11 Dec
Fri
2nd Week of Advent
Is 48:17-19
Ps 1:1-4
Mt 11:16-19
(Ps Wk II)
How To Pray With Shalom
Home Page of Shalom
Index of This Month
 
 

"If only you had been alert" - reading these words from Isaiah 48:18, brought me back to my first trip to Europe - Paris. When I was at the airport, I checked my flight, it was not listed.

Panic filled me to despair. I checked carefully. I was at the wrong terminal. 'If only I had been alert'- I would not have panicked; I would not, in my haste to get to the right terminal, run my baggage across someone's toes!

Isaiah reminded the Israelites of who the people ought to have paid attention to - "the Lord ... your Redeemer ... the Holy One ... your God" Who "teach you what is good for you ... lead you in the way you must go" (v 17).

Because they were not alert to God's teaching and leading, they were exiled to a foreign land. Their happiness which could have been "like a river" and their integrity which could have been "like the waves of the sea" (v 18) did not happen. And all they could hear were more words of despair (v 19).

The Psalmist calls blessed "those whose delight is the law of the Lord and who ponders God's law, day and night" (v 2). What will happen if we delight in and ponder God's law? We will be blessed with fruitfulness, stay evergreen, and "prosper" in all that we do (Ps 1:2-3).


As we continue to practise the spiritual disciplines in our daily life, let us ponder on and be alert to the Lord's teaching and leading.



DAILY OFFERING
Eternal Father, I offer You everything I do this day; my thoughts, words, joys and sufferings. Grant that, vivified by the Holy Spirit and united to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, my life this day may be of service to You and to others. I also pray that all those preparing for marriage discover in Sacrament the source of Christ's grace for living a fithful and fruitful love. Amen.

PRAYING WITH THE CHURCH
INTENTION
That our personal relationship with Jesus Christ be nourished by the Word of God and a life of prayer.
Elaboration

- END -


© Copyright Shalom 2020. All rights reserved.