Daily Retreat 08/21/08
2008 Aug 21 Thu: Pius X, pp M
Ez 36: 23-28/ Ps 50(51): 12-13. 14-15. 18-19/ Mt 22: 1-14
From today’s readings: “ I will give you a new heart and place a new spirit within you, taking from your bodies your stony hearts and giving you natural hearts.... I will pour clean water on you and wash away all your sins.... The feast is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy to come....”
Have a Heart!
The desperate cry to “Have a Heart!” is among the most tugging appeals one can make beseeching another to re-consider some cold intention or assessment. The appeal plainly and plaintively points out that the proposal under consideration appears heartless, and even inhuman.
How touching to note that God uses this same appeal with all His people, entreating us not only to “have a heart,” but more specifically, to have the heart that He offers to give us! At first, it might seem inappropriate for us to be saddled with the charge of having “stony hearts,” since each of us would hasten to assure all that we certainly do love our God! Yet in all honesty, we must also admit that we have too often treated Him heartlessly.
This is particularly true, according to Ezekiel, when the great Name of the Lord is profaned among us. This refers not just to the ubiquitous profanity in our midst (which, tragically, is accepted so casually), but also to any ways in which God’s rightful place in our lives is demoted or denigrated in any fashion. For example, if a man is too embarrassed to ever speak seriously about his faith (even in his own family!), or if a woman can find plenty of time for romance novels or soap operas, but no time for reading the Bible, then God’s Name has certainly been heartlessly profaned in such households!
Today, remember above all to have a heart for the Good Lord who gave you your heart!
Ez 36: 23-28/ Ps 50(51): 12-13. 14-15. 18-19/ Mt 22: 1-14
From today’s readings: “ I will give you a new heart and place a new spirit within you, taking from your bodies your stony hearts and giving you natural hearts.... I will pour clean water on you and wash away all your sins.... The feast is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy to come....”
Have a Heart!
The desperate cry to “Have a Heart!” is among the most tugging appeals one can make beseeching another to re-consider some cold intention or assessment. The appeal plainly and plaintively points out that the proposal under consideration appears heartless, and even inhuman.
How touching to note that God uses this same appeal with all His people, entreating us not only to “have a heart,” but more specifically, to have the heart that He offers to give us! At first, it might seem inappropriate for us to be saddled with the charge of having “stony hearts,” since each of us would hasten to assure all that we certainly do love our God! Yet in all honesty, we must also admit that we have too often treated Him heartlessly.
This is particularly true, according to Ezekiel, when the great Name of the Lord is profaned among us. This refers not just to the ubiquitous profanity in our midst (which, tragically, is accepted so casually), but also to any ways in which God’s rightful place in our lives is demoted or denigrated in any fashion. For example, if a man is too embarrassed to ever speak seriously about his faith (even in his own family!), or if a woman can find plenty of time for romance novels or soap operas, but no time for reading the Bible, then God’s Name has certainly been heartlessly profaned in such households!
Today, remember above all to have a heart for the Good Lord who gave you your heart!
posted by FrPitstick | 8/20/2008
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