heart was grieved

Yesterday we had quite the moving reading from Genesis.

The beautiful story of creation and all its imagery of life abundant streaming forth out of Paradise, Eden, quickly turns sour. In just a short 2 chapters after the creation account, God's heart is grieved and destruction comes.

God chooses to undo his hard work, as the first reading ends with those dreadful words, "the waters of the flood came upon the earth."

It seems throughout human history God has watched man turn away from Him and choose something less. He has watched man afflict pain on himself because of those choices. He has offered us the world, given us paradise, promised us the highest standard of living and time and time again we have chosen to settle for less.


Is This not why Jesus gives us those words of warning in the gospel, "be on guard against the leaven of the Pharisees..."

Be on guard!

Jesus invites us to no longer throw caution to the wind, but rather precede cautiously in life, attentive to the choices we make. How easy we are distracted!

HOw easy we focus on the wrong things!

Even the disciples start to lose sight of the most important as they begin to worry about the loaf of bread they brought with them in the boat.

Here they are with the one they saw multiply the loaves and fish, not once but twice, and yet they find themselves again concerned for all the wrong things.

WHy?

Jesus says it best, "And do you not remember?"

Here is the problem we encounter in our faith. How often do we forget what God can do? How often we fail to recall his power, his promise, his guiding hand, his abiding presence?

How often our struggle in faith is really a struggle with our forgetfulness.
It is our inability to recall that slowly weakens our faith and causes deterioration.

Is this not why Jesus at the last supper invites his disciples, invites us, to "do this in memory" of him. Our memory is intimately tied to our faith life.

They must go together.

THis is how we keep from settling for less. This is how we keep from turning away from Him.
Be on guard, that is guard your memory, hold fast to the things God has revealed and let them fill your cerebral folds time and time again.

So today recall, remember, be strengthen.