For the fig will not flower,
the vines will not fruit,
the work of the olive will be lost.
The fields will yield no food,
the flocks will be cut off from the sheepfold,
there will be no cattle in the stalls.
But I will rejoice in the Lord, take joy in God my saviour.
The Lord God is my strength.
He will make me as sure-footed as the deer.
He will lead me up to the heights.
~Habakkuk 3, from today's morning prayer
This passage from Habukkuk was part of today's morning prayer. The entire world is experiencing economic hardship not seen since the 1930's and political unrest not seen since the 1960's. So many of us are unemployed or "underemployed", without health insurance and without a safety net of any kind.
But, "the Lord God is (our) strength. He will lead (us) up to the heights".
I've been attending daily Mass at a neighboring parish three days a week and one of the priests there had been reflecting on the Feast of Christ the King. He said, essentially, that there is a lot of fear-mongering going on right now regarding politics in the United States and that we should not be shocked and worried about what might be happening here because the only kingdom that will last forever is the Kingdom of God. No other ones will last. That is just a fact.
The Lord God is our strength.
4 comments:
The priest is right. We can do much good by praying for deliverance for our country, and especially that people will put God first in their lives. He gave us the grace to see this, but not all people have received this grace, so we must be the ones to ask God to give it to them.
Yes. It is helpful to be able to keep things in perspective.
This reminds me of Isaiah 51:6: " Lift up your eyes to heaven, and look down to the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish like smoke, and the earth shall be worn away like a garment, and the inhabitants thereof shall perish in like manner: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my justice shall not fail. "
It can be so easy like Father said to get wrapped up in the temporary here on Earth and lose sight of what truly matters.
Yes, especially in this age of constant communication--which mostly communicates temporal, worldly things. It is easy to get lost in it.
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