God champions the underdog too!

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God champions the underdog too!
This mornings Mass was a very relaxed affair. It was a gentle resting in the presence of the Lord; a confirmation of the love of God touching the very heart of a broken world, and his healing, abiding presence, reverberating outwards. It was a joy to stand behind the altar and pray the words of the Mass. I felt so peaceful during Mass and afterwards too.
The first reading about David and the Philistine was great food for thought too! The huge bully boy of the champion of the Philistines bearing down upon the little underdog David, the underdog triumphed! Encouragement for any embattled soul fighting to do good, in a world of temptation, where good is the underdog and does not always triumph. It was good to hear the friendship of the Lord is worth pursuing.
The gospel saw a clash between the over fastidious Pharisees who were picking fault with Jesus for doing good. It reminds me not to take my eye of the reason for faith, not to become bogged down in the interpretation of the rules of faith; in the dotting of the I’s and the crossing of the t’s. I am not to be looking over my shoulder and seeing what someone else is doing in their back garden of faith. Rather I am to be busy cultivating my own Garden of Faith, attending to the weeds of sin and pride and marvelling at the beauty of faith’s flowers. I am to exalt in faith and rejoice in Christ.
I used the fourth Eucharistic Prayer and found it to be a most poetic read. I love the way it flows now in the new translation. I am a tiny creature before the immensity of God, yet despite my size I am loved, I am cared for, I am created in love, by love!

Comments

  1. kkollwitz9:18 am, January 18, 2012

    "The gospel saw a clash between the over fastidious Pharisees who were picking fault with Jesus for doing good." I'm going to cover this tonight in Catechism class in the same way.

    You oughta be teaching if you can put together a sentence like that.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous11:20 am, January 18, 2012

    Amen

    ReplyDelete
  3. Fr Seán Coyle7:21 pm, January 18, 2012

    We won't be introducing the new English translation here in the Philippines till Advent. (I think that English is used far too much in Mass here, since very few speak English as their mother-tongue, but my weekday Masses in our local chapel are for a small congregation that prefers English). I use the Roman Canon quite often, especially on the feasts of the various saints mentioned in it.

    However, I've begun to legitimately 'sneak' parts of the new translation, eg, this morning I used the prayers and antiphons of the votive Mass of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Eternal High Priest, which I couldn't find in the old Sacramentary.

    I recently had an irritating experience in connection with crossing Ts. I sent a cheque made out to a school in Manila. It was sent back and I was asked to countersign the word 'thousand'. I couldn't figure out the problem as the person who made this request clearly understood the word 'thousand'. However, it wasn't quite correctly crossed. (In case you think I've oodles of money, the pound sterling is worth 67 Philippine pesos!)

    Thank you for this gently encouraging post.

    ReplyDelete

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