Brothers and sisters:
The Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness;
for we do not know how to pray as we ought,
but the Spirit himself intercedes with inexpressible groanings.
And the one who searches hearts
knows what is the intention of the Spirit,
because he intercedes for the holy ones
according to God’s will.
Romans chapter 8
Thus says the LORD:
I will allure her;
I will lead her into the desert
and speak to her heart.
She shall respond there
as in the days of her youth,
when she came up from the land of Egypt.
On that day, says the LORD,
She shall call me “My husband,”
and never again “My baal.”
I will espouse you to me forever:
I will espouse you in right and in justice,
in love and in mercy;
I will espouse you in fidelity,
and you shall know the LORD.
Prophet Hosea
Prophet Hosea and Joinah
Today’s Mass, the solemnity of the Sacred Heart proved touchingly relevant, moments absorbing. I have worked sixty plus hours a week the last three weeks—seven days a week. In the process, I sliced my wrist on a sharp sheet metal edge, sixteen stiches mending with eight overnight hours in the emergency room. Oddly, the exhaustive schedule has proved rewarding, the bewildering state consuming energy while calling forth acquiescence and trust. Daily Mass has been my solace, my moments of prayer, reflection, and meaning. The Gospel reading today landed comfortably upon my state of overworked being.
At that time Jesus exclaimed: “I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to little ones. Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.
“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.” –Gospel of Matthew 11-25-30
“How I wish, your Godliness, that you yourself may acquire this inexhaustible source of divine grace, and may always ask yourself: Am I in the Spirit of God, or not?–there is nothing to grieve about. You are ready to appear before the awful judgement of Christ immediately. For “In whatsoever I find you, in that will I judge you.” But if we are not in the spirit, we must discover why not and what reason our Lord God the Holy Spirit has willed to abandon us. We must seek him again and must go on searching until our Lord God the Holy Spirit has been found and is with us again, through His goodness. We must attack the enemies that drive us away from him until even their dust is no more, as the Prophet David has said: “I will pursue my enemies and overtake them; and I will not turn back until they are destroyed. I will crush them and they will be unable to stand; they will fall under my feet” (Ps 17(18): 38-39).” –Saint Seraphim ‘On Acquisition of the Holy Spirit’
Psalm 18
I love thee, O LORD,
My strength.
The LORD is my rock,
And my fortress,
And my deliverer,
My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,
My shield,
And the horn of my salvation,
My stronghold.
I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised,
And I am saved from my enemies.
The cords of death encompassed me,
The torrents of perdition assailed me;
The cords of Sheol entangled me,
The snares of death confronted me.
In my distress I called upon the LORD;
To my God I cried for help.
From his temple he heard my voice,
And my cry to him reached his ears.
Then the earth reeled and rocked;
The foundations also of the mountains trembled and quaked,
Because he was angry.
Smoke went up from his nostrils,
And devouring fire from his mouth;
Glowing coals flamed forth from him.
He bowed the heavens, and came down;
Thick darkness was under his feet.
He rode on a cherub, and flew;
He came swiftly upon the wings of the wind.
He made darkness his covering around him,
His canopy thick clouds dark with water.
Out of the brightness before him there broke through his clouds
Hailstones and coals of fire.
The LORD also thundered in the heavens,
And the Most High uttered his voice,
Hailstones and coals of fire.
And he sent out his arrows, and scattered them;
He flashed forth lightnings, and routed them.
Then the channels of the sea were seen,
And the foundations of the world were laid bare, at thy rebuke,
O LORD, at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils.
He reached from on high,
He took me, he drew me out of many waters.
He delivered me from my strong enemy,
And from those who hated me;
For they were too mighty for me.
They came upon me in the day of my calamity;
But the LORD was my stay.
He brought me forth into a broad place;
He delivered me, because he delighted in me.
The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness;
According to the cleanness of my hands he recompensed me.
For I have kept the ways of the LORD,
And have not wickedly departed from my God.
For all his ordinances were before me,
And his statutes I did not put away from me.
I was blameless before him,
And I kept myself from guilt.
Therefore the LORD has recompensed me according to my righteousness,
According to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.
With the loyal thou dost show thyself loyal;
With the blameless man thou dost show thyself blameless;
With the pure thou dost show thyself pure;
And with the crooked thou dost show thyself perverse.
For thou dost deliver a humble people;
But the haughty eyes thou dost bring down.
Yea, thou dost light my lamp;
The LORD my God lightens my darkness.
Yea, by thee I can crush a troop;
And by my God I can leap over a wall.
This God–His way is perfect;
The promise of the LORD proves true;
He is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.
For who is God, but the LORD?
And who is a rock, except our God?
The God who girded me with strength,
And made my way safe.
He made my feet like hinds’ feet,
And set me secure on the heights.
He trains my hands for war,
So that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
Thou hast given me the shield of thy salvation,
And thy right hand supported me,
And thy help made me great.
Thou didst give a wide place for my steps under me,
And my feet did not slip.
I pursued my enemies and overtook them;
And did not turn back till they were consumed.
I thrust them through,
So that they were not able to rise;
They fell under my feet.
For thou didst gird me with strength for the battle;
Thou didst make my assailants sink under me.
Thou didst make my enemies turn their backs to me,
And those who hated me I destroyed.
They cried for help, but there was none to save,
They cried to the LORD, but he did not answer them.
I beat them fine as dust before the wind;
I cast them out like the mire of the streets.
Thou didst deliver me from strife with the peoples;
Thou didst make me the head of the nations;
People whom I had not known served me.
As soon as they heard of me they obeyed me;
Foreigners came cringing to me.
Foreigners lost heart, and came trembling out of their fastnesses.
The LORD lives; and blessed be my rock,
And exalted be the God of my salvation,
The God who gave me vengeance and subdued peoples under me;
Who delivered me from my enemies;
Yea, thou didst exalt me above my adversaries;
Thou didst deliver me from men of violence.
For this I will extol thee, O LORD, among the nations,
And sing praises to thy name.
Great triumphs he gives to his king,
And shows steadfast love to his anointed,
To David and his descendants for ever.
See, my servant shall prosper,
He shall be raised high and greatly exalted.
Even as many were amazed at Him
So marred was His look beyond human semblance
And His appearance beyond that of the sons of man
So shall He startle many nations,
Because of Him kings shall stand speechless;
For those who have not been told shall see,
Those who have not heard shall ponder it.
Who would believe what we have heard?
To whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
He grew up like a sapling before Him,
Like a shoot from the parched earth;
There was in him no stately bearing to make us look at Him,
Nor appearance that would attract us to him.
He was spurned and avoided by people,
A man of suffering, accustomed to infirmity,
One of those from whom people hide their faces,
Spurned, and we held him in no esteem
Yet it was our infirmities that He bore,
Our sufferings that he endured,
While we thought of Him as stricken,
As one smitten by God and afflicted.
But He was pierced for our offenses,
Crushed for our sins;
Upon Him was the chastisement that makes us whole,
By His stripes we were healed.
We had all gone astray like sheep,
Each following his own way;
But the LORD laid upon him
The guilt of us all.
Though He was harshly treated, He submitted
And opened not His mouth;
Like a lamb led to the slaughter
Or a sheep before the shearers,
He was silent and opened not His mouth.
Oppressed and condemned, He was taken away,
And who would have thought any more of His destiny?
When He was cut off from the land of the living,
And smitten for the sin of His people,
A grave was assigned Him among the wicked
And a burial place with evildoers,
Though He had done no wrong
Nor spoken any falsehood.
But the LORD was pleased
To crush Him in infirmity.
If He gives his life as an offering for sin,
He shall see his descendants in a long life,
And the will of the LORD shall be accomplished through Him.
Because of his affliction
He shall see the light in fullness of days;
Through His suffering, my servant shall justify many,
And their guilt He shall bear.
Therefore I will give Him his portion among the great,
And He shall divide the spoils with the mighty,
Because He surrendered Himself to death
And was counted among the wicked;
And He shall take away the sins of many,
And win pardon for their offenses.
The Lord GOD has given me
A well-trained tongue,
That I might know how to speak to the weary
A word that will rouse them.
Morning after morning
He opens my ear that I may hear;
And I have not rebelled,
Have not turned back.
I gave my back to those who beat me,
My cheeks to those who plucked my beard;
My face I did not shield
From buffets and spitting.
The Lord GOD is my help,
Therefore I am not disgraced;
I have set my face like flint,
Knowing that I shall not be put to shame.
Isaiah 50:4-7
The Truth
I have a tongue that trends towards mischievousness and frivolity.
My tongue wearies far too many, an opinionated swaggering far too often.
Morning after morning, my ears are busy with idleness and self-absorption.
I have spent a lifetime rebelling.
Toward those who beat me, my heart grew bitter.
My cheeks puckered and spat upon those who offended my beard.
My face, I shielded from even those who loved me.
The slightest hint of spittle in my direction caused immense trepidation,
Shaking and shivering with anger and despair.
The LORD GOD is my help.
I have disgraced myself.
To the world, I have presented an over sensitive face, proud and forbearing.
I have been anxious and worried of insignificant shame,
Defensive and offensive in scheming revenge.
Plotting and planning vindication and victory.
Dreaming of glory and success upon my terms.
Fearing abundantly imagined scorn upon my reputation.
I am lost without my LORD GOD.
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