God's Divine "Coincidences"

In light of the last post, I don't find it 1 bit surprizing that last Monday's readings (20 August 2007) for Mass & the 1st reading in the Office of Readings for the Roman (Latin) Rite of the Catholic Church were what they were. God knew exactly what the World would need to hear. So He made sure that those readings would come up this past week of this year. Now we need to pay heed to their message.

So what were the readings & what did they say that was so timely?

The 1st reading at Mass was Judges 2:11-19. It is a summary of the events found in the rest of the book, just like I talked about in the last post. vs 11 "And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and served the Ba'als." vs 14 "So the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he gave them over to plunderers, who plundered them; and he sold them into the power of their enemies round about, so that they could no longer withstand their enemies." & vs 19 "But whenever the Judge died, they turned back and behaved worse than their fathers, going after other gods, serving them and bowing down to them; they did not drop any of their practices or their stubborn ways." summarize it perfectly.

The Responsorial Psalm was Psalms 106:34 - 37, 39 - 40, 43 - 44. The following are vs 35-37, 39: "(T)hey mingled with the nations and learned to do as they did. They served their idols, which became a snare to them. They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons; Thus they became unclean by their acts, and played the harlot in their doings."

Sound familiar?

The Gospel was Matthew 19:16 - 22, the story of the rich young man & his reaction to Jesus' call. Rather than die to self he opted to walk away. Isn't that like so many of us when we hear the call to end abortion, fetal stem cell research, etc? God has called us to work to end these evils, no matter the cost. & many of us refuse. In fact many embrace these evils as good, going after the false riches they promise instead of the "Pearl of Great Price" that is Jesus.

& what was the 1st reading from the Office of Readings from the Liturgy of the Hours for last Monday? It was Isaiah 3:1-15. Vs 8-9 say: "For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen; Because their tongue and their doings are against Yahweh, To provoke the eyes of his glory. The look of their faces testify against them. They parade their sin like Sodom. They don't hide it. Woe to their soul! For they have brought disaster upon themselves." vs 11 "Woe to the wicked! Disaster is upon them; For the deeds of his hands will be paid back to him." In other words it describes the fruit of Israel's refusing to obey God's laws.

We have the same choice. Are we going to answer God's call to stand up for what is right? Or are we going to continue to look the other way while the world turns further & further from obeying God's laws. If we remain silent then we are just as guilty as those who are actually involved in those evil works.

Then we will leave God no choice but to discipline us. He will have to chastise us so that, like Israel, we will repent & return to Him. But we can avoid this if we obey God's call. Like Daniel, we need to ask God's forgiveness for the sins of abortion, euthenasia, etc. We need to repent of being silent in the face of evil. Then we need to speak out & call the world to turn away from the evil that is being done. If the world needs to face a time of judgement for its disobedience it will. But Scripture is clear that any judgement, any chastisement will begin with the people of God. God will 1st purify His people if they refuse to obey Him. But it doesn't have to be that way.

"Seek Yahweh, all you humble of the land, who have kept his ordinances. Seek righteousness. Seek humility. It may be that you will be hidden in the day of Yahweh's anger." Zephaniah 2:3

What are we going to do? Listen to God. Repent & return to Him? Speak out aginst the evil that is abortion? Or are we going to face judgement & chastisement because we have called evil good? The choice is ours!

(Note: When I talk about judgement I am not talking about the end of the World. I am talking about a chastisement of some sort. I don't claim to know any specifics about how it will take place. It may be like that prophecied at Akita. It may be something else. But, as I said above, it can be reduced or completely avoided. This depends on our response, corporately as God's Church as well as individually.)