Keep

 The Spiritual Waiting Room

Keep

Commands     Statutes

Strengthening     Restoring     Enlightening

Walk In His Way

Enjoin

(photo and poem by Kathy McNamara)

Scripture: 1 Kings 8: 56 to 58, 60

Let us bless the Lord for He has given respite to His people, just as He said He would. Not a single part of the covenant He made with Moses has been broken. 

We pray that the Lord will be faithful to all of us today as He was to those who have gone before us. 

We pray that He draws our hearts to His Heart so that we will continue to have the strength to keep all the commandments that He has given to those who have gone before us in the faith.

This way all in our world from every part of the world will know that our God is faithful and that there is no other.

(scripture adapted by John J. McNamara)

Reflection

The author of 1 Kings points out the faithfulness of God in keeping the covenant agreement that He made first with Abraham and then continued with the Jewish people. God was always faithful and will continue to be faithful.

God draws our hearts close to His heart. He is always reaching out to us in Love.

1 Kings tells us in this passage that the purpose of that Love is to give us strength to keep His commandments. God knows that we will face many challenges and that it will not always be a straight and smooth road. 

We know that well, of course, with our experience of the pandemic. We are challenged every day to follow the restrictions that this highly contagious illness places on our activities.

This demands faithfulness on our part. It reminds us that our God is faithful also. It shows us the importance of keeping commandments that God has shared with us.

Sometimes we can get the wrong idea about commandments. We can look at them in a negative way as restricting our freedom instead of a positive way of pointing us in the right direction---a direction that leads away from the slavery of evil to the true freedom of caring for and loving others in an unselfish way.

That unselfish way is well illustrated in Kathy's photo. Jesus is pictured at the moment of His death on the cross in the 12th Station. Mary and the Apostle John are looking away. They cannot bear the sight of the suffering that Jesus is enduring.

That suffering was the consequence of Jesus being faithful to His mission from the Father. He was not thinking about what was easy or convenient for Him. He was focused on doing what the Father had asked: inviting the people to repent and join the Kingdom of God by loving God and loving their neighbor.

That invitation continues for all of us today. We ask ourselves how we can be faithful to the call we have from God: how can we be more caring and loving in our lives?

It is a challenge that we can take up with the reassuring knowledge that God is drawing our hearts to His Heart every moment of our lives.

Rest in the Heart of God!

1. How does reflecting on the faithfulness of God make you feel?

2. During Lent does doing the Stations of the Cross assist you as you try to follow Jesus?

3. Do you personally view the commandments in a negative or a positive way?

4. How do you view the call that God has given to you?