Tag: joy

Ezekiel 29: Surprise
Ezekiel 29: Surprise

Thursday, December 11, 2025

The stela of Pharaoh Hophra: open air museum of Memphis, Egypt
A sea monster lives in the Nile, is subdued and caught by God, and is then thrown back into the river as food for scavengers. Bible commentary will help us to sort out the prophet’s imagery that we see in chapters 29 through 32 but as we focus on this opening portion we may learn something useful. In this chapter dated to January of 587 B.C.E. Ezekiel was likely responding to events which took place surrounding Pharaoh Hophra’s unsuccessful attempt to capture Jerusalem from the Babylonians. (Mays 616) Tiny Israel finds herself between two warring giants, and an enemy leader becomes the vehicle of unexpected good fortune. This dilemma is one that may sound familiar to us.

See! I am coming at you . . .

In all ways and in all times we must be prepared for God’s voice to come to us from unexpected quarters. Life has a way of springing the unanticipated upon us in both negative and positive ways. Family members fuss with one another; trusted colleagues become adversaries. Sworn enemies turn out to be partners in a common cause. Betrayal comes from the place we least expect it – as does hope. God uses whatever means he must to reach us – and God seems to love surprises.

See! I will bring the sword against you . . .

During a very sad time for our family recently, I heard myself repeating to loved ones: God does not want us to suffer. God does not plan disaster. God loves us so dearly that he suffers with us. We are not alone. God is in charge. When we are in deep anxiety or deep sorrow we cannot see what stands before us. And sometimes the well-known faces and familiar phrases cannot penetrate our grief. It is then that God will surprise us – and usually when we least expect it.

The Niles are mine; it is I who made them, therefore see! I am coming at you . . .

Apries/Hophra Obelisk: Rome
The prophet Isaiah reminds us . . . Those whom the Lord has ransomed will return and enter Zion singing, crowned with everlasting joy. (Isaiah 35:10) God comes at us with all God has in God’s arsenal to reclaim and redeem us. God uses surprise, inversion, and paradox to reach us. God is persistent; God does not give up or give in. We cannot out-wait or out-maneuver God. In the end, God is all, does all, sees all and knows all. God loves us intensely and well. God wants us to experience joy. And God loves us enough to use even our enemies to speak to us when we are determined to ignore the message we are meant to hear.

See! I am coming at you . . . I will use anything or anyone to penetrate your sorrow in order to bring you joy . . . I will do whatever it takes to get your attention . . . I love you that well . . .

A re-post from November 16, 2011.

Images from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apries and http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/utp/the-glory-departs

Mays, James L., ed. HARPERCOLLINS BIBLE COMMENTARY. New York, New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1988. 616. Print.

For more information about Pharaoh Hophra: https://biblearchaeologyreport.com/2022/02/04/hophra-an-archaeological-biography/

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December 11, 2025

God ransoms us, grief, Isaiah 35:10, joy, Pharaoh Hophra, sorrow
Tobit 11: Homeward Journey
Tobit 11: Homeward Journey

Saturday, November 8, 2025

I love this story and I can never read it enough for it is the tale of healing, fidelity, and joy. It is a story with an ending we all wish for ourselves and our loved ones. It is even a story we might wish for our enemies.

Commentary tells us that this story harbingers the miracles of the New Testament and even prepares us for miracles in our own lives. In this homeward journey, everyone is happy with their new in-laws, cataracts are removed, a family rejoices. The reader senses that all the characters will live happily ever after, and so pushes on toward the end of the tale in delicious anticipation of the revelation of the angel Raphael’s identity. This is the ideal ending to a perfect bed-time story. The loyal but harried young couple meets, overcomes odds, weds and returns home. Goodness comes out of evil and illness – even in exile. Our journey home has its reward.

Today’s first reading at Mass is from Hebrews 13:1-8 and it reminds us that we never know when the stranger beside us may be an angel: Let brotherly love continue. Do not neglect hospitality, for through it some have unknowingly entertained angels. Be mindful of prisoners as if sharing their imprisonment, and of the ill-treated as of yourselves, for you are also in the body. Let marriage be honored among all and the marriage bed be kept undefiled . . . Let your life be free from love of money but be content with what you have, for he has said, ‘I will never forsake or abandon you’. Thus we may say with confidence: ‘The Lord is my helper, and I will not be afraid. What can anyone do to me?’ Remember your leaders who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

When we feel as though the journey behind us has been too arduous, or the journey before us will be too difficult, let us remember how Tobias and Sarah overcame fear to journey home.

When it seems that the present leg of our journey offers no hope and little comfort, let us remember that healing angels accompany us in the guise of fellow travelers.

When we find ourselves distracted in our journey by the many tempting way stations, let us remember that Holy Spirit accompanies us, the Father calls us, and Jesus Christ heals us.

Let us remember, and let us rejoice as we join one another in the journey homeward.

A re-post from October 14, 2011.

Image from: http://namakparay.blogspot.com/2010_06_01_archive.html

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November 8, 2025

angels, enduring, fidelity, healing, Hebrews 13:1-8, hospitality, joy, miracles, Raphael
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18: Pray Without Ceasing
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18: Pray Without Ceasing

Saturday, October 25, 2025

Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In all circumstances give thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.

I have come from my son’s house after spending the afternoon with their four-year old while he and his wife visit funeral homes to make plans for a service that will honor the life of their infant daughter. Sophie died too quickly a few days ago. And in all of the wrenching grief, there is prayer.

We sit at a meal together as night closes in. A friend visits bearing fresh fruit and vegetables. We laugh over small things, finding comfort in one another’s presence. The deep sadness is just out of sight but still with us. And in all of this quiet pain, there is prayer.

It is not the will of God that we suffer. It is the will of God that we rejoice in spite of the pain, knowing that life here is only temporary.

It is not the will of God that we sink into darkness. It is the will of God that we rise with him into the light, knowing that life in Christ is never-ending.

Pain cannot be erased, but with patient prayer and unswerving reliance on God it blooms into a rejoicing beyond any happiness we can imagine. It brings firmness out of the smelting fire. It brings purity out of the crucible. It brings a holy presence into a place where only sadness was previously felt. It brings a knowing that we are eternal and that we will meet again in newness despite any separation this earth can visit on us.

It is through pain that we find our true selves. It is in pain that we kneel before God in petition. It is after pain that we rise again in the crystalline newness of our life in Christ.

For all of these reasons, we must pray without ceasing.

A re-post from September 30, 2011.

Image from: https://guideposts.org/prayer/how-to-pray/4-ways-to-let-your-hands-do-the-praying/

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October 25, 2025

dark, death, joy, light, pain, prayer, Sophie, suffering
Acts 14: Tenacity
Acts 14: Tenacity

Wednesday, October 15, 2025

Iconium, Lystra, Antioch. Jews, Gentiles. Healings, beatings, curses, cures. Zeus, Hermes, the Living God. Hardships, celebrations. Mythology, mysticism, illusion, reality. In all of these places, with all of these people, in all of these philosophies and approaches, Paul and Barnabas journey together to deliver the good news that we are loved by the Living God. I am exhausted just reading about their missionary journey as we watch these two faithful disciples of Christ persuade and teach, heal and call. Despite the fact that they see much of their work undone, they continue to rejoice in the work they do as God’s servants asks of them. They are an amazing – and successful – pair. They bring many into the church.

Paul and Barnabas have much to teach us who are discouraged when small details of the day become looming obstacles. They might show us that when we growl and complain about interrupted plans and schedules that we add to our own burden. We see that they do not fall into the trap of thinking that the world is an unjust, corrupt and unfair place. Rather than focus on the problems they navigate, they remain centered on doing God’s will. These two friends have discovered that tenacity and companionship are antidotes for anger and dejection. And they have learned that success comes most often and stays longest when they defer to God’s plan rather than their own.

Paul is a familiar figure to us but perhaps we can learn something more about Barnabas as he and Paul model how to best react when we see others dismantle the work we have lovingly delivered to God. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02300a.htm

Misunderstood by many, these two place their faith in God. Rejected by the tradition in which they had been raised, they place their hope in Christ. forgotten by the fledgling churches they have founded, they allow the forgiveness and healing of the Spirit to work through them. Barnabas and Paul refuse to allow any failure to deter them. They follow Christ. And they hold on.

And so we pray . . .

Faithful and abiding God,

We remember that you were the cornerstone that the builders rejected.

We believe that you walk with us in our journey just as you walked with the apostles in theirs.

We ask that you abide with us when the night grows darkest.

We know that you rejoice with us as we celebrate our little successes.

Lead us so that we remain faithful to you.

Guide us so that we remain hopeful in you.

Help us so that we react in love and not in anger when we see our work taken apart by others.

Grant us the gift of tenacity that you gave to Paul and Barnabas, on the days when we find our journey long, and our resources low.

We ask all of this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

A re-post from September 20, 2011.

Image from: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/36099234483087340/

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October 15, 2025

Antioch, Barnabas, celebration, discouragement, Iconium, joy, Lystra, Paul, stamina
Sirach 33:16-19: Gleaning
Sirach 33:16-19: Gleaning

Tuesday, September 9, 2025

Written on March 3 and posted today as a Favorite . . .

Francois Millet: The Gleaners
We keep our sorrows to ourselves, thinking that no one wants to hear what has gone wrong for us. This is a mistake. We are called to share sorrow and to accompany one another in this journey of discerning how to best word in God’s vineyard. It does not matter how or when we come to this realization. It only matters that we eventually arrive there.

Now I was last to keep vigil; I was like a gleaner following the grape-pickers; by the blessing of the Lord I arrived first, and like grape-pickers I filled my wine press.

By dwelling on our sorrows or by thinking that our lives are more pain-filled than anyone else’s we rob ourselves – and our companions in life’s journey – of the opportunity to experience Christ’s healing presence. It does not matter if we feel we have little to offer, it only matters that we offer who we are to others in need.

Consider that I have not labored for myself alone, but for all who seek instruction. Hear me, you who are great among the people, and you leaders of the congregation, pay heed!

Patience, fidelity, generosity, trust in God. When I think of those who have taught me to climb out of sorrow and into joy, these are the qualities that make these teachers greater than any titled leader with power. If we turn to the beginning of Sirach (2:1-6), we find more instruction.

My child, when you come to serve the Lord, prepare yourself for testing. Set your heart right and be steadfast, and do not be impetuous in time of calamity. Cling to him and do not depart, so that your last days may be prosperous. Accept what befalls you, and in times of humiliations be patient. For gold is tested in fire, and those found acceptable in the furnace of humiliation. Trust in him, and he will help you; make your ways straight and hope in him.

We have frequently reflected in our Noontimes that the silversmith’s fire is essential to smelt out the detritus that makes us less bright and pure. The prophet Malachi (3:1-3) reminds us that the refiner must remain constantly by the fire in order that it burn just hot enough to do its work without destroying the ore. The life of those who choose to respond to God’s call is laden with many burdens, but these burdens convert to sweet justice when we lay all our complaints and pains before God. We who come to God’s fields to glean what is left after the harvester passes by, engage in holy work for we lift up lost souls to God. When we enter fully into this work to place the world’s sorrows in God’s capable hands, we – like the sadness we bear to God – are transformed by the smelter’s fire into bright, lovely and holy offerings, and we become the delight we imagine. So as we glean, let us imagine God’s joy well.

A re-post from August 17, 2011.

Image from: https://arnoldzwicky.org/2019/02/01/gleaning/

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September 9, 2025

fidelity, generosity, joy, Malachi 3:1-3, offerings, patience, silversmith, Sirach 2:1-6, smelting, test by fire, trust in God
Ezra 6: Rebuilding
Ezra 6: Rebuilding

Saturday, September 6, 2025

Written on January 8 and posted today as a Favorite . . .

The house is to be rebuilt . . .

Habitat for Humanity Volunteers rebuild after a disaster in Nepal

We are so often exhausted by life’s demands that we cannot experience joy when we hear good news . . . the house is to be rebuilt.

In today’s Noontime, King Darius reiterates the original command given by King Cyrus . . . the house is to be rebuilt. Nehemiah, the administrator, and Ezra, the priest, set about restoring the city and temple in Jerusalem. They travel through dangerous territory and carry with them a letter of safe-passage from their former enemy. They arrive in Jerusalem to find a pile of rubble so dense that horses cannot find a pathway – they must pick their way on foot through toppled stone. They return from exile most likely drained of energy, but there is hope and even joy because . . . the house is to be rebuilt.

I am struck by the concordance of the instructions in the decree we read today with the original description of the temple that Solomon built which we read in 1 Kings 7. God does not forget his promise to the Jewish nation that . . . the house is to be rebuilt.

Nor does God forget all that God has promised us, his daughters and his sons. Just like the destroyed temple, we too will be rebuilt and in fact are being rebuilt each day. We are the temple in which the Spirit dwells, and as the cares of the world tear at its pillars and nibble at is foundation, Jesus becomes the master planner who constantly offers to help us reconstruct. His constant attention and love remind us that . . . the house is to be rebuilt.

I am thinking of Psalms 126 and 127. Those who go out weeping return singing . . . we labor in vain unless the Lord is the master builder of our house.

Whatever our flaws, whatever our sorrows, all will be converted to joy for we are promised that . . . the house is to be rebuilt.

Whatever our obstacles, whatever our fears, they become our stepping stones to serenity once we remember that . . . the house is to be rebuilt.

A re-post from August 14, 2011.

For more on how Habitat for Humanity rebuilds after disasters, click on the image or visit: https://www.habitat.org/ap/our-work/rebuilding-after-disasters
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September 6, 2025

1 Kings 7, builders, Darius, Ezra, fear, God the Father, Jesus, Jesus as the Master Builder, joy, Nehemiah, Psalms 126-127, serenity, Spirit, The Temple
Job 38-42: Dialog with God
Job 38-42: Dialog with God

Job with his friends Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar

Monday, July 28, 2025

We have visited with this portion of Job before during our Noontime reflections and we have spent time thinking about the presence and work of Satan, about arguing with the Almighty, Restoration brought about when living a life of impossible hopes. Today we might pause to think about how blessings arrive in our lives – sometimes with people or events which bring us unexpected problems – and how these experiences often bring us unexpected outcomes.

In looking for something more, I turned to THE ARCHEOLOGICAL STUDY BIBLE and find that, of course, the Babylonians had their own culture and literature dealing with suffering. One Akkadian text from approximately 1000 B.C.E. called The Babylonian Theodicy is a dialog between a sufferer and his friend who present questions much like Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar do with Job. Much of the dialog has to do with the mysterious ways of the gods (page 776). Another text entitled A Man and His God, is found on a broken tablet and is a lament of a young man suffering from a terrible disease. This man recognizes and concedes his guilt, unlike Job who is an innocent sufferer. There is much here to indicate that these ancient cultures spent time thinking and reflecting on the causes of suffering (770).

Ancient Hittite texts often depict their gods as weak and impotent in the face of natural disasters. And they are sometimes seen as dependent as, for example, in a story about the storm god Telepinu who fell asleep under a tree and forgot to make it rain! The other gods could not locate him until at last a tiny bee awakened him with a sting, and then a goddess of magic and a local priest intervened on behalf of those who were starving because of the drought (page 784). All of this is fun and interesting, but lacking the depth and theology of the story of Job.

And so we might ask: What does Job tell us today in our modern and fast moving world when we struggle to dialog with God?

Many advances in technology have been made; much information has been stored in databases, and yet we are not much nearer to understanding the beauty and mystery of God. I asked my granddaughter today what God is if God is not magic. She answered immediately and without wavering – and with much conviction for one so little – God is miracle.

This is what Job knows. This is what Job understands. This is what Job trusts. This is where Job finds power. And this is what makes Job important for us today because when we are in the depths of misery and pain, there is nothing more we need than God’s power, joy and life that we experience in our suffering. Moving through the past, and moving beyond our present ordeal, we find solace in our pain, courage in our fear, comfort in our anxiety, hope in our desperation, and newness in our life. When we most seek relief and restoration we might pray with these chapters from Job today.

We cannot expect a life free of suffering. Indeed, life so often is suffering. But what we can expect, and what we can receive is God’s grace, Christ’s touch, the Holy Spirit’s comfort. And we can expect that joy will rise from our pain when we struggle to dialog with God.

Adapted from a Favorite written on July 29, 2008.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL STUDY BIBLE (NIV). Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2005. 770. 776 & 784. Print.

Image from: https://www.jw.org/en/library/jw-meeting-workbook/april-2016-mwb/meeting-schedule-apr4-10/job-bible-false-accusations/
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July 28, 2025

Akkadian texts, Bildad and Zophar, Eliphaz, fear and pain, joy
Isaiah 9:1-6: People of Light
Isaiah 9:1-6: People of Light

Trinity Sunday, June 15, 2025

Jesus tells us, I am the light. (John 8:12)

John tells us, In [Christ] was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. (John 1:4-5)

Jesus tells us, You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid.. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. (Matthew 5:14-15)

How do we bring light to a world that seems determined to live in darkness? We remember this Favorite written on October 19, 2007.

Isaiah tells us, The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light!

We sing these words in the advent season when Christmas nears. Handel set them to music and surrounded them with soaring strands of notes to lift us up.

You have brought them abundant joy and great rejoicing . . .

We believe that Christ’s presence among us is a joy. We believe that he has come to release us from bondage, to set us free from our exile of anxieties, addictions, and damaging behavior.

For a child is born to us, a son is given us . . .

We know these words in the marrow of our bones. Jesus resides in each of us. We are his adopted brothers and sisters. He has come to redeem, to restore, to heal, to transform.

They call him Wonder-Counselor, God-Hero, Father-Forever, Prince of Peace.

We hear these words and somehow know them to be true, know them to be meant as a consolation, yet we fear that the reality we live in is more true than the one these words describe.

His dominion is vast and forever peaceful . . . both now and forever . . .

Good and gracious God, you know that we walk in darkness and so you reach out your hands to us. You know that we see the light but are often afraid of its fierce honesty. Help us to meet the intensity of this light with our own courageous response to your Call. Abide with us now and forever. May your zeal and passion for us bring us fully into your light and bring us fully to life. Bring us to your celebration. Amen.

Today as we pray Psalm 18, we repeat verse 29 as an antiphon: For you, Lord, give light to my lamp; my God brightens my darkness.

Tomorrow, we are leaven for the world.

Image from: https://www.democraciaejustica.org/galery/a-candle-loses-nothing-by-lighting-another-candle.html
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June 15, 2025

Christ as light, joy, Psalm 18
John 2:23-25: The Interior Life
John 2:23-25: The Interior Life

Tuesday, June 3, 2025

This reflection is adapted from thoughts written on February 23, 2009; and it reminds us that Christ is The Life we seek to live. It calls us to find our lives in Christ through prayer.

Saints and scholars have written much about the life of the soul. We have been told through Scripture, and through the Creator’s revelation to us, what we can expect when we enter into honest and authentic relationship with Christ. The Holy Spirit settles into the temple nest that we prepare to abide with us with her compassionate healing. The Creator guides us to the potential molded with us at our inception.

What more can we say about our interior life? How do we connect with Christ to better life the life that is our hope? What can we do to improve this life, to bring ourselves to fruition so that our inner life might blossom in our exterior life of thanksgiving and joy, even in the face of misery?

Today’s Meditation in MAGNIFICAT is from Philoxenus, a fifth/sixth century Syriac writer and theologian. It is about prayer and how we come to God through prayer.

Theodorus Philoxenus Sotericus

One should be secretly swallowed up in the spirit in God, and one should clothe oneself in God at the time of prayer both outwardly and inwardly, set on fire with ardent love for him, and entirely engulfed in all of him, entirely commingled in all of him, with the movements of one’s thoughts suffused with wondrous recollection of God, while the soul has gone out in love to seek him whom she loves, just as David said, “My soul has gone out to you”.

The soul goes out in wondrous recollection of God.

God enters into the soul.

The interior life becomes a dialog with God in which all worries, woes and fears can be opened in trust.

The interior blooms.

This blossoming becomes evident through the exterior.

Our actions demonstrate our wondrous recollection of God.

This afternoon, let us raise our voices together in a communal prayer so that we might illuminate the world with our wondrous recollection of God.

Cameron, Peter John. “Meditation of the Day.” MAGNIFICAT. 23.2 (2009). Print.

Images from: https://www.desiringgod.org/topics/prayer and https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Theodorus_Philoxenus_Sotericus_A_01a.JPG

For more information on Theodorus Philoxenus Sotericus, visit https://www.britannica.com/biography/Philoxenus-of-Mabbug
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June 3, 2025

dialog, joy, Philoxenus, prayer, thanksgiving