Friday, June 30, 2023

Meeting the Lord passing by

WORD 2day: Saturday, 12th week in Ordinary time

July 1, 2023: Genesis 18: 1-15; Matthew 8: 5-17

Have you witnessed thick black clouds just pass by over your head, without even a drizzle while you are dry, parching for want of water. That is exactly the experience when you let the Lord pass by without claiming for yourself all the blessing that the Lord has in store for you. You will surely not know, even if you knew you would hardly believe, the blessings the Lord has in store. Hence an attitude of openness and total surrender, ever connected to the Lord and perennially relying on the Lord's directions is a way of life that would take you to moments of thunderous grace!

Meeting the Lord passing by, is a very special disposition...if Abraham did not have it, he would have missed being the father of the Covenantal people; if the Centurion did not have it, he would have lost one of his treasured servant and he would have missed witnessing a great miracle; if Zacchaeus did not have it he would have missed salvation entering his house; if the disciples to Emmaus did not have it they would have missed that life-changing encounter with the Risen Lord. 

When St. Augustine said, "I fear the Lord passing by", he summarised this experience succinctly. He knew what it means to miss the Lord, and he knew how much he made the Lord wait when he exclaimed, "late have I loved thee, O Beauty so ancient and so new!" Every day and every experience of ours is an opportunity to meet the Lord and the Lord is ever forthcoming! In this new month, and a new day, today, are you we ready to behold the Lord, the Lord who is passing by!