Monday Morning Meditation #119: God's Protection

Many nasty and difficult things have been going on at work, including ones that are job-threatening for me and for some of the managers who work for me, beginning with the client who committed suicide and unfairly cast a dark shadow in doing so over my co-located junior manager for reasons we have yet to figure out. We believe it was done in order to direct attention away from some personal issues, but as one of my senior managers said to me, "What could have been so terrible that he felt he had to kill himself? Even if the whole world is falling apart, there is always God we can turn to. We may forget that God is there, but God never forgets that we are here." (And this from a secular, non-practicing Muslim!). Well, thank God, God remembers us always. Certainly, I have needed a lot of support from God over the past few weeks.

So, I was happy to see the supporting tale of the magi coming to visit the infant Jesus in Matthew 2, as a continued on in that book this week. Verse 12 I especially found comforting. In Matthew 2:12, we are told "And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route."

Reading: Matthew 2

Meditation: The life of Jesus was saved because God led the magi not to fulfill the request of Herod to tell him where Jesus was but to return home through another route. (And it probably was fortunate -- planned -- that Mary and Joseph could not find any place at any inn because it then would have been easy for Herod to find them.)

Just as God protected the vulnerable baby Jesus, I have seen Him protect many vulnerable people of today. Certainly, He protected my siblings and me through our dangerous childhood, and He protected my children and grandchildren as they navigated the medical white water of growing up handicapped.

So, when it comes to turmoil and trouble at work, I know where to go for help. Seemingly, so do, too, those who work for me. It helps that we have this level of mutual support, and God has helped us build that. I have watched the level of trust in God develop among my employees (and even in myself) over time as we negotiate one crisis after another.

I know I am not the only one. I imagine that anyone who will objectively review his/her history will find that "even though there are times we may have forgotten that God is there, He has not forgotten that we are here."

Contemplation: That is far as I can go with you this Monday morning/afternoon. I now retire to private prayer to praise God for His boundless love. I will, of course, also ask God to help me always turn to Him first, and I will repent for each time I have forgotten that He is there. As always,  I will thank God for always remembering me. (I so count on His mercy.) Then I will move on to contemplation, my favorite part of the day, letting God take over the direction in which my relationship with Him moves.

I will leave you now to your prayer and contemplation. First, though, I would like to bring to your attention a Monday morning prayer post that you might enjoy:

Fr. Austin Fleming, priest of the Archdiocese of Boston and pastor in Concord, Massachusetts, posts a prayer each Monday morning that he calls "Monday Morning Offering." I enjoy his prayers very much. I think you also will find them inspirational. He has graciously given me permission to include a link to his blog on my Monday Morning Meditation posts. (During the week, he also posts great homilies and other thoughtful discussions. I enjoy reading those, too, as do readers of this blog who have taken the stroll over to his blog.)

For additional inspiration throughout the week, I would point out two sets of blogs: (1) the list of devotional blogs on my sidebar and (2) my blogroll, where I am following a number of inspirational priests and writers about spiritual matters. I learn so very much from all these people. I highly recommend them to you.

Monday Morning Meditation #118: Doing as the Lord Commands

I am so happy to be back home and back in relatively good help. (Small, nagging cough still hanging around, but I just need to get to a health store and pick up some eucalyptus oil to chase that away. Somehow, I misplaced -- or gave away -- my last vial, and finding one while traveling is considerably difficult, both in terms of time and in terms of knowing where to look. So, for the interim, I have existed on Halls cough drops, which contain eucalpytus, and look forward to heading off to work tomorrow, certain that at some point during the day I will be able to drop into the health food store not all that far from my office and find the wonderful liquid introduced to me by the Siberians a decade-and-a-half ago.

As for my reading, I was happy to find a Gideon Bible in my hotel room. I have been pleased to find them in nearly every hotel room where I have landed in my near-constant travels over the past couple of months. (Travels to continue nearly non-stop through May, so I am really looking forward to this one week of interlude at home, where I can read in an unhurried fashion.)

So, on I moved through Malachi this week. In fact, I finished Malachi and so finished the books of the Old Testament. The thought crossed my mind to begin again at the beginning. There seems to be so much I still do not know, let alone what I learned and forgot as a marched through the books, stopping here and there to meditate upon one thought or another, one event or another.

However tempting to begin again, I decided to continue on and move into the New Testament. This being Lent, the New Testament seems an appropriate path forward. And so, I found myself reading through Matthew. As I did so, I found the words in Matthew 1:24, "When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him," compelling.


Reading: Matthew 1:24

Meditation: What was asked of Mary and Joseph was extraordinary, given Middle Eastern society of those days (and would be equally a tremendous asking even today), where women who become pregnant prior to being married bring dishonor upon their families. Even today, in some areas, just dating before marriage can result in a woman's demise through honor killing by a member of her own family. For Mary to accept God's request, and for Joseph to take/keep Mary as his wife, took great faith and obedience.

How little, by comparison, are most of us asked to do! Follow a few commandments. Love each other (yeah, sometimes it seems like a tall order). Trust God and follow the leadings of the Holy Spirit. Yet so often we fail. How wonderful that we have not only the examples of Mary and Joseph but also of a panoply of saints who followed them. Examples of trust, devotion, and obedience. Each time we stumble, we have many we can look up to, then pick ourselves up and continue on in our imperfect but well-intended ways.

Contemplation: That is far as I can go with you this Monday morning/afternoon. I now retire to private prayer to praise God for these wonderful examples He has given to us.I will, of course, also ask God to help me increase my alacrity in obedience for I am a rebellious soul by nature, and I will repent for each time I stumble, which seems to happen each and every day. As always,  I will thank God for all the times He has forgiven me. (I so count on His mercy.) Then I will move on to contemplation, my favorite part of the day, letting God take over the direction in which my relationship with Him moves.

I will leave you now to your prayer and contemplation. First, though, I would like to bring to your attention a Monday morning prayer post that you might enjoy:

Fr. Austin Fleming, priest of the Archdiocese of Boston and pastor in Concord, Massachusetts, posts a prayer each Monday morning that he calls "Monday Morning Offering." I enjoy his prayers very much. I think you also will find them inspirational. He has graciously given me permission to include a link to his blog on my Monday Morning Meditation posts. (During the week, he also posts great homilies and other thoughtful discussions. I enjoy reading those, too, as do readers of this blog who have taken the stroll over to his blog.)

For additional inspiration throughout the week, I would point out two sets of blogs: (1) the list of devotional blogs on my sidebar and (2) my blogroll, where I am following a number of inspirational priests and writers about spiritual matters. I learn so very much from all these people. I highly recommend them to you.

Monday Morning Meditation #117: Giving Our Best

Once again, it is closer to Monday evening than Monday morning, and I hope you all ambled over to Fr. Austin's reliable Monday morning coffee inspirational post. I missed last week entirely because I was traveling and out of reach of the Internet, and that is likely to happen frequently during the next couple of months, including trips to Ukraine and the Czech Republic. Will try to do something in advance. Today I was supposed to be traveling, too, but I had to push back my tickets until tomorrow. I have spent the entire weekend, literally, in bed. We have a whooping cough epidemic here in California, so the doc thought it wise to give me the pertussis vaccination -- except he was unaware that I am allergic to eggs, and I was unaware that the vaccine was produced with egg. So, I had to deal with quite a bit of nausea from that, plus suddenly after being vaccinated, I seemed to have started to develop the symptoms of whooping cough. My ribs ache from all the coughing. Sheesh! (On a positive [?] note, I have lost seven pounds in three days -- quite an effective diet, but not one I recommend. And my sweet Jordanian cat, Murjan, who acts more like a dog than a cat, has not left my side these past four days.)

Anyway, I have finally crawled out into the living room and read further in  Micah, which I finished, along with Nahum and Habakkuk. Not finding anything there, perhaps because I am still groggy and light-headed, I kept reading on into Zephaniah, Haggai, Zecharia, and Malachi.I guess because I am sick I was hoping to find something positive, but finally I gave up and focused on Malachi 1: 13-14, which seems to have as much meaning today as centuries ago:

¹³ “When you bring injured, lame or diseased animals and offer them as sacrifices, should I accept them from your hands?” says the LORD.

¹⁴ “Cursed is the cheat who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but then sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord.

Reading: Malachi 1: 13-14

Meditation: Taken allegorically (I realize at the time it would have been taken literally), I wonder how many of us routinely bring injured animals to God as sacrifices. How often do we hurry out the door after communion and before the final blessing? How often do we shorten our prayer time, or miss it altogether? How often do we leave a need for someone else to take care of because we are too busy -- and then perhaps feel guilty about it, but nonetheless we did turn our backs. How often do we promise to spend quality time with God, and how often do we not follow through on that promise? How often do we cut back a contribution because of a sudden financial burden, rather than trusting God to take care of that burden? I think it is human nature to constantly weigh the benefits of A or B, spending time or money on endeavor X or endeavor Y -- and that is as it should be as long as the scale is God's and not one we have improvised.

Contemplation: That is far as I can go with you this Monday morning/afternoon. I now retire to private prayer to praise God for His willingness to forgive all those times that He gets cheated and to give us yet another chance. I will thank God for all the times He has forgiven me. I will, of course, also ask for His mercy in general and repent for even  needing forgiveness. Then I will move on to contemplation, my favorite part of the day, letting God take over the direction in which my relationship with Him moves.

I will leave you now to your prayer and contemplation. First, though, I would like to bring to your attention a Monday morning prayer post that you might enjoy:

Fr. Austin Fleming, priest of the Archdiocese of Boston and pastor in Concord, Massachusetts, posts a prayer each Monday morning that he calls "Monday Morning Offering." I enjoy his prayers very much. I think you also will find them inspirational. He has graciously given me permission to include a link to his blog on my Monday Morning Meditation posts. (During the week, he also posts great homilies and other thoughtful discussions. I enjoy reading those, too, as do readers of this blog who have taken the stroll over to his blog.)

For additional inspiration throughout the week, I would point out two sets of blogs: (1) the list of devotional blogs on my sidebar and (2) my blogroll, where I am following a number of inspirational priests and writers about spiritual matters. I learn so very much from all these people. I highly recommend them to you.

Saturday Evening Post #11

Elizabeth Esther runs a meme in which on the first Saturday of the month bloggers select their favorite post of the month and share it with other bloggers. The links are posted at Esther's site: The Saturday Evening Blog Post. It has been a couple of months since I have participated. Too much travel. Too much work. Too much busyness. However, today there is a small break, and so I have been able to go back and make a selection for this month: Some Touches of Divine Assistance.

A blessed Saturday to all of you.