A Penitent Blogger
The ancient ruins shall be rebuilt
As human beings, we live in the here-and-now with the past behind us and the future before us.
For many of us, the future is full of hope for better things.
For many of us, the future is also full of concern and things unknown.
For many of us, the past is full of the memory of good things now gone.
For many of us, the past is also full of brokenness and regretful things.
No matter what we think about the past or the future, today’s first reading (Isaiah 58:9b-14) gives us a vision of hope:
The LORD will guide you always
and give you plenty even on the parched land.
He will renew your strength,
and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring whose water never fails.
The ancient ruins shall be rebuilt for your sake,
and the foundations from ages past you shall raise up…
If we are nostalgic for the glories of past ages or yearning for the innocence and spiritual fervor we lost long ago, the Lord promises that all can be made new again.
If the past is full of things we would rather forget, the Lord promises healing.
And whether see the future as full of hope or dread, the Lord promises his abiding presence, his never-failing light, and his inexhaustible grace.
But these free gifts of God are not to be gained simply by wishing and hoping and praying: the Lord calls us to seek and receive his grace and his bounty by living godly lives – with real charity, concrete altruism, and diligent devotion.
If you remove from your midst oppression,
false accusation and malicious speech;
If you bestow your bread on the hungry
and satisfy the afflicted;
Then light shall rise for you in the darkness,
and the gloom shall become for you like midday....
If you hold back your foot on the sabbath
from following your own pursuits on my holy day;
If you call the sabbath a delight,
and the LORD’s holy day honorable;
If you honor it by not following your ways,
seeking your own interests, or speaking with malice
Then you shall delight in the LORD,
and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth....
For many of us, the future is full of hope for better things.
For many of us, the future is also full of concern and things unknown.
For many of us, the past is full of the memory of good things now gone.
For many of us, the past is also full of brokenness and regretful things.
No matter what we think about the past or the future, today’s first reading (Isaiah 58:9b-14) gives us a vision of hope:
The LORD will guide you always
and give you plenty even on the parched land.
He will renew your strength,
and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring whose water never fails.
The ancient ruins shall be rebuilt for your sake,
and the foundations from ages past you shall raise up…
If we are nostalgic for the glories of past ages or yearning for the innocence and spiritual fervor we lost long ago, the Lord promises that all can be made new again.
If the past is full of things we would rather forget, the Lord promises healing.
And whether see the future as full of hope or dread, the Lord promises his abiding presence, his never-failing light, and his inexhaustible grace.
But these free gifts of God are not to be gained simply by wishing and hoping and praying: the Lord calls us to seek and receive his grace and his bounty by living godly lives – with real charity, concrete altruism, and diligent devotion.
If you remove from your midst oppression,
false accusation and malicious speech;
If you bestow your bread on the hungry
and satisfy the afflicted;
Then light shall rise for you in the darkness,
and the gloom shall become for you like midday....
If you hold back your foot on the sabbath
from following your own pursuits on my holy day;
If you call the sabbath a delight,
and the LORD’s holy day honorable;
If you honor it by not following your ways,
seeking your own interests, or speaking with malice
Then you shall delight in the LORD,
and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth....
posted by Penitens | 6:59 AM
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