Email Guidelines Guidelines 4th Week of Easter - Fulfilment of God's Promises
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The reality of the Resurrection is at the core of our faith, and we can easily think that it is easily understandable, but there is always more depth to the hope and the meaning of the Resurrection for our lives. The whole of the Testament is a promise that God will respond to the situations and needs of the lives of his people, but many times the people of God could not see that response, it was a promise that would unfold in the future and that hope sustained them. In many moments our journey with God is the same, we don’t readily see how God can make sense of the messiness of our lives and our world, but the hope that these things are in his hands keeps us going. The Resurrection is the response of God once and for all that death, injustice, suffering do not have the last word in our lives. We need to discover in prayer what that means for us, and the promises that we have understood from God in our journey.
Monday
Fulfilment of the longings of our heart.
‘As a doe longs for running streams, so longs my soul for you, my God. My soul thirsts for God, the God of life; when shall I go to see the face of God.’This Psalm is one of the most famous in the Bible, expressing the longing we have for God, other translations speak of yearning for God. This longing for God, longing for his closeness, his presence, his peace, a sense of everything having a meaning, a purpose and as well a transcendence, is a promise that is written already in our hearts. Sometimes we are not so aware of our longing for God, we can get into a routine with our faith, and it can be grace to ask for in prayer, to renew our desire for God, because this is an important step for prayer and growing in faith. Or because we become accustomed to disappointments in life we can be wary of admitting the longings of our heart. Part of the journey of faith is having the trust to open up these longings to God. The psalmist longs for closeness, for immediacy, to be where God is. The resurrected Christ comes to meet his disciples, to reassure them with his presence, but often they don’t immediately recognise him. It can be the same for us, Jesus comes to meet us in his word, in the sacraments, and only gradually we recognise him. At the same time the Resurrection is the promise that finally we will be with God, where he is and all the longings of our heart, will find fulfilment.
Tuesday
Fulfilment of the promise of a home.
‘But all call Zion "Mother", since all were born in her.' It is he who makes her what she is, he, the Most High, And there will be princes dancing there. All find their home in you.’Much of the journey of the people of Israel in the Old Testament is how they have unique place as God’s chosen people, at the same time there are many texts that point to a vision that their special relationship with God is something that all people are called to. In the readings from Acts with the spread of the Good News in the light of the resurrection we can see precisely the fulfilment of this promise as people from all different nationalities find hope and salvation in Christ. The longing for a home, a place where I feel I really belong, is very strong in each of us. And that is part of the gift of our faith, we do belong, now and forever to God and God’s people.
Wednesday
Fulfilment of the promise of justice.
May God show kindness and bless us, and make his face smile on us! For then the earth will acknowledge your ways and all the nations will know of your power to save. Let the nations shout and sing for joy, since you dispense true justice to the world; you dispense strict justice to the peoples, on earth you rule the nations.Psalm 66:2-8 ; Acts 12:24-13:5
The promise of Justice is one that we all carry in our hearts. So many situations in our own circumstances and in the structures of our world are unjust, and we carry the frustration and pain that this brings. In the resurrection we see that justice is ultimately possible, what was a terrible injustice, a man killed because of the interests of others, a life full of generosity and self-giving unrecognised and rejected, is seen to be rewarded and fulfilled by God. And yet the justice of God goes much deeper than our understanding of justice, his overflowing and amazingly generous love, forgives our sins, so many injustices that we all have contributed to. The hope of the resurrection that one day all injustice will be resolved encourages us not to give up trying to build more just ways of living in our lives and our world.
Thursday
Fulfilment of the promise of faithfulness.
I will celebrate your love for ever, Yahweh, age after age my words shall proclaim your faithfulness; For I claim that love is built to last for ever and your faithfulness founded firmly in the heavens. 'I have made a covenant with my Chosen; I have given my servant David my sworn word: 'He will invoke me, "My father, my God and rock of my safety"In this reading from Acts Paul shows how Jesus, born in the line of David, fulfils the promises God made to King David, ‘the Covenant with my chosen’. Paul actually speaks of Jesus rising from the dead, as God keeping those promises originally made to David. To experience God’s love is vital to our faith, but to experience that he’s love is constant over time, that he is faithful is key to really rest our heart in him. God’s faithfulness is our spiritual and emotional rock. We can ask for the grace to recognise more deeply the story of God’s faithfulness with our lives.
Friday
Fulfilment of the promise of the Father.
Let me proclaim Yahweh's decree; he has told me, 'You are my son, today I have become your father. Ask and I will give you the nations for your heritage. So now, you kings, learn wisdom, earthly rulers, be warned: Serve Yahweh, fear him, tremble and kiss his feetAt the heart of God’s love and faithfulness is the realisation that for God we are his children, that there is the profound bond of parent and child that is a living and life giving connection that cannot be broken. Jesus is the son, and in his death and resurrection he draws us all, as sons and daughters, into his same relationship with the Father. As children of God, we have no need to be afraid, the door is always open to go ever deeper in trust, closeness and a deeper dependence on the Father. We often find it hard to believe that we can be presume to rely, to be so close to God, but to believe and trust in the resurrection is also to discover there a powerful affirmation of our life, and our being a beloved child of God.
© Verbum Dei Community 2010
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