Morning Devotion for the season after Pentecost
Friday, November 19, 2021
ELIZABETH OF HUNGARY
PRINCESS AND PHILANTHROPIST (19 NOV 1231)
The Invitatory
O give thanks unto the Lord, and call upon his Name; tell the people what things he hath done.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son: and to the Holy Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end.
Amen.
Praise ye the Lord.
The Lord's Name be praised.
Reading: Luke 12:32-34
“Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Meditation – Michael Palmisano
I don’t know if it’s the fact that I found my way back to the Church through Evangelicals, or simply because I’m human, that I often find myself mistakenly trying to do God’s work – work that is outside the scope of human capacity. What I mean, is that I find myself in that same old trap familiar to so many which permits us to believe we can somehow “fix” the world and/or make people love God – that we are capable of “building God’s Kingdom.”
Jesus communicates in the Gospel that “…it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.” God will provide us His Kingdom and its joy if only we permit Him to do so. We may regularly offer the petition: “Thy Kingdom come…” but are we really consenting to these words we utter? The Kingdom is always just outside of our grasp, and this is simultaneously frustrating and liberating. The tasks we set ourselves at in life will never be brought to their conclusion. We will never truly witness their full consummation. Our lives, our work, and our play will always remain mere intimations of the Kingdom.
Nonetheless, we strive for God’s Kingdom, and are offered glimpses of it here and there on Earth. But, be assured that on some day, at some unknown hour, the Kingdom will be given to us in full. The acknowledgment and acceptance of our inability to create God’s Kingdom is the beginning of our liberation to begin striving towards it with one another without tiring.
I know I’ve shared this prayer before, but just as we might find ourselves in the same old trap of Kingdom-building, we must once again be reminded of these words. The Truth of the Kingdom is so beautifully conveyed in the following prayer often attributed to St. Oscar Romero (written by Fr. Ken Untener):
“It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view.
The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is even beyond our vision.
We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent
enterprise that is God's work. Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of
saying that the Kingdom always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the Church's mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.
This is what we are about.
We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.
This enables us to do something, and to do it very well.
It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an
opportunity for the Lord's grace to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own.”
The Lord's Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy Name,
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those
who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.
Closing Prayer
Almighty God, by your grace your servant Elizabeth of Hungary recognized and honored Jesus in the poor of this world: Grant that we, following her example, may with love and gladness serve those in any need or trouble, in the name and for the sake of Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
