Week 16 Summary

Hello, dear family and friends,

The readings for this week have been especially touching to me, about the infinite Mercy Our Eternal Father has for His people. So many stories about the Israelites and their following and then not following God’s Divine Laws, and the consequences of both. Wars, death, punishments, confusion, and overall chaos when the people turn away from God, adore the false gods and idols, and marry or take the women of the other tribes to be their wives. The repeating sentence, “And there was peace.”, when they did the Will of God.

We remember the great, familiar story of Gideon, from last week, as he and his 300 men, defeated the Midianites. By the power of God, and with horns and torches in breaking of jars, they defeated a number of different pagan peoples. Unfortunately, after Gideon’s death, his people turned again and played the harlot after the Ba’al. And the story continues, when the Israelites follow God, it is a time of peace. When they don’t, they are punished, are brought to serve other nations, losses of many in wars, and death. The bad leaders seem to rule for a while, but they, too, are brought to their own “reward”.

Psalm 90:14, “Satisfy us in the morning with Your Mercy, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.” I pray that verse fervently. Psalm 91 is where we find the hymn “Eagle’s Wings”. Psalm 92:1-2 ” It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to Your Name O Most High: to declare Your Merciful Love in the morning, and Your Faithfulness by night,..”

The Parables in Luke’s gospels were about being obedient to God, being charitable, warnings of results of turning away from the Laws of God, and one I still struggle with, Luke 12:51. Jesus says, “Do you think that I have come to give peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division:…” Jumping back, Luke 12:5 “Fear Him Who, after He has killed, has power to cast into hell; Yes, I tell you, fear Him.” When any author in the Bible uses the “Yes, I tell you..”, he’s trying to get your attention: Thank you, Bishop Barron.

Our readings in Judges continues with Samson, his uncut hair, his selfish demands against the Law of God, Delilah, her manipulation, his cut hair, losing his strength and his eyes, and ultimately his life, as he takes the temple down with the lords of the Philistines and the people inside. The surprising verse in Judges 14:4 was: “Samson’s request for the Philistine’s woman (Delilah), was from the Lord; for He was seeking an occasion against the Philistines.” Again, we learn, everything can be used, and is part of God’s plan. There were some other gruesome stories, which I hesitate to share, not clear to me why they happened. Our author Dr Tim Gray, in his daily summary, “Samson exhibits spiritual immaturity and an undisciplined life. It seems in fact, that he is determined to act in direct contradiction to his calling.’ Yep.

On a final note, Tim and I have been listening to Bishop Barron and Fr Michael Schmitz. They have been talking about the “moral relativism” that we are experiencing now, in our culture. The verses in Judges 17:6, and Judges 21:25 both tell us, “In those days, there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes.” I thought of how curious it was to have been repeated exactly the same, and how this is now affecting our decision making.

God bless you, all, Nancy