Today’s Old Testament Reading begins with passages from Job 42:1-17 that let Job see his place in The Loving Programmer’s Creation Program.
“Job answered the LORD and said: ‘I know that You can do all things, and that no purpose of Yours can be hindered. I have dealt with great things that I do not understand; things too wonderful for me, which I cannot know.'”
That understanding moved The LORD to “bless the latter days of Job more than his earlier ones” and gave him “fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses.”
The total value of his 23,000 head of livestock, in today’s money, is estimated to be over $20,000,000.00 dollars.
A thousand years after Job, David’s Psalm explained there was more to life than accumulating property. Psalm passages between 119:66, 71, 75, 91, 125, 130 tell us that we should focus our efforts on asking God: “Lord, let Your face shine on me.” and:
“Teach me wisdom and knowledge, for in Your commands, I trust… it is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn Your decrees… I am Your servant; give me discernment that I may know Your ways… The revelation of Your Words sheds light, giving understanding to the simple.”
It’s hard to “be simple” when we are worried about taking care of 23,000 head of livestock.
Knowing that takes us to Matthew 11:24, Today’s “Alleluia”:
“Blessed are You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, you have revealed to little ones the mysteries of the Kingdom.”
Jesus did more than “reveal the mysteries of the Kingdom.”!
In Matthew 16:18-20, He Who Fulfilled the Messianic Prophecies gave “the keys to The Kingdom of Heaven” to His First Catholic Pope!
“And I say unto you: ‘Thou art Peter and on this rock I build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I give you the keyst to The Kingdom of Heaven.'”
After He Spoke The Catholic Church Into Being, Today’s Gospel from Luke 10: 17-24, tells us what 72 Catholic of His Catholic disciples found while they obeyed His Order to spread the news of the coming of Jesus to towns He would visit: “Lord, even the demons are subject to us because of Your Name.”
Jesus confirmed what they saw: “Jesus said, ‘I have observed Satan fall like lightning from the sky.” Then, He enlightened all the Catholics to follow: “Nevertheless, do not rejoice because the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice because your names are written in Heaven.”
Jesus told us how happy that made Him and the other Persons of The Holy Trinity! “At that very moment he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, ‘I give you praise, Father, Lord of Heaven and earth, for although You have hidden these things from the wise and the learned, You have revealed them to the childlike.'”
Jesus confirmed His blessing: “‘Yes, Father, such has been Your gracious will. All things have been handed over to Me by My Father.
No one knows Who the Son is except the Father, and Who The Father is except The Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal Him.’”
Catholics are blessed to see the process of “revealing” as The Holy Spirit at Work! Today, cell phones, computers, and the internet bless many to see Him as “The Downloading Verb of The Loving Programmer”. We are staggered by what The Living Word of God in Human Form has allowed to be “Downloaded” in The Catholic Program of Salvation for the humble souls blessed to use our Free Will to “Be Catholic!”
Then, He Who Fulfilled The Messianic Prophecies Confirmed The Eternal Joy of Being Catholic:
“Turning to the disciples in private, He said: ‘Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. For I say to you, many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.'”
What have the most obedient disciples of Jesus worked to do for the past 2,000 years?
We have tried to: “Be as Catholic as we can!”
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Today’s Simple Rhyme: “May we all pray / to see God in our day.”
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