Tim Greenway:Jesus4OurWorld: The humble will possess everything

Welcome to my blog.

You will find here the daily readings from the Bible, chosen for us by the Catholic Church under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

If we set aside a regular time each day to read, meditate and pray over the readings, we will receive the fruits of peace and joy. The Holy Spirit who inspired the passage in the first place, will inspire you too as you read in faith.

A prayerful reflection is given. I hope you may find it helpful.

Wednesday 15 July 2020

The humble will possess everything

Dn 12: 3

Those who are wise will shine brightly

like the splendour of the firmament

and those who lead the many to justice

shall be like the stars for ever.

____________________

Prayer

O God, who show the light of your truth

to those who go astray,

so that they may return to the right path,

give all who for the faith they profess

are accounted Christians

the grace to reject whatever is contrary to the name of Christ

and to strive after all that does it honour.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.

____________________

First reading

Isaiah 10:5-7,13-16 ·

Assyria's arrogance and coming ruin

The Lord of hosts says this:

Woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger,

the club brandished by me in my fury!

I sent him against a godless nation;

I gave him commission against a people that provokes me,

to pillage and to plunder freely

and to stamp down like the mud in the streets.

But he did not intend this,

his heart did not plan it so.

No, in his heart was to destroy,

to go on cutting nations to pieces without limit.

For he has said:

‘By the strength of my own arm I have done this

and by my own intelligence, for understanding is mine;

I have pushed back the frontiers of peoples

and plundered their treasures.

I have brought their inhabitants down to the dust.

As if they were a bird’s nest, my hand has seized

the riches of the peoples.

As people pick up deserted eggs

I have picked up the whole earth,

with not a wing fluttering,

not a beak opening, not a chirp.’

Does the axe claim more credit than the man who wields it,

or the saw more strength than the man who handles it?

It would be like the cudgel controlling the man who raises it,

or the club moving what is not made of wood!

And so the Lord of Hosts is going to send

a wasting sickness on his stout warriors;

beneath his plenty, a burning will burn

like a consuming fire.

THE WORD OF THE LORD

Prayerful reflection

“If you do not stand by me, you will not stand at all” (JB), “If your faith is not firm, you will not be firm.” (NRSV). This was in yesterday’s reading and is the message God gives us through Isaiah. Today’s reading is an example. The Assyrians were the superpower of the day. They had conquered and built up a mighty empire. They swept the northern kingdom of Israel with its capital in Samaria off the face of history. They attacked Jerusalem, but for some reason lifted the siege and departed. So Jerusalem was spared. But in the next century Assyria itself was conquered and swept away. ‘So passes worldly glory’

“3 You turn us back to dust, and say, “Turn back, you mortals.” For a thousand years in your sight are like yesterday when it is past, or like a watch in the night. You sweep them away; they are like a dream, like grass that is renewed in the morning; in the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers…For all our days pass away under your wrath; our years come to an end like a sigh. The days of our life are seventy years, or perhaps eighty, if we are strong; even then their span is only toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away”. (Psalm 90).

Human beings like to live in a world of illusion. It is the illusion of power and strength. It is the illusion that we are the masters of the world and will conquer the universe too. But the truth is different.

The covid-19 pandemic is an example. We have produced the most sophisticated weapons of destruction, but are finding it so difficult to hit this minute virus and knock it out. Meanwhile its armies have swept the world, like no other army. It has destroyed thousands on thousands. We don’t know whom they will get next. All we can do is hide in our homes.

Isaiah taches us that unless we stand with God, we wont stand at all.

“2 Bless the LORD, O my soul, and do not forget all his benefits— who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the Pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good as long as you live so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s”. (Psalm 103). In Christ Jesus he renews our youth to such an extent that we will live forever in the glory of God as true human beings. That life begins now in faith when we “stand by him”.

Where do you stand?

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 93(94):5-10,14-15