Frederick, Maryland, United States - Daily Mass Reading & Catholic Meditation “The Word Among Us” for Friday, 27 June 2014Meditations: Psalm 103: By David.
1 Praise Yahweh, my soul!
All that is within me, praise his holy name!
2 Praise Yahweh, my soul,
and don’t forget all his benefits;
3 who forgives all your sins;
who heals all your diseases;
4 who redeems your life from destruction;
who crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies;
5 who satisfies your desire with good things,
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
6 Yahweh executes righteous acts,
and justice for all who are oppressed.
7 He made known his ways to Moses,
his deeds to the children of Israel.
8 Yahweh is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness.
9 He will not always accuse;
neither will he stay angry forever.
10 He has not dealt with us according to our sins,
nor repaid us for our iniquities.
11 For as the heavens are high above the earth,
so great is his loving kindness toward those who fear him.
12 As far as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
13 Like a father has compassion on his children,
so Yahweh has compassion on those who fear him.
14 For he knows how we are made.
He remembers that we are dust.
15 As for man, his days are like grass.
As a flower of the field, so he flourishes.
16 For the wind passes over it, and it is gone.
Its place remembers it no more.
17 But Yahweh’s loving kindness is from everlasting to everlasting with those who fear him,
his righteousness to children’s children;
18 to those who keep his covenant,
to those who remember to obey his precepts.
19 Yahweh has established his throne in the heavens.
His kingdom rules over all.
20 Praise Yahweh, you angels of his,
who are mighty in strength, who fulfill his word,
obeying the voice of his word.
21 Praise Yahweh, all you armies of his,
you servants of his, who do his pleasure.
22 Praise Yahweh, all you works of his,
in all places of his dominion.
Praise Yahweh, my soul!
The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus
Bless the Lord, my soul! (Psalm 103:1)
Yes! Bless the Lord today. Praise him and exalt him with all that is within you—not just the things that you are proud of or good at or that seem important to you. God has created you unique among all creation, and his heart is always for you. He loves to help you fulfill his plans for your life.
Know that you can’t be too clumsy, absentminded, or stubborn to become God’s instrument. He can work with those things! Consider Margaret Mary Alacoque, a seventeenth-century nun considered to be no practical good in her convent. She found it difficult to pray according to the order’s established format, and she inspired only scorn and contempt among her fellow nuns. But it was to her that Jesus entrusted the message of the Sacred Heart. He told “useless” Sr. Margaret Mary that three streams flow eternally from his heart: mercy for sinners, help for all in need, and love and light to enable people to shine forth the glory of the Lord.
He pardons all your iniquities, heals all your ills. (Psalm 103:3) His stream of mercy flows without end to forgive and to restore whatever is wrong in you. Invite him to touch whatever is weak, or painful, or shameful, or just plain annoying. He will forgive. He will transform and heal.
He redeems your life from destruction, crowns you with kindness and compassion. (Psalm 103:4) That second stream, help for all in need, flows also without ceasing. Set your heart on serving him, despite the things that you believe disqualify you. You are not too weak, inept, or useless. He understands you and will help you!
Merciful and gracious is the Lord, slow to anger and abounding in kindness. (Psalm 103:8) Love and light flow from Jesus’ Sacred Heart. Love, full of grace and mercy, streams towards you daily. That love is ever patient, not easily riled, and infinitely gentle. God cares about you. He wants you to succeed as you promote his glory, in whatever ways he shows you to do that.
So bless the Lord today—and every day!
“Sacred Heart of Jesus, forgive and heal me. Redeem me, and crown me with your steadfast love. Most of all, guide me in all my ways.” Amen.
Deuteronomy 7:6 For you are a holy people to Yahweh your God. Yahweh your God has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, above all peoples who are on the face of the earth. 7 Yahweh didn’t set his love on you, nor choose you, because you were more in number than any people; for you were the fewest of all peoples: 8 but because Yahweh loves you, and because he desires to keep the oath which he swore to your fathers, Yahweh has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. 9 Know therefore that Yahweh your God himself is God, the faithful God, who keeps covenant and loving kindness with them who love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations, 10 and repays those who hate him to their face, to destroy them. He will not be slack to him who hates him. He will repay him to his face. 11 You shall therefore keep the commandments, the statutes, and the ordinances, which I command you today, to do them.
1 John 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves has been born of God, and knows God. 8 He who doesn’t love doesn’t know God, for God is love. 9 By this God’s love was revealed in us, that God has sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son as the atoning sacrifice[1 John 4:10 “atoning sacrifice” is from the Greek “ιλασμος”, an appeasing, propitiating, or the means of appeasement or propitiation—the sacrifice that turns away God’s wrath because of our sin.] for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God loved us in this way, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God remains in us, and his love has been perfected in us.
13 By this we know that we remain in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14 We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as the Savior of the world. 15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him, and he in God. 16 We know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and he who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him.
Matthew 11:25 At that time, Jesus answered, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you hid these things from the wise and understanding, and revealed them to infants. 26 Yes, Father, for so it was well-pleasing in your sight. 27 All things have been delivered to me by my Father. No one knows the Son, except the Father; neither does anyone know the Father, except the Son, and he to whom the Son desires to reveal him.
28 “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
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