Daily Reflection for Friday, August 13, 2021
Peace and Blessings, Friends and Parishioners!
We encourage you to reflect on Friday’s readings at this link:
http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/081321.cfm
If you prefer to use your own Bible, the readings are:
First Reading: Joshua 24:1-13
Responsorial: Psalm 136:1-3,16-18,21-22,24
Gospel: Matthew 19:3-12
Our reflection on Friday’s readings:
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endures forever. Psalm 136:1
The message from today’s first reading and psalm are the same: everything we are and have comes from God. We must remember how good he has been and we should give thanks.
Joshua brings all the tribes of Israel together near the end of his life to remind them of all the great things God had done for his chosen people. This was a time of peace, and perhaps Joshua was concerned that the people might become distracted from their covenant with God, that other “gods” might creep into their communities to distract them from the one true God. He challenged them to renew their faith in God and his covenant by reminding them of all the ways God had stayed true to his people.
The psalmist, over 26 verses, similarly recounts all the great deeds of God and calls upon the faithful to give thanks and praise to the Lord. We know that throughout the Old Testament, prophets were often reminding the chosen people what God had done for them.
I too need to be reminded on a regular basis to remember God’s promise to me and all that God has blessed me with in my life. There are times when things seem be going pretty well in my life and it’s easy to get lulled into a sense of comfort and complacency, feeling that this is the way it will always be. I can turn my attention to other “gods,” all the trappings of a comfortable existence, and start to believe that therein lies my happiness. I can forget to thank God for his many blessings and take them for granted.
But I also know that these times of peace and contentment rarely last and can be suddenly disrupted by an illness, financial challenges, relationship struggles, or a failure of some kind. At those times I need to remember to be grateful as well, to remember that God has been there before when I needed him, that he has always been true to me and will not abandon me.
May we all remember to be grateful for God’s blessings every day.
Peace to all,
Andra Liepa