Wednesday in the
Fourth Week of Easter
Jeremiah, Chapter 26, Verse 21
When King Jehoiakim and all his
officers and princes heard his words, the king sought to have him killed. But
Uriah heard of it and fled in FEAR to
Egypt.
Both Jeremiah and Uriah spoke of the destruction of
Israel. Jeremiah stood his ground and said kill me my blood is in your hands.
Uriah fled was captured and killed; Jeremiah lived. Face your fears! This is what Christ meant when he
said we must become like little
children again to enter the Kingdom of God. That is, we approach the pressures
of life with all its troubles, fears and problems as an opportunity for belief.
“Having moved through our fears we can begin to reach our hand into the gift of
the fountain of God’s grace.[1]
Today might be a good day to plan to take your
children or grandchildren fishing. According to Maude Farris-Luse, the oldest
recorded living human being, fishing and mustard plasters were the secret to
her longevity. Treat every day as a gift from God; each one is unique and
unlike any other as it unfolds realize what happens today will only happen once
in the entire history of the universe.
The welfare
of the family is decisive for the future of the world and that of the Church.
Families are faced with the growing danger represented by an extreme
individualism (which the world professes) which weakens family bonds and ends
up considering each member of the family as an isolated unit, leading in some
cases to the idea that one’s personality is shaped by his or her desires, which
are considered absolute”. The tensions created by an overly individualistic
culture, caught up with possessions and pleasures, leads to intolerance and
hostility in families. Freedom of choice makes it possible to plan our lives
and to make the most of ourselves. Yet
if this freedom lacks noble goals or personal discipline, it degenerates into
an inability to give oneself generously to others. It is easy
nowadays to confuse genuine freedom with the idea that each individual can act
arbitrarily, as if there were no truths, values and principles to provide
guidance, and everything were possible and permissible. The ideal of marriage,
marked by a commitment to exclusivity and stability, is swept aside whenever it
proves inconvenient or tiresome. The fear
of loneliness and the desire for stability and fidelity exist side by side with
a growing fear of entrapment in
a relationship that could hamper the achievement of one’s personal goals.
Notice
that the first event listed—Abraham’s being thrown into a furnace—is one that
is not recorded in the Bible, but is known to us only by way of midrashic
traditions.
2. G‑d tells him to leave his homeland
to be a stranger in the land of Canaan.
3. Immediately after his arrival in
the Promised Land, he encounters a famine.
4. The Egyptians seize his beloved
wife, Sarah, and bring her to Pharaoh.
5. He faces incredible odds in the
battle of the four and five kings.
6. He is told by G‑d that his children
will be strangers in a strange land.
7. G‑d tells him to circumcise himself at an
advanced age.
8. The king of Gerar captures Sarah,
intending to take her for himself.
9. G‑d tells him to send away Hagar
and her son, Ishmael.
10. Abraham is told by G‑d to sacrifice
his dear son Isaac upon an altar.
Daily
Devotions
[1] J. Brian Bransfield, Living the
Beatitudes-A Journey of Life in Christ.
[2]
Pope Francis, Encyclical on Love.
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