvation.

6 This is the generation of those who seek Him,

who seek your face—even Jacob.(Messianic WEB)

1 John 3:1 See how great a love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God! For this cause the world doesn’t know us, because it didn’t know him. 2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it is not yet revealed what we will be. But we know that, when he is revealed, we will be like him; for we will see him just as he is. 3 Everyone who has this hope set on him purifies himself, even as he is pure.(Messianic WEB)

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