So let's talk about today's readings 2/4/09

[cheeto1]

usccb.org/nab/readings/020409.shtml

“You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood”

Two days in a row this was stated in the readings. So now,
what do they say about it this time? One thing is: endure
your trials as discipline. My NAB translations says, “Suffering
is part of your training”. I myself have learned much from
suffering, when compared to ease. The next thing I noticed
was “always strive for peace with everyone”. I am reminded of
the great martyr Stephen, who greeted his listeners with the
words, “brothers and fathers, listen to me!” Words of peace,
but by the end of his discourse, this is what he said:

You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you
are always opposing the Holy Spirit just as your fathers did before you. Was there ever any prophet whom your fathers
did not persecute? In their day, they put to death those who foretold the coming of the Just One; now you in your turn have become His betrayers and murderers. You who received the
law through the ministry of angels have not observed it.

Were these words “striving to be a peace with everyone?”
They are words of war! After which, he is brutally killed.

Then near the end of today’s reading it says to let no bitter root
spring up and cause trouble. Oh, the injustice of it all! A man
speaks the truth of heaven, is killed by an angry mob, and
God-fearing people are supposed to not have bitterness over it
all being perfectly legal.

Then what kind of attitude are we to take today over persecuted
Christians who are suffering today? Should Stephen have left
out that name-calling part at the end and possibly spared his
life? When we are put in a position to defend the faith, should
we leave out the name-calling part? What about when defending
the unborn?

Today’s gospel says of Jesus that He was not able to perform
any mighty deed there. Surely passus and Nat2 will say, “Of
course He could perform any mighty deed He wants anytime He
wants.” In fact, I have heard research that proved a person in a
hospital can recover from prayer they do not know they are
receiving. Jesus doesn’t need faith to perform any miracle He
wants to. Or does He?

Something about “God can’t steer a parked car”…

So what struck you about today’s readings?:bible1:

 

[Strategery]

On the first reading …

The Lord does in fact discipline his children. I prefer to think of this as preparation for something down the road, rather than think of this as punishment for things done wrong. I don’t know if this thinking is theologically sound, but that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

After taking a dose of humility at the fact that I need to be disciplined, I do find a lot of comfort in this passage.

When you look up and wonder why something bad is happening (or why “bad things happen to good people”), this is an answer. I’m often been able to see the hand of God in my trials AFTER the fact, but only a couple of times have I recognized God’s discipline in real time. When that has happened, the process of enduring is much easier. I think the more we can get to this line of thinking, the more mature we become spiritually. It’s a solid Christian that can thank God for whacking him upside the head with a baseball bat.

 

[cheeto1]

I prefer to think of this as preparation for something down the road, rather than think of this as punishment for things done wrong.

Yes, I agree, that’s what it is Almost all the time…

There is an interesting story in 2Samuel, chapter 16, starting
in verse 5. At the end of verse 11, David says, “Let him alone,
and let him curse, for the Lord has told him to”.