Daniel, Chapter 8, Verse 23-25
23 At the end of their reign, when sinners have
reached their measure, there shall arise a king, impudent, and skilled in
intrigue. 24 He shall be strong and powerful, bring about fearful ruin, and succeed in his undertaking. He shall destroy
powerful peoples; 25 his cunning shall be against the holy ones, his
treacherous conduct shall succeed. He shall be proud of heart and destroy many
by stealth. But when he rises against the Prince of princes, he shall be broken
without a hand being raised.
This verse brings out
images of how Christ’s love won over the Roman Empire and through Rome was
spread throughout the entire world. Rome controlled with human fear. When we fear the Lord our contentment does not come from any absence of
problems but from knowingly choosing how to respond to them righteously. God
does not want to squash our dreams with His commandments. No he listens and
smiles like we do when we see and hear the dreams of a child. Yet, He knows that
all dreams must be founded in reality and the truth. When our dreams work
against His commandments; our dreams work against us. Every dream must have a
foundation of love and in some way must increase the life, liberty or the
happiness of others.
Yes, on the Day of
Judgment the homes of the poor will be honored more than the great mansions of
the rich. Simple obedience to His laws will be more highly praised than the
brilliance of all the Kings, Presidents and couriers throughout the world.
Strive therefore for dreams which provide earthly gain without the surrender to
sin. So, the only real wealth is a clear conscience; of a life well lived. To
live righteously, to love chastely, to learn the truth and to leave a legacy to
others is the only true riches.
Jesus experienced the
utmost depths of human fear. Yet he found the strength even
in that hour to trust the Father. “Abba,
Father, all things are possible to you; remove this chalice from me; yet not
what I will, but what you will.” (Mk. 15:34) Can we at the final hour have
the peace of Christ to say, “Father, into
your hands I commit my spirit”. (Lk . 23:46)[1]
You and
your wife embody the primordial divine plan clearly spoken of by Christ
himself: “Have you not read that he who made them from the beginning made them
male and female?” (Mt 19:4). “God created man in his own image, in the
image of God he created them; male and female he created them” The couple that
loves and begets life is a true, living icon: not an idol like those of stone
or gold prohibited by the Decalogue: they are capable of revealing God the
Creator and Savior. For this reason, fruitful love becomes a symbol of God’s
inner life. Saint John Paul II shed light on this when he said, “Our God in his
deepest mystery is not solitude, but a family, for he has within himself
fatherhood, sonship and the essence of the family, which is love. That love, in
the divine family, is the Holy Spirit”. The original Hebrew suggests a direct
encounter, face to face, eye to eye, in a kind of silent dialogue, for where
love is concerned, silence is always more eloquent than words. This encounter,
which relieves man’s solitude, gives rise to new birth and to the family.
Significantly, Adam, who is also the man of every time and place, together with
his wife, starts a new family. Jesus speaks of this by quoting the passage from
Genesis: “The man shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one”
(Mt 19:5; cf. Gen 2:24). The very word “to be joined” or “to cleave”, in the
original Hebrew, bespeaks a profound harmony, a closeness both physical and
interior, to such an extent that the word is used to describe our union with
God: “My soul clings to you” (Ps 63:8). The marital union is thus evoked not
only in its sexual and corporal dimension, but also in its voluntary
self-giving in love. The result of this
union is that the two “become one flesh”, both physically and in the union of
their hearts and lives, and, eventually, in a child, who will share not only
genetically but also spiritually in the “flesh” of both parents.
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