Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Zachariah, Chapter 9, verse 5-6

⁵Ashkelon will see it and be afraid; Gaza too will be in great anguish; Ekron also, for its hope will wither. The king will disappear from Gaza, Ashkelon will not be inhabited, ⁶ and the illegitimate will rule in Ashdod.

Ashkelon was a coastal city of the Philistines usually at war with Israel. What God is saying to the Israel’s is that He has got their backs and is in the process of restoring Israel. God’s mercy is so great that not only does he restore Israel but, God the Father, eventually will restore all those who have Holy Fear. “The Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” (John 3:14-15)

Divine Mercy Sunday’s bulletin states, “The fact that Jesus suffered for us means that our suffering now has somewhere to go. Our pain, our battle with sin, our struggle to truly believe in him, all of this can be laid within the wounds of Christ and healed. When we carry our scars alone, they blind us. They paralyze us. They prevent us from experiencing joy. But when we unite our own wounds to those of Christ, when we allow ourselves to encounter the wounded but glorified Christ, we are able to move beyond our own.[1]

 

Let us this day say the prayer of Everyman[2]

Into thy hands, Lord, my soul I commend; receive it, Lord, that it be not lost; and save me from the fiend’s boast, that I may appear with the blessed host that shall be saved at the day of doom. Into thy hands-of might’s most forever-I commend my spirit.

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[1] Liturgical Publications Inc.

[2] Everyman other Miracle and Morality Plays, Dover Press 1995