Tuesday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time
October 12, 2021
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, we pray with Psalm 19:
The heavens declare the glory of God,
Psalm 19:2-5
and the firmament proclaims God’s handiwork.
Day pours out the word to day,
and night to night imparts knowledge.
Not a word nor a discourse
whose voice is not heard;
Through all the earth their voice resounds,
and to the ends of the world, their message.
The psalm captures the point of Paul’s declaration that the natural revelation of God’s power is accessible to all of us in the magnificence of Creation.
For what can be known about God is evident to them,
Romans 2:19-20
because God made it evident to them.
Ever since the creation of the world,
God’s invisible attributes of eternal power and divinity
have been able to be understood and perceived in what God has made.
This natural gift inspires us to know and believe in God. In fact, Paul says we “have no excuse” for a lack of faith, calling those who fail to believe “fools”.
It’s a word Jesus uses in our Gospel to describe Pharisaical religion – a religion of appearances rather than loving practice.
The Lord said, “Oh you Pharisees!
Luke 11:39-40
Although you cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish,
inside you are filled with plunder and evil.
You fools!
Did not the maker of the outside also make the inside?
In our first reading, Paul expresses his complete trust in and devotion to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. By this, Paul means more than the written words of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. He means the entire gift of the Incarnation, Life, Passion, Death and Resurrection, continuing among us in the indwelling Holy Spirit.
Today’s readings leave me with two intentions:
- to be more deeply aware of and grateful for God speaking to me in my natural surroundings
- to examine my heart for the sincerity of my faith proven in practice
Poetry: God’s Word Is in All Creation – Hildegard of Bingen
No creature has meaning
without the Word of God.
God’s Word is in all creation, visible and invisible.
The Word is living, being,
spirit, all verdant
all creativity.
This Word flashes out in
every creature.
This is how the spirit is in
the flesh – the Word is indivisible from God.
Music: For the Beauty of the Earth
Lavish Mercy 