With God, Everything Is Great
Everything the Lord does is great. Today in the first reading from the Prophet Jeremiah, the Lord reveals his greatness in the form of his anger at the sins of the people. When he looks at our sins, he does so with a great anger and sorrow. His justice is great. When he shows mercy, his mercy is great. In the Gospel today, everything that occurs has a greatness about it. The waves, the wind, the storm have a quality of greatness. The fear of the apostles is great. The exuberance of Peter climbing into the water is great. His fear is great, his lack of faith is great, his rescue is great.
Everything about life with Christ should have a greatness about it. Our faith, our prayer, our liturgy, our sorrow for sin, our joy, our love, our hope, our witness to the world should all be marked by a depth, a profundity, and a greatness worthy of the One who has called us.
The Gospel reading is included on the Podcast itself. This is the reading from Jeremiah.
God Bless.
The following message came to Jeremiah from the LORD:
For thus says the LORD, the God of Israel:
Write all the words I have spoken to you in a book.
For thus says the LORD:
Incurable is your wound,
grievous your bruise;
There is none to plead your cause,
no remedy for your running sore,
no healing for you.
All your lovers have forgotten you,
they do not seek you.
I struck you as an enemy would strike,
punished you cruelly;
Why cry out over your wound?
your pain is without relief.
Because of your great guilt,
your numerous sins,
I have done this to you.
Thus says the LORD:
See! I will restore the tents of Jacob,
his dwellings I will pity;
City shall be rebuilt upon hill,
and palace restored as it was.
From them will resound songs of praise,
the laughter of happy men.
I will make them not few, but many;
they will not be tiny, for I will glorify them.
His sons shall be as of old,
his assembly before me shall stand firm;
I will punish all his oppressors.
His leader shall be one of his own,
and his rulers shall come from his kin.
When I summon him, he shall approach me;
how else should one take the deadly risk
of approaching me? says the LORD.
You shall be my people,
and I will be your God.
