[ Today's Readings ]
The LORD wants to help us with the issue of fear again today. He wants his perfect love to cast out the fear in our hearts. He tells us how much he loves and cares for us so that our trust in him can move us beyond fear. To him we are worth more than many sparrows.
Maybe one reason we're afraid is that we think he is asking something impossible from us. We think that he doesn't really know us individually, our own strengths and weaknesses. When he tells us that as disciples we must become like the teacher and as slaves become like our master we think that he is asking something which may be possible for saints but not for us. But he does know us. He knows us down to the last hair of our heads. He hasn't forgotten us. He understands us perfectly. We are right to be in awe of the holiness of our master and our teacher.
They cried one to the other,
“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts!
All the earth is filled with his glory!”
Even so, he calls us to become like him in holiness. Even though it seems impossible, he calls us. Even though we say, "Woe is me, I am doomed! For I am a man of unclean lips," he calls us. But he does not call us on the basis of our own merit. He himself does the work within us.
He touched my mouth with it and said,
“See, now that this has touched your lips,
your wickedness is removed, your sin purged.
It's true that we don't always feel like good examples of what it means to be followers of Jesus. We must trust that he has the power to transform us and make us fit for the task. Let his sacraments touch our lips to purge our wickedness and sin. Let us hear ourselves say, "Here I am," and "send me!"
Your decrees are worthy of trust indeed:
holiness befits your house,
O LORD, for length of days.
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