WAR! – You Reap What You Sow!

TWENTY-EIGHTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

God’s kingdom is presented as a great banquet in today’s selections from Isaiah and Matthew, who remind me to wear the wedding garment of a worthy life. And Paul assures me that the Lord will supply whatever I need. Do I pray for his help? – Saint Paul Daily Missal


REFLECTION: ON WAR!

“Now the angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal to Bochim. And he said,’I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land which I have sworn to your fathers; and I said, ‘I will never break My covenant with you, and as for you, you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall tear down their altars.’ But you have not obeyed Me; What is this you have done? Therefore I also said, ‘I will not drive them out before you; but they will be a snare to you.’ When the angel of the LORD spoke these words to all the sons of Israel, the people lifted up their voices and wept.”

Judges 2:1-4 NASB 1995 – Charles Stanley General Edition
THE ANGEL OF THE LORD

My dear brothers and sisters, incomplete obedience, is disobedience; within that, dire consequences always come, even if done with good intentions. For disobedience opens the door for evil to walk right in unannounced, making men sow evil deeds. Moreover, those who see the evil but remain silent, turning a blind eye to the disobedience, become complicit and shall be judged accordingly, handing over their perceived innocence of what is happening and becoming subject to the evil as a thorn in one’s side, effecting everyone else around them. In short, we reap what we sow, if not in our present, then most definitely in our future and for as long as the disobedience has not been forgiven! This is the message from Judges 2:1-4.

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Moreover, look at what evil has done to us; what are we to do about it? When terrorists do the evil works of Satan, the great liar, how are we to react? How can we control our anger, thirst for revenge, and compulsions to strike back with malice and hatred? Do you all not know that stupidity begets stupidity, hate begets hate, violence begets violence, and depravity begets depravity? Anger is a drug that Satan uses to rouse our baser instincts. Look past the hideous acts of evil; control the brooding anger with measured responses rooted in compassion. For even one act of supposed justified retort done in the name of protecting oneself that results in the death of another will beget death! War has come to many nations and individual families with as little as a word that slights the other, killing their reputation and soaking them in blame. War comes from the belly of the great dragon, which seeks to devour every good thing! Do you all not know that war begets war? When have you ever not seen this to not be true? Because of this, I say to you, my brothers and sister, control your anger! Dismiss your lust for justice if it is also accompanied by the lust of justified killing! For the great deceiver has told you that nothing bad will come to you by defending yourself with anger and vengeance in your heart, convincing you that fighting and killing is better than turning the other cheek… but our LORD said, “Revenge not yourselves, my dearly beloved; but give place unto wrath, for it is written, Revenge is mine, I will repay saith the LORD.”Romans 12:19 Douay-Rheims [Saint Benedict Press] Instead, live your lives in peace, love, and kindness, filled with God’s grace! Come to the great banquet clothed in the wedding garment of Christ’s agape love, worthy of God’s forgiveness, found spotless from the evil that ravages our world. Be like Enoch, who walked with God, who did not die but rather was taken up into heaven alive in God’s love; be like Melchizedek of old, both king and priest revered by Abraham, and be like Jesus who died a hideous death and was raised from the grave so that we might also be numbered as the sons and daughters of God, alive in Him.


FIRST READING:

Sunday, October 15, 2023

The Lord will prepare a feast and wipe away the tears from every face – Is 25:6-10a

A READING FROM THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH (Isaias)

And the Lord of hosts shall make unto all people in this mountain, a feast of fat things, a feast of wine, of fat things full of marrow, of wine purified from the lees.

And he shall destroy in this mountain the face of the bond with which all people were tied and the web that he began over all nations.

He shall cast death down headlong forever: and the Lord God shall wipe away tears from every face, and the reproach of his people he shall take away from off the whole earth: for the Lord hath spoken it.

And they shall say in that day: Lo, this is our God, we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the Lord, we have patiently waited for him, we shall rejoice and be joyful in his salvation.

10 For the hand of the Lord shall rest in this mountain: and Moab shall be trodden down under him, as straw is broken in pieces with the wain.


LET US PRAY

LORD, open my lips, and my mouth will proclaim your praise.

Ant. You have left everything to follow me; you will have it all returned a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.

Inventory Psalm 95

95 A canticle for David himself, when the house was built after the captivity. Sing ye to the Lord a new canticle: sing to the Lord, all the earth.

Sing ye to the Lord and bless his name: shew forth his salvation from day to day.

Declare his glory among the Gentiles: his wonders among all people.

For the Lord is great, and exceedingly to be praised: he is to be feared above all gods.

For all the gods of the Gentiles are devils: but the Lord made the heavens.

Praise and beauty are before him: holiness and majesty in his sanctuary.

Bring ye to the Lord, O ye kindreds of the Gentiles, bring ye to the Lord glory and honour:

Bring to the Lord glory unto his name. Bring up sacrifices, and come into his courts:

Adore ye the Lord in his holy court. Let all the earth be moved at his presence.

10 Say ye among the Gentiles, the Lord hath reigned. For he hath corrected the world, which shall not be moved: he will judge the people with justice.

11 Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad, let the sea be moved, and the fulness thereof:

12 The fields and all things that are in them shall be joyful. Then shall all the trees of the woods rejoice

13 Before the face of the Lord, because he cometh: because he cometh to judge the earth. He shall judge the world with justice, and the people with his truth.

Psalm 95- Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition (DRA)

Morning Prayer: Canticle of Zechariah

Lord, our help and guide, make your love the foundation of our lives. May our love for you express itself in our eagerness to do good for others. Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.

Prayer Request: Dear Lord, please protect the people of Israel, and all the innocent Palestinians who have again been forced into a war. Please protect all Ukrainians, all the innocent people of Russia, and all of Europe who continue to face archaic aggression. Please show the aggressors the error of their ways and offer them your grace so the hate that Satan has placed within them is vanquished forever and ever. Amen.

OUR FATHER

Be not you, therefore, like to them, for your Father knoweth what is needful for you before you ask him.

Thus therefore shall you pray: Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

11 Give us this day our supersubstantial bread.

12 And forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors.

13 And lead us not into temptation. But deliver us from evil. Amen.

Dismissal

May the Lord bless you, protect you from all evil, and bring you to everlasting life. Amen.


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Listening Faithfully Blog written by Brother Brian © 2009-2023

Special Posting: Irreplaceable

” 13 I was watching in the night visions, and behold, One like the Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. 14 Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, That all people, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion. Which shall not pass away, and His kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed.” Daniel 7:13-14

People have fights, they argue, get upset, we say things we don’t mean. Sometimes we say hurtful things we don’t mean, we do things out of anger which is destructive to our relationships and without God we keep on hurting those we love. Without love we keep on hurting those who are the closest to us. In the heat of battle people can be so cruel and we sort of go into this evil zone of blocking the pain we inflict to others and to ourselves. When the armies collide all fear goes away as the instinct to survive takes over, but even in this intense moment God is ever present, and is willing to take us from this place of grief and into his arms, His irreplaceable forgiveness which is so protective that nothing can shatter it, break it, move it, or keep you from it. 

A very wise person told me once that, “We can have an argument and be mad or upset with one another. We can even hate each other for a time. But, I still love you and that means I am never willing to throw you to the wolves.”

My mother could make me feel like I was a king and she could also make me feel two feet tall. She can come up with such marvelous words both in her anger and in moments of sorrow and regret. I asked her in my anger,

“Why not throw me to the wolves, then you will have one less person to worry about?” 

We had had a fight about money, our life being poor, her worries, and not having enough. During that conversation I had said something I deeply regretted which started a round of comments at the end of which I got my feeling hurt. As a man now I look back and I see my error in ever starting that argument. I can see how much pain I caused my mother by saying what I had said. I also see now her regret in losing her temper with me. As a boy however, it was going to take a lot of time for me to get over it before I could apologize, but my mom dig in with her response.

“I could never throw you to the wolves Brian, because you are my child, and because I love you. That makes you irreplaceable to me.”

When my mother said that to me, I felt such peace in my heart, I could see God standing in front of me telling me that I was irreplaceable to Him as well. Call it what you will, but I had an epiphany within that moment, euphoria engulfed me, and in the following seconds I turned around and I screamed at the top of my lounges, “I love you too mom!” as tears rolled down my cheeks I murmured over and over as my tears soaked her shoulder, “I am so sorry.”

My mother in that moment had become irreplaceable to me. In fact my entire family had become irreplaceable to me within the blink of an eye, and our problems suddenly no longer where just my parents problem, but the entire families problems. In a blink of an eye I found God, my family, and myself. I learned that you don’t abandon  your family, you do not forsake them, and you never leave them behind. This was the lesson I learned as a boy, this was a feeling I have only had one other time in my life, and that was when my beautiful daughter was born. Let me also take this moment and just say, my daughter is and always has been irreplaceable to me, and as her father I have spent a lifetime trying to protect her and make her feel just as my mother had once made me feel long ago.

God is irreplaceable, his love is enough to stop wars, to heal all wounds, his words work miracles, and we do not have to be thrown to the wolves, because Jesus did that for us already through His undying love and sacrifice on the cross.

“For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” 2 Corinthians 5:21

Jesus before time became the king of our world, He delivered us from bondage, He paid the terrible debt, and without Him we all would be lost. We would be like those people who fight and fight and have done so for so long they have forgotten why they fight, and their eyes and hearts are absent of Gods love. To some people faith is a joke, God is a joke, they refuse to believe and they disown Him and in doing so they throw Him to the wolves over and over. But soldiers in P.O.W. camps they have nothing but their faith, it their pocket bibles that are issued to each service member which becomes the life line and helps them to survive in situations which would have otherwise killed them. It is faith in God which people in Communistic countries cling too even at the point of their own death. It is faith in God which helped millions of people in the German death camps during WWII, and the list is endless. God is irreplaceable and He looks at each one of us as if we are also irreplaceable to Him. 

Amen

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May God bless you and keep you all the days of your life. Amen

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