“He has shown the strength of his arm. He has scattered the proud in their conceit” (Luke 1:51)
In Exodus 22, we get a glimpse of the strength of the arm of God. “You shall not oppress and alien,….My wrath will flare up, and I will kill you with the sword.” Can you think of other occasions in the Bible where God has “shown the strength of his arm”?
In the gospel reading for today from Matthew 22, we hear Jesus ‘response to the question, “Teacher which commandment is the greatest?” He replied, “you shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul , and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. “. How can we ourselves refrain from being proud or conceited? The answer is by glorifying the Lord rather than ourselves, and in seeing Christ’s love in others. This keeps us from seeing beyond our noses to the beautiful world that surrounds us.
In our prelude today, we hear the words of St. Augustine, “Restless is the heart, until it comes to rest in you.” Enjoy this arrangement by Bernadette Farrell.