Daily Retreat 06/30/09
2009 Jun 30 Tue:Ordinary Weekday/ First Martyrs of the Church of Rome
Gn 19:15-29/ Ps 25(26):2-3. 9-10. 11-12/ Mt 8:23-27
From today’s readings:“Lot's wife looked back, and she was turned into a pillar of salt.... O Lord, Your mercy is before my eyes.... Lord, save us - we are perishing!”
Rescue!
God is in the rescue business - the whole mission of His Son should be recognized as the greatest rescue operation of all time, when God redeemed humanity and drew all to Himself in order to rescue us from the doom of sin. We can think of this rescue operation as occurring in two phases: deployment and implementation. Through the incarnation, passion, death, and resurrection of His Son, God deployed His grace so completely into the human condition, that there was no time or place or person or situation beyond the ready reach of the Redeemer.
In the implementation phase, the Rescuer calls out instructions to those imperilled and needing to be rescued. If those who are stranded then follow the Rescuer’s instructions and cooperate with His efforts to save them, they will indeed reach safety. However, if they were to turn their back on the Rescuer and disdain His redemptive instructions , they would perish needlessly.
All those alive today are living the real drama of God’s efforts to implement His rescue operation in our lives. Already, all of us have had “close calls,” times when we just barely managed to escape from grave physical or moral dangers. However, as relieved as we were to have reached temporary havens, so often there follows an almost irresistible urge to look back, and as the example of Lot’s wife proves, that look back can be tragic!
For instance, after God’s grace leads a person to turn away from sin with contrition and the firm resolution to sin no more, the Devil is often successful in tempting the person to look back once more at the sin, and thus the forbidden fruit again catches the eye and awakens the appetite, and soon the person is too often lost again to the mesmerizing allure of wickedness.
So, the moral is: follow the instructions of the Divine Rescuer, cooperate with His efforts, and don’t even look back at sin!
Especially throughout this Year for Priests, consider the ways God will use you to strengthen the holiness of priests - please pray for priests and future priestly vocations every day, and do your part in this Year for Priests!
Gn 19:15-29/ Ps 25(26):2-3. 9-10. 11-12/ Mt 8:23-27
From today’s readings:“Lot's wife looked back, and she was turned into a pillar of salt.... O Lord, Your mercy is before my eyes.... Lord, save us - we are perishing!”
Rescue!
God is in the rescue business - the whole mission of His Son should be recognized as the greatest rescue operation of all time, when God redeemed humanity and drew all to Himself in order to rescue us from the doom of sin. We can think of this rescue operation as occurring in two phases: deployment and implementation. Through the incarnation, passion, death, and resurrection of His Son, God deployed His grace so completely into the human condition, that there was no time or place or person or situation beyond the ready reach of the Redeemer.
In the implementation phase, the Rescuer calls out instructions to those imperilled and needing to be rescued. If those who are stranded then follow the Rescuer’s instructions and cooperate with His efforts to save them, they will indeed reach safety. However, if they were to turn their back on the Rescuer and disdain His redemptive instructions , they would perish needlessly.
All those alive today are living the real drama of God’s efforts to implement His rescue operation in our lives. Already, all of us have had “close calls,” times when we just barely managed to escape from grave physical or moral dangers. However, as relieved as we were to have reached temporary havens, so often there follows an almost irresistible urge to look back, and as the example of Lot’s wife proves, that look back can be tragic!
For instance, after God’s grace leads a person to turn away from sin with contrition and the firm resolution to sin no more, the Devil is often successful in tempting the person to look back once more at the sin, and thus the forbidden fruit again catches the eye and awakens the appetite, and soon the person is too often lost again to the mesmerizing allure of wickedness.
So, the moral is: follow the instructions of the Divine Rescuer, cooperate with His efforts, and don’t even look back at sin!
Especially throughout this Year for Priests, consider the ways God will use you to strengthen the holiness of priests - please pray for priests and future priestly vocations every day, and do your part in this Year for Priests!
posted by FrPitstick | 6/23/2009
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