15 August 2026 - a place prepared by God

 

Today's Readings

(Audio)

 

Mary set out
and traveled to the hill country in haste
to a town of Judah,
where she entered the house of Zechariah
and greeted Elizabeth.

The story of the visitation of Mary to Elizabeth intentionally parallels the time was David brought the ark of God to the house of Obed-edom. We can hear this in various echoes from one story to the next, but in particular in these proclamations, first of David, then Elizabeth:

How can the ark of the Lord come to me? (see Second Samuel 6:9).

And how does this happen to me,
that the mother of my Lord should come to me?

The first ark was meant to symbolize the presence of God among men, his dwelling place on earth. But the second ark was actually in a more literal sense that dwelling place, since  within her womb God himself became incarnate. The ark was not merely a disposable temporary vessel in the Old Covenant. So we can discern that Mary's role was not meant to cease once the child was born or once he was raised. She meant to and did in fact help convey the presence of her son to others even after the Visitation. She helped Joseph to find him when he was missing, having stayed behind in the temple. She helped those celebrating a wedding at Cana avail themselves of his intercession. She was a presence around whom other disciples could gather to experience the presence of Jesus, at the cross, and then later, on Pentecost as they prayed for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. We can't describe her role in the early Church as highly active as we might do for Paul or for Peter. But nevertheless it is hard to deny she had a central role. Elizabeth was not misguided when she said that among all women of all times and places Mary herself was the most blessed. It was a fact so incontrovertible that all subsequent generations, if they were honest, would have to acknowledge it, not to her own glory, but rather, to that of God.

From this day all generations will call me blessed:
the Almighty has done great things for me
and holy is his Name.

We know that even in recent centuries Mary still helps the world to experience the presence of her son, whether at Lourdes, Guadalupe, or Fatima. Even as recently as the nineteen-nineties in Slovakia there her presence has been credibly attested, receiving a nihil obstat from the Vatican.

We ought not be surprised at Mary's ongoing role when we consider where and how Ark of the Covenant is described in the book of Revelation.

God’s temple in heaven was opened,
and the ark of his covenant could be seen in the temple.
A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun,
with the moon under her feet,
and on her head a crown of twelve stars.

She was involved in an ongoing way in the spiritual struggle against the ancient serpent, here represented as a red dragon. It was prophesied in Genesis that the offspring of Eve would be the one to crush the head of the serpent. And now the new Adam had clearly involved Mary in the fight. But where Eve was vulnerable and compromised Mary was protected and remained immaculate. Eve was meant to be the mother of the living, but became, in fact, the mother of the spiritually dead. But Mary became the mother of those disciples who keep the testimony of Jesus, the ones who live in the truest sense. She who was now in "a place prepared by God" would from that place continue to intercede on behalf of her children as queen mother of the King of kings and Lord of lords. Her presence continues to matter to us because Jesus intends to bestow his own blessings on us through her. She brings us, safely and securely, to into the presence of her own son, there to help us express our inchoate needs and desires, and to plead to her son that he grant them. 

Mary helped John and Elizabeth connect to the presence of Jesus in a way that would have been otherwise impossible.

When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting,
the infant leaped in her womb,
and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit,
cried out in a loud voice 

This was not a gift intended for them alone, which is why so many archetypes of salvation history were fulfilled in Mary, demonstrating her ongoing role in the New Covenant of Christ. But perhaps we aren't currently experiencing the joy that Elizabeth and John both knew in her presence, or the fullness of the Holy Spirit that filled the disciples at Pentecost. Perhaps we've been treating Mary more like a devotional decoration rather than a person with whom we can have a real relationship. It is, in the end, only through such a relationship that the blessing she is meant to be for us can be realized. Mother of God, new Eve, and new Ark of the Covenant, pray for us!

 

Songs In His Presence - Bright As The Sun

 

14 August 2026 - what God has joined

Today's Readings
(Audio)

  

Some Pharisees approached Jesus, and tested him, saying,
"Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause whatever?"

Is there ever any cause so severe that divorce is a valid option? The Pharisees certainly believed that there were such causes, though they disagreed on the severity required in order to be sufficient grounds to justify divorce. But it seemed that Jesus may have acquired a reputation for being much more rigorous about marriage than any Pharisaical school of thought. This should not surprise us since he was the one who taught, "I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart" (see Matthew 5:28) during the Sermon on the Mount. 

 

The Pharisees knew that Jesus wasn't afraid to speak his mind and wanted to provoke him to say something that contradicted the fact that, to their mind, Moses had permitted divorce when he commanded, "that the man give the woman a bill of divorce and dismiss her". But Jesus was on to their game. Rather than referring immediately to Moses, he reached further back, to God's original intention for marriage, to the Garden of Eden. He saw there a blueprint for a relationship that was intended to be a union that could not be broken. Only such a union could serve as an image of the love of the Triune God, or the love of Christ for the Church. Such love was not sometimes yes, and sometimes no, but always and unwavering.

For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother
and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh?

From the fact that the union of marriages is something that was brought about by God, that God himself was in fact the one who joined couples together in each individual case, it follows that such a union could not be broken by the decision of man. What, then, of Moses? Was God being inconsistent when Moses seemed to authorize divorce? Didn't it make the most sense to do what the Pharisees did and project back from the apparent permission and interpret that which came before as well as that which came after in light of it? 

He said to them, "Because of the hardness of your hearts
Moses allowed you to divorce your wives,
but from the beginning it was not so.

Jesus taught that Moses was not exactly giving permission for divorce, so much as it was that he was regulating it. It was an unfortunate and, for the time more or less unavoidable practice, that was happening anyway. It wasn't a best case scenario from which God's purpose for marriage could be discerned. It was the best attempt of Moses to mitigate the disaster that the fall had been to marital fidelity. It can be difficult for us to see behind the consequences of the fall, to the time when God looked upon all things and saw that they were very good, and discover his purpose in ordering things as he did. Only the eyes of Jesus was sufficiently clear and courageous to boldly speak that original intention into a world clinging to any license to sin that it could find. Not only the Pharisees, but even his own disciples, found this to be so drastic as to be apparently untenable, practically speaking.

His disciples said to him,
"If that is the case of a man with his wife,
it is better not to marry."

Jesus did not walk it back, even for his disciples. Rather he let them know that this word could not be accepted by everyone intellectually, and was not something that would necessarily make sense in the abstract. If they looked at the possibilities of various difficulties they might face in marriage it would seem impossible, because, humanly speaking, it was impossible. But those who were called to marriage would receive grace that made what was impossible for others possible in their case. It was grace for a specific call. Those who were thus called would be the ones to whom it was granted to accept it, not intellectually perhaps, but in the concrete reality of their relationships together.

Because Jesus referred to a grace specific to the call to marriage, and explained that it was not for everyone, he went on to speak of a different vocation with different graces attached to it, specifically those who "have renounced marriage for the sake of the Kingdom of heaven". This is a vocation we see reflected in the tradition of celibacy for priests in the Roman Catholic tradition. Like Jesus himself, the Church calls out to those who might be called: "Whoever can accept this ought to accept it".

 

 

Songs In His Presence - Isaiah 12: You Will Draw Water

 

13 August 2026 - thy mercy free (but ours?)

 

Today's Readings
(Audio)

 

"Lord, if my brother sins against me,
how often must I forgive him?
As many as seven times?"
Jesus answered, "I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times."

If we look at forgiveness as a mere obligation, something we do because we know we should, we're always going to approach it in a very human way, looking for the upward bound of the maximum effort we must expend to fulfill this obligation. From a human perspective doing so is a practical matter, since the thought and effort we expend on forgiveness must be balanced against other priorities and concerns. We are finite, hence we look for a finite amount of forgiveness that will suffice. But this perspective is what happens when we take ourselves as the starting place of our contemplation. Really, we need to remember that our starting place is different, more like the servant in the parable then someone starting from a neutral situation.

At that, the servant fell down, did him homage, and said,
‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full.’
Moved with compassion the master of that servant
let him go and forgave him the loan.

Before we forgive anyone we should remember that we ourselves have been forgiven a much greater amount. The sheer magnitude of the unearned gift of our very existence is already a debt we can never repay. And we have all, in some measure, squandered that gift. Yet the giver remains generous, giving us chance after chance to demonstrate our gratitude for his gift. In justice he could have extracted from us exactly what we owed. But he was too moved by his own love for us to go directly to that option. He demonstrated a love that was meant to transform us from people who operated based on the assumption that we must pay for everything from our own limited and finite resources to people who could live on the basis of his own generosity. He did not forgive our debt in order to make us self-sufficient but in order to transform us so that we could rely on him. We are meant to rely on him not once, for a single event of forgiveness, but continually. The point is not that we show one moment of contrition and then return to life as usual. Rather, we are to rely on him in such a way that we cannot help but become like him. In doing so we transcend our own human limitations regarding forgiveness and become channels of God's own mercy to the world. Since it doesn't come down to us and our resources we don't have to stop when we forgive seven times, but can offer forgiveness without limit, as we have ourselves first received.

When that servant had left, he found one of his fellow servants
who owed him a much smaller amount.

Sometimes we learn the wrong lessons from God's forgiveness. We think it means we narrowly escaped and must now live from an even more all engrossing scarcity mindset. We saw what it would look like to be accountable for our debts and we take all possible measures to avoid ever feeling dependent on God again in the future. But there is no way to do this. Even if we extract everything our fellow servants possess it will never be enough to make us independently wealthy enough to be in a position to bargain with God on equal terms. There is no amount of human effort that will suffice. Any attempt to live out our religion without relying on grace will always result in such a shortfall. If our religion is making us mean and desperate, fearful, and unmerciful, something has going very wrong indeed. We may not literally be choking our fellow servants. But there are many toward whom we show much less compassion and sympathy than God does toward us. There are too many people who beg us, "Be patient with me", while we, in our hubris, refuse.

As with Ezekiel God tries to reveal his plans in advance so that we can learn of them and make our lives correspond to his purpose for us. It is much easier to learn by his instructions than to persist until we face the consequences.

Then in anger his master handed him over to the torturers
until he should pay back the whole debt.

Let's allow the generous mercy that God never ceases to offer to transform us now, not putting it off until later, or ignoring it. How much better it is to be a conduit of grace than a miser of unforgiveness. We can change lives in a way that is analogous to what God himself has done for us. Who are we to hold it back?

 

Sword Of The Spirit Worship - Thy Mercy Free

 

12 August 2026 - fraternal correctional facilities

Today's Readings

(Audio)

 

If your brother sins against you,
go and tell him his fault between you and him alone.

We aren't supposed to let our relationships with our Christian brothers and sisters become compromised by unaddressed issues. As brothers and sisters we have a shared context that should make mutual understanding and reconciliation possible that the wider world does not possess. But even in these relationships we experience the temptation to avoid such problems. We don't see why it should be necessary for us to take the initiative when it was someone else who sinned against us, not we them. We don't fully appreciate the value of restored relationships, so we are willing to let anger fester overnight (see Ephesians 4:26). Or we minimize the problem, so as to avoid an uncomfortable conflict. This is one way we can go wrong when a brother sins against us, by ignoring it. The other is by doing everything except telling the brother his fault between ourselves and him alone. Instead we tell everyone, possibly everyone on the entire Internet, about his fault. But when we tell others in this way it is not because we have any hope that doing so will solve the issue. It will of course only exasperate it. More people will line up to tell us why we are right and ought not be reconciled, now or ever. We will feel increasingly vindicated in our condition as victims making honest and open communication with the brother who sinned almost impossible.

There are situations where the brother will not listen to us, and these are perhaps not uncommon. After all, he probably saw things differently and may already feel righteous, not in need of correction. In such cases we need, not the entire Internet, nor a smaller subset of a population that is only looking for the most recent rage bait, but enlightened objective third parties such as we may hope to find among our other brothers and sisters. If we can find such individuals that are not likely to default to taking our side, but can give both of us a fair hearing, this is the best scenario.

If he refuses to listen to them, tell the Church.
If he refuses to listen even to the Church,
then treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector.

If the situation is so serious that the brother has committed to something that cannot be condoned within the life of the Church it is still best to solve it with him at the smallest scale possible. But if this is impossible it is disingenuous to let him go on pretending that everything is fine. If we can find someone who can let him know, in an official capacity, what the truth of the matter is, we ought to even go that far. We do this as a last resort, in hope that our brother will at last listen and be reconciled. This step is our full due diligence after which no more steps are necessary or indeed possible, hence we "treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector". This does not necessarily mean that we have no relationship, or that we shun such an individual. Rather it means they are seen once again as one who still needs to receive the Gospel. Jesus, after all, welcomed sinners and tax collectors, but in order that they might eventually become disciples.

Again, amen, I say to you, if two of you agree on earth
about anything for which they are to pray,
it shall be granted to them by my heavenly Father.

Why is it so important to reconcile with brothers and sisters when we have something against them? Because the potential release of power when we are united in the Church is something too good to ignore. When we are united, Jesus is present, prayers are answered, and the world may know and believe in the love of the Father and the Son for humanity (see John 17:23). This is why Paul strongly encourages us "to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" (see Ephesians 4:3). It is why the psalmist finds such delight in thinking of brothers dwelling in unity, comparing it to "the precious oil on the head, running down on the beard" (See Psalm 133). Probably, we don't value this unity as much as we should. So let us learn to appreciate it enough to work for it.

Jars Of Clay - They'll Know We Are Christians By Our Love

 

11 August 2026 - who is the greatest?

Today's Readings

(Audio)

 

The disciples approached Jesus and said,
“Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven?”

We still tend to think of worldly answers to the question of greatness. Whether because of office, popularity, or some other gift or asset, we still tend to assess who is the greatest on worldly terms. when we do so it is because we're asking a question about who matters the most and answering it in terms of what is important to us. But this is not how God sees things. He is not impressed by anyone. In fact he seems to favor those who seem to be the least impressive in the eyes of the world. 

Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children,
you will not enter the Kingdom of heaven.

Here specifically he did what Mary described in her Magnificat. He cast down the mighty from their thrones and lifted up the lowly. He demonstrated that we don't matter to him in terms of our assets and abilities or status or position. The child he placed before them didn't have an elaborate resume that caused him to be chosen. And yet he, and not any of the great ones of history, was made to be the model for discipleship. It was not to be earned through competition, it was to be accepted like an embrace. First we must learn that we do not earn God's favor. Then, in turn, we must strive to receive others without making them earn our own. We must be able to receive one child such as the one Jesus placed before them, and this because he himself would have done so.

See that you do not despise one of these little ones,
for I say to you that their angels in heaven
always look upon the face of my heavenly Father.

The little ones are valued much more highly by God than we would guess by their status in the world. In the world they would seem to be the least appreciated and most vulnerable among us, the ones on whom people would not waste their effort or resources. But God assigns angels to each one of them, angels privileged to behold the face of the Father, to guard and guide them. And of course, this can include us, if we learn to become sufficiently small to rely on God's providential care.

If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray,
will he not leave the ninety-nine in the hills
and go in search of the stray?

Again, the wisdom of the world is turned on its head. The world understands things in terms of strength in numbers. It finds marginal losses acceptable and even unavoidable. But to Jesus there is no person who is insignificant. He is unwilling to let even one sheep remain far from him no matter how many are together in the safety of the hills. Jesus sees people as people, not as percentages. But this goes against the worldly idea of what constitutes strength. To seek the one and leave the ninety-nine probably seems hugely impractical and risky to people with a corporate mindset. But the Kingdom insists that no one can be left behind. And somehow, because this aligns with God's own concern for the lowest and the least, it works out, even when by rights it seemingly shouldn't.

And if he finds it, amen, I say to you, he rejoices more over it
than over the ninety-nine that did not stray. 

We rejoice over having ninety-nine because it is a large impressive number. Jesus rejoices over one because he recognizes in that one a real person created in the image and likeness of God, beloved by the Father. 

In just the same way, it is not the will of your heavenly Father
that one of these little ones be lost.

We need to learn to share the heart of the Father. The way that we do this is by knowing that it is on the same terms, as little ones, that we first come to him. Then we will be able and eager to welcome others, not content until every last little one is found and brought home to his courts.

 

 

Cory Asbury - Reckless Love

 

10 August 2026 - scattered and sown

 

Today's Readings

(Audio)

 

Amen, amen, I say to you,
unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies,
it remains just a grain of wheat;
but if it dies, it produces much fruit.

We are called to a transformation that is so comprehensive that our egos represent it to us as dying. The shape we took previously, our understanding of our identity, our boundaries in life and relationships, all must give way. We must reach beyond the boundaries of our finite limited selves in order to put forth roots into the soil, shoots toward the sun, and eventually bear fruit for the sake of others. Ours egos suggest that the appropriate course of action is trying to maintain the structural integrity of the seed for as long as we can, even forever if possible. But how useless, how defective the seed that never becomes a plant after being placed in the soil. It remains inert, lifeless, even sad and pathetic. Can we discern from the image of a seed willfully resisting becoming a full-fledged plant just how narrow are the confines of a life dominated by the ego? If we are unwilling to risk anything we will never become what we are meant to be.

Whoever loves his life loses it,
and whoever hates his life in this world
will preserve it for eternal life.

By loving life in only exactly the shape that it now takes while not being open to more we doom ourselves, since nothing in the mold of the world can last forever. We need transformation to become capable of living life that can truly last forever, eternal life, rooted in the deepest and unchanging reality: God himself. Only by learning to participate in the love that God himself is can we become capable of living with him forever. We see precisely what it means to love in this way through the life and death of Jesus Christ. He offered his own life as a grain, broken open to bear inestimable fruit for the world. In him we see exactly what it looks like for God's divine life to be manifest in the life of human person. Thus, in him, we have the perfect model to imitate.

Whoever serves me must follow me,
and where I am, there also will my servant be.
The Father will honor whoever serves me.

It is not enough to merely imitate Jesus. Or rather, perhaps it would be enough, but our egos resist with such intensity that we can't succeed without the assistance of divine grace. We, the branches, are meant to remain connected to the spiritual energy that flows from Jesus, the vine. He has made it clear that without him we can do nothing (see John 15:5). We remain more or less in the shape of the seed. We need to entrust ourselves to his loving providence in order to become more. This never ceases to be true. It is not something we do once and move on. We never simply crack our shells open and then grow on our own and unassisted, not while this life lasts. We're still in the process of transformation and must continually place ourselves in his hands. Particularly at times when we try to wall ourselves off, close down, and turn in on ourselves, we need to return to him to help us to open ourselves once more.

Once we begin to allow Jesus to tear down our walls and help us move beyond ourselves we begin to exist in a higher mode of life where the miraculous becomes possible in ways that otherwise seem too good to be true. Just listen to how improbable this statement of Paul sounds to the so-called rational mind:

Moreover, God is able to make every grace abundant for you,
so that in all things, always having all you need,
you may have an abundance for every good work.

Not likely, right? But to those seeds who are in the process of becoming fruit bearing plants it makes abundant sense. They know that the limits on which our rational, ego-directed minds insist, are only limits that are based on ourselves as isolated individuals. Being broken open by God reveals that conception for the illusion that it is. Such barriers are only temporary, transitory, meant to give way to something more. So let us learn to trust the plan of the one who supplies the seed "without sadness or compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver".

Dan Schutte - Behold The Wood

 

9 August 2026 - small craft advisory

 

Today's Readings
(Audio)

 

Then the LORD said to him,
“Go outside and stand on the mountain before the LORD;
the LORD will be passing by.” 

Our first reading and our Gospel today tell both recount events of theophany, when God revealed himself to Elijah on Horeb, and to Peter and the other disciples on the sea. In both events there was much to distract and detract from the awareness of God's presence. There were dramatic events that preceded his coming that seemed far more impressive than his presence when he finally came. The earthquake, the wind, and the storm at sea were all such powerful events, so obvious and hard to ignore, that they easily could have been mistaken for God's presence. No doubt pagans had done exactly that in other times and places. But Elijah was not fooled by the preludes. There was nothing in creation adequate to express God's glory. Tying that glory to an earthquake or the wind would only result in deeper confusion about his transcendence. It is likely that Elijah had to gradually learn that the voice of the Lord was unexpectedly quiet, a still small voice, a quiet whispering sound. Those who were the most zealous for the Lord seemed like they would be the ones most likely to assume that the sound of his voice would convey unmistakable glory, that it would be undeniable, and impossible to miss. But Elijah didn't move until he heard the tiny whispering sound. He knew what to expect, and therefore must have learned it previously. Something so subtle could not have been something discerned without time and effort. But having expended such effort in the past he was now able to recognize it instantly. We are reminded of how Samuel had to be instructed by Eli in order to know the voice of the one who called him in the night (see First Samuel 3:8-9). Then, having been instructed, he was able to recognize the Lord speaking to him and respond appropriately.

When the disciples saw him walking on the sea they were terrified. 
“It is a ghost,” they said, and they cried out in fear. 
At once Jesus spoke to them, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.” 

At first, the disciples were unable to separate the presence of Jesus from their fear of the storm. But his voice was familiar enough to Peter to cause him to take the next step. Like Elijah he was drawn toward the voice. For some inscrutable reason he asked to be allowed to leave the boat and go toward Jesus rather than asking Jesus to come to them in the boat. The boat did provide some proof against the storm. But if Peter was not deceived by what he saw, Jesus possessed in himself an even greater stability. If it was not an illusion, Jesus seemed to be a greater shelter in the storm than the disciples' insufficient vessel.

God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble. 
Therefore we will not fear though the earth give way,
though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, 
though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble at its swelling (see Psalm 46:1-3).

We can't go where Jesus is merely on our own initiative. If we want to live in the shelter of his presence we must learn first, not to be content with the shelter of our inadequate vessels, and second to ask him to call us where he is, into the dynamism and adventure of discipleship. We don't go out because we are foolhardy adventure seekers. We go because it is always better to be close to Jesus than anything else. When we forget this motive there is no way for us to continue existing in that higher mode of living without sinking. We can't live the life we are meant to live as disciples on our own strength. Yet we are often tempted to look away from the one through whose grace we stand (see Romans 5:2) and toward the strength of the wind and waves of worldly circumstances. Slipping back into self-reliance is a pitfall that can probably never be avoided entirely. Fortunately, we have Jesus near at hand to catch us when (and not if) we fall. He can then bring us back to the boat of his Church, in which we now discover a new depth of peace and stability, that we may rest and be restored, recharged for our next adventure with him.

After they got into the boat, the wind died down. 
Those who were in the boat did him homage, saying,
“Truly, you are the Son of God.”

 

Hillsong UNITED - Oceans (Where Feet May Fail)