Devotional Thought for our seemingly broken days…

Then Moses answered, “What if they won’t believe me and will not obey me but say, ‘The LORD did not appear to you’?”  Matthew 4:1 HCSB

15 “But you,” He asked them, “who do you say that I am?”
16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God!” 
17 And Jesus responded, “Simon son of Jonah, you are blessed because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father in heaven. 18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the forces of Hades will not overpower it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth is already bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth is already loosed in heaven.”  Matthew 16:15-19  HCSB

216      With God’s grace, you have to tackle and carry out the impossible… because anybody can do what is possible.

I sit here, just finishing my devotional time up, having done the reading, having prayed, and now I try to put what I’ve read into some kind of concrete summation. After that Iw ill try and write a sermon, but to be honest, it is going to be a struggle.

Even writing this is, as I try to think, what will people hear tomorrow, what might they read in this, that will help them know God’s love, know God’s mercy, know His comfort.

Tomorrow is the Feast of Christ the King, the last Sunday of the Church year, a day when we look at Christ’s second coming, not from the point of judgment, but from the point of the promises given to us in Baptism being fully seen, fully revealed, fully experienced.  it supposed to be a joyous celebration, yet my heart will struggle, caught up in what it should be, versus where we are, in the midst of the valley of the shadow of death.  

It seems impossible, and I understand how Moses felt, trying to find reasons to no go back to Egypt, to the place of suffering. How will they believe?

And yet, it is the very thing I need to preach, the lesson in my gospel reading this morning, the promise that this valley is not unending, the promise backed up in the very confession of Peter, “you are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.”

There is a lot to unpack in that confession, from Jesus unique role as the Son of God, to what it means to be the Messiah, the One anointed by God to save God’s people.  All of God’s people, those the Spirit calls and gathers.

Because of His work, the gates of Hell have been shattered, that the bondage of sin has been cut, that we, in the midst of the shadow of death, can have hope.

God is with us, the promise is complete, even though we don’t see it fully…yet.

That is why we are reminded by Josemaria that we can tackle and carry out the impossible, a reminder I need today, and tomorrow.  For it is in knowing God’s grace in the middle of the impossibility, that we realize He is working through us, with us, and it is His word that will make a difference.

That’s what I have to count on tomorrow, and every day until we see the reality of Christ the King is clearly visible.  For He is coming, and His Spirit is here, comforting us, reminding us that He is with us, that we aren’t alone. 

And because of that, the impossible is not.  For we walk with Him.  And somehow, others will know this, because our words and lives will testify to His presence.  

Lord, have mercy on us.  AMEN!

Escriva, Josemaria. The Forge (Kindle Locations 940-942). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.