Daily Retreat 09/28/07
2007 Sep 28 Fri/ Wenceslaus, mt/ Lawrence Ruiz, mm, mt, & co., mts
Hg 2: 1-9/ Ps 43: 1. 2. 3. 4/ Lk 9: 18-22
From today’s readings: “ I will fill this house with glory, says the LORD of hosts.... Hope in God; I will praise Him, my savior and my God.... But who do you say that I am?”
God’s Perspective
After the Babylonian captivity, the weary deportees returned to the ruins of Jerusalem, and with the encouragement of the prophet Haggai and others, they rebuilt the Lord’s temple. The First Temple, you will recall, had been built by Solomon, and it was a truly splendid edifice - several chapters of the First Book of Kings are devoted to detailing the glories of that House of the Lord.
So the Second Temple, built in the chaotic aftermath of the Babylonian exile, had understandably only a shadow of the splendor and glory of the First Temple. But the Lord’s words through the prophet Haggai pre-empted any discouragement. Haggai’s messianic prophecies in chapter 2, although not literally fulfilled in that building, were fulfilled when Herod the Great rebuilt the Temple on a much grander scale just a few years before the birth of Christ and His Presentation in the Temple (when God indeed filled the house with the glory of His presence!).
Sometimes our best labors for God seem to bear rather meager fruit. But that is only from our limited perspective. God knows how things will turn out in the long run, from His eternal perspective. As long as we are doing what God wants us to do, we can rest assured that our labors contribute to God’s glory!
Hg 2: 1-9/ Ps 43: 1. 2. 3. 4/ Lk 9: 18-22
From today’s readings: “ I will fill this house with glory, says the LORD of hosts.... Hope in God; I will praise Him, my savior and my God.... But who do you say that I am?”
God’s Perspective
After the Babylonian captivity, the weary deportees returned to the ruins of Jerusalem, and with the encouragement of the prophet Haggai and others, they rebuilt the Lord’s temple. The First Temple, you will recall, had been built by Solomon, and it was a truly splendid edifice - several chapters of the First Book of Kings are devoted to detailing the glories of that House of the Lord.
So the Second Temple, built in the chaotic aftermath of the Babylonian exile, had understandably only a shadow of the splendor and glory of the First Temple. But the Lord’s words through the prophet Haggai pre-empted any discouragement. Haggai’s messianic prophecies in chapter 2, although not literally fulfilled in that building, were fulfilled when Herod the Great rebuilt the Temple on a much grander scale just a few years before the birth of Christ and His Presentation in the Temple (when God indeed filled the house with the glory of His presence!).
Sometimes our best labors for God seem to bear rather meager fruit. But that is only from our limited perspective. God knows how things will turn out in the long run, from His eternal perspective. As long as we are doing what God wants us to do, we can rest assured that our labors contribute to God’s glory!
posted by FrPitstick | 9/26/2007
<< Home