TODAY'S MEDITATIONS

Catholic Calendar for Monday, November 22, 2010
Monday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time
Saint Cecilia, virgin and martyr



Scripture from today's Liturgy of the Word:
Revelation 14:1-3, 4b-5
Psalm 24:1bc-2, 3-4ab, 5-6
Luke 21:1-4



A reflection on today's Sacred Scripture:

Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face. (Psalm 24:6)

Psalm 24 gives us the opportunity to praise God for having created everything.

The Psalm then goes on to show us who might come into the presence of God: "The Clean of hand and pure of heart. . . ." These, we are told, are the ones who "seek the face of the God of Jacob."

How can we be among those who desire the presence of God so much that we seek His face and hope to live?

We are given two examples: the first from the Book of Revelation, is "the ones who follow the lamb wherever He goes." They are identified as the ones with the "Lamb's name and His Father's name written on their foreheads" and that "on their lips no deceit has been found and they are unblemished."

Jesus Himself gives us a perfect example in the Gospel of Luke. We would do well to ponder it! The poor widow's example in placing her two small coins into the temple treasury, in it she put in more than all the rest, she "has offered her whole livelihood."

Jesus in this passage exhorts us to go beyond show, and to truly become His disciples!

"If anyone wishes to come after me, he must renounce himself, take up his cross, and follow me, says the Lord." (Matthew 16:24)

We must look and act outside ourselves to seek the "Face of God."

Deacon James W. Chaufty | Goobie2@frontiernet.net