A Penitent Blogger
Concern for the grass
Yesterday’s first reading contained a verse or so that can be heard in Handel’s Messiah - albeit in a recitative that is not the most well-known part of that famous work.
Today’s first reading (Isaiah 40:1-11), on the other hand, contains the source material for some of the most famous parts of that most famous of oratorios.
Comfort ye,
comfort ye my people, saith your God.
Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her,
that her warfare is accomplished,
that her iniquity is pardoned....
The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness,
Prepare ye the way of the Lord,
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be exalted,
and every mountain and hill made low,
the crooked straight, and the rough places plain.
******
O thou that tellest good tidings to Zion,
get thee up into the high mountain;
O thou that tellest good tidings to Jerusalem,
lift up thy voice with strength;
lift it up, and be not afraid;
say unto the cities of Judah,
Behold your God!
******
He shall feed his flock like a shepherd;
and he shall gather the lambs with His arm,
and carry them in His bosom,
and shall gently lead those that are with young.
But in the middle of today’s first reading, in between the familiar verses of famous song, is this:
All flesh is grass,
and all their glory like the flower of the field.
The grass withers, the flower wilts,
when the breath of the LORD blows upon it.
So then, the people is the grass.
Though the grass withers and the flower wilts,
the word of our God stands forever.
Not the most comforting of words: we are grass – we are small and frail, easily trodden down and quick to wither.
But, as our Lord says in today’s Gospel (Matthew 18:12-14):
It is not the will of your heavenly Father
that one of these little ones be lost.
God loves us, wandering and fragile as we may be.
All mankind is grass, but God has concern for this grass.
Our lives may feel fragile, but the word of our loving God stands forever.
May we always keep ourselves in his hands.
Today’s first reading (Isaiah 40:1-11), on the other hand, contains the source material for some of the most famous parts of that most famous of oratorios.
Comfort ye,
comfort ye my people, saith your God.
Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her,
that her warfare is accomplished,
that her iniquity is pardoned....
The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness,
Prepare ye the way of the Lord,
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be exalted,
and every mountain and hill made low,
the crooked straight, and the rough places plain.
******
O thou that tellest good tidings to Zion,
get thee up into the high mountain;
O thou that tellest good tidings to Jerusalem,
lift up thy voice with strength;
lift it up, and be not afraid;
say unto the cities of Judah,
Behold your God!
******
He shall feed his flock like a shepherd;
and he shall gather the lambs with His arm,
and carry them in His bosom,
and shall gently lead those that are with young.
But in the middle of today’s first reading, in between the familiar verses of famous song, is this:
All flesh is grass,
and all their glory like the flower of the field.
The grass withers, the flower wilts,
when the breath of the LORD blows upon it.
So then, the people is the grass.
Though the grass withers and the flower wilts,
the word of our God stands forever.
Not the most comforting of words: we are grass – we are small and frail, easily trodden down and quick to wither.
But, as our Lord says in today’s Gospel (Matthew 18:12-14):
It is not the will of your heavenly Father
that one of these little ones be lost.
God loves us, wandering and fragile as we may be.
All mankind is grass, but God has concern for this grass.
Our lives may feel fragile, but the word of our loving God stands forever.
May we always keep ourselves in his hands.
posted by Penitens | 7:29 AM
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