Daily Office Readings for Wednesday of the 4th Week of Easter: Year 2
Morning, Psalm 119:49-72; Evening, Psalm 49;
Exodus 33:1 to 23 ; 1st Thessalonians 2:1 to 12; Matthew 5:17 to 20:
“For the Lord had said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘You are a stiff-necked people; if for a single moment I should go up among you, I would consume you. So now take off your ornaments, and I will decide what to do to you.” (Exodus 33:5)
I guess “stiff-necked” is a good way to describe our arrogance toward people who differ from us or our ungratefulness towards God, forgetting all that God has done, and is doing, for us.. Moreover, God lets them (and us) know that the pureness, goodness and immediate presence of God would be detrimental to our physical, and spiritual, well-being if we are not on a path to God’s purity.
This reminds me of a Russian priest (I forget his name), who said that when we die, our soul gravitates towards God. And as our souls get close to the Divine, whatever it has about us that is not good and loving begins to disintegrate. This could happen to the point that there is nothing of us left. This journey of our soul could be our destruction, in whole or in part, depending on what we can rid ourselves of now while we still have time. This may even explain the innocence of babies and young ones who make it to God. They haven’t had time to be corrupted yet.
So, my beloved in the Lord, we, like the Israelites in the wilderness, are on a journey. Whatever it is that makes our necks stiff, let’s rid ourselves of it now so that when our souls are on its journey home, only a little of us (if any) will be lost on the Way. And we didn’t need that part of us anyway.
Let us pray:
Dear Holy God, as you are pure love, to be near you would shake us away and destroy us. Purify us Lord as You are pure. Continue making us a holy people as You are holy. Please help us in our daily lives to cleanse ourselves of all that is unsightly to You, You who loved us into being. Amen.
Please keep up your thoughts and prayers and hopes for Ukraine and Russia, Israel and Palestine, and our schools including St. Augustine in Raleigh, North Carolina.
As we listen to what the Spirit of God is saying to us, let us live to love and serve, and to teach others to love and serve, while pondering anew what the Almighty can do. John
onewhoponders 