Day 76: War against midian

Deuteronomy 30:1-10 Even if Israel were to break the covenant, God would ALWAYS be disposed to forgiveness, thereby keeping his covenant intact. (CCC 346, 709, 2060)


Ch 30:15-20 Sin is ALWAYS a choice, FREELY WILLED. Choosing to abide by God’s Laws leads to life, whereas rejection of God’s Commandments leads to woe. For the people of Israel, the Law and the Commandments were a pathway to salvation that would culminate in Jesus, the awaited Messiah. (CCC 710, 1696, 1732, 2057)


Psalm 116 The desperate man in this psalm cried out to the Lord for deliverance, and the Lord’s response was compassionate, gracious, and just, as he now walked with the Lord “in the land of the living.” The psalmist then posed questions to his own soul about how he should respond to the Lord for all he had done for him. Now that he had returned to the worshipping community, he would live as a servant of God and offer continuous sacrifice of thanksgiving and praise to him. These words together with the reference to the “cup of salvation” point to the EUCHARIST through which we share in the one Sacrifice of Christ. (Cf. St. John Paul II, General Audience, January 26, 2005; Pope Benedict XVI, General Audience, May 25, 2005)


I will lift up...the Lord: This verse originally referred to a ritual of thanksgiving for healing. Christians connect this verse to the celebration of the Eucharist, where the faithful receive “the bread of life” and “the cup of salvation”-the Body and Blood of Christ. I will offer...thanksgiving: The Mass is rightly called a sacrifice because it unites the Church’s offering on the altar with the one Sacrifice of Christ, which is made present. (CCC 222-226, 1330, 1352-1355)

(*The Didache Bible RSV-CE Ignatius Edition, 2006)



Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Lord God we do give you thanks and praise today. We thank you for your word, we thank you for giving us the gift of faith even in the midst of complex, troubling, and confrontational readings. Lord God, you give us your truth and you give us a sign of your heart that you do set before us life and good, death and destruction. You want us to choose life. This is your will for us, that we choose life. And yet, Lord God, we are so fickle. We are so quick to turn away from you. We are so quick to forget that you love us with the love of a father. We turn to other things. We turn to other people. We ultimately end up betraying YOU, the one who has loved us like no one has EVER loved us. So God, help us, help us, PLEASE help us this day, not only to be faithful, but when we have been unfaithful, help us to turn to you and know that we can trust you in your goodness and your love and your mercy. We make this prayer in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.”