The Noontimes

Joel 2:12-14: Rend Your Hearts, Not Your Garments

Saturday, November 16, 2024

Just this morning a friend and I were discussing the concept of The Rapture, the Book of Revelation, and the end days. Today the Bible opens to Joel, the “prophecy rich in apocalyptic imagery and strongly eschatological in tone”.  (CATHOLIC STUDY BIBLE, 1121)

Yet even now, says the Lord, return to me with your whole heart . . .

From today’s MAGNIFICAT Meditation of the Day by Catherine de Heuck Doherty: Faith is to believe without understanding, without seeing.  God has blessed us with the gift of our intellect, and up to a point we understand many things about ourselves and the world around us. However, when you begin to move deeper into faith, something very strange happens. You have been walking in the sunshine of your intellect. God has helped you and encouraged you to use it. Then, just like in the tropics where there is no twilight and day becomes night within minutes, so God plunges you into the night. He says, “Put your head in your heart and believe! For now there is no answer. I am the answer. You won’t see me in the dark. You will follow me in faith, without knowing.  Arise and believe!” There is a tremendous secret in God’s ways of doing things if we do follow him across that dark night of the tropics, of the soul . . . There will be a moment [when] he will appear. He will just be there. What you knew by your own intellect has blended together with what was added to you because you believed and walked in the darkness of night. You have entered into the fullness of the kingdom of God even before your death. The kingdom of God is in your midst now. What stands between us and the kingdom is our arrogance; the arrogance of our intellect. Our intellect has been given by God. It is my wrong use of it that is so terrible.

We too often wander through life bemoaning our circumstances, complaining of our worries and pain; and when we do, we miss the beautiful gift of the kingdom.

Yet even now, says the Lord, return to me with your whole heart . . .

We too often take for granted the abundance with which we live, fussing with the details of our lives; and when we do, we miss the powerful fidelity of the kingdom.

Yet even now, says the Lord, return to me with your whole heart . . .

We too often look at the darkness and curse it, thinking that we can learn nothing from it; and when we do, we miss the outrageous hope of the kingdom.

Yet even now, says the Lord, return to me with your whole heart . . .

We too often ask for evidence that God exists, creating stories that fit our own whims; and when we do, we miss the loving communion of the kingdom.

Yet even now, says the Lord, return to me with your whole heart . . .

We too often believe the lies we are told, thinking that the deception in which we find ourselves is more real than the gift of freedom and life we have been given by the creator; and when we do, we miss the overwhelming compassion of the kingdom.

The kingdom of God is in your midst now. What stands between us and the kingdom is our arrogance; the arrogance of our intellect. Our intellect has been given by God. It is my wrong use of it that is so terrible.

Yet even now, says the Lord, return to me with your whole heart . . . rend your heart . . . and not your garments . . .

Image from: https://www.faithfarmfamily.com/?p=677