Morning Devotion for the season after Pentecost
Monday September 27, 2021
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: Matthew 6:25-34
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
“So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.”
Meditation – Michael Palmisano
Jesus loves you. Perhaps this is a sufficient meditation for the day.
In case it does not suffice for you, let me try to plumb the depths of such a joyous – yet too often, vacuous – affirmation. I do not offer this as some type of trite statement of faith. I mean to remind you that in the fullness of all reality, Jesus loves you. We may not always see or feel God’s love for us, but our ability (or decision) to accept His love is in no way capable of impairing or diminishing it.
Perhaps the number one thing that gets in the way of our accepting Christ’s love for us, is our own fear. So often do we obstruct this great love with fear, that Jesus sought to directly dismantle such impediments. He asked His disciples, “Is not life more than food, drink, and clothing?” Surely, it is. Then Jesus wondered, “Has not God created and sustained all things?” Surely, He has. And Jesus wondered yet further, “Has not God also created and sustained you?” A person of faith can affirm all these head-level truths with little hesitation – God is God precisely because He has created and sustained all things, visible and invisible. Answering Christ’s rhetorical questions about the nature of God and our anxiety is easy. Believing is a different matter.
The journey from the head to the heart is often a long and arduous one. It is a journey that even Christ’s closest followers could not embark upon throughout His life. Time and time again they disagreed with Him, defied Him, and disbelieved. Even at the very last, when death – the final enemy – had been overcome, Mark’s Gospel tells us that the apostles “…fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid” (Mark 16:8). The Gospel concludes in such a way that we ourselves are left with the same choice: fear, or love?
Faith – Christian faith – is that space where head and heart are wed in mystical union. It is that space in which we can affirm that what we see before our eyes is not just an empty tomb, but rather a risen Lord. Faith is both the knowing and the believing that death is overcome once for all. Faith liberates us from fear and delivers us the astounding affirmation that has no rival: Jesus loves me.
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
O God our King, by the resurrection of your Son Jesus Christ on the first day of the week, you conquered sin, put death to flight, and gave us the hope of everlasting life: Redeem all our days by this victory; forgive our sins, banish our fears, make us bold to praise you and to do your will; and steel us to wait for the consummation of your kingdom on the last great Day; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
