[Salvation]

One Bread, One Body

One Bread, One Body

 

<< Tuesday, November 27, 2012 >>

Revelation 14:14-19
View Readings

Psalm 96:10-13

Luke 21:5-11

INTERNATIONAL HARVESTER

"Use your sickle and cut down the harvest, for now is the time to reap; the earth's harvest is fully ripe." —Revelation 14:15

 

Because of Steinbeck's novel, many people have heard the phrase, "the grapes of wrath." Biblically, this evokes an eerie image of divine judgment. Picture millions of grapes thrown "into the huge wine press of God's wrath" (Rv 14:19). "So much blood [pours] out of the wine press that for two hundred miles around, it [reaches] as high as a horse's bridle" (Rv 14:20).

However, on Judgment Day, we will see the harvest consisting of not only the grapes of God's wrath but also the wheat of God's mercy. Jesus Himself will harvest "the citizens of the kingdom" (Mt 13:38). "Then the saints will shine like the sun in their Father's kingdom" (Mt 13:43).

We all will be harvested. Will we be harvested as wheat or weeds? (Mt 13:24-25) Wheat or grapes? Sheep or goats? (Mt 25:32) Will our future be love or wrath? What will happen to us? "God has not destined us for wrath but for acquiring salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. He died for us, that all of us, whether awake or asleep, together might live with Him" (1 Thes 5:9-10).

If Jesus has His way, the Last Judgment will be a day of greatest joy on which we receive God the Father's blessing and inherit the kingdom prepared for us from the creation of the world (Mt 25:34). Let Jesus have His way. If you live and work for His harvest (see Mt 9:38), you will be harvested as wheat.

 

Prayer: Jesus, harvest me into Your everlasting kingdom.

Promise: "The Lord is King. He has made the world firm, not to be moved; He governs the peoples with equity." —Ps 96:10

Praise: Sandra thanked God when her hearing was miraculously restored during a healing service at a retreat. She rejoiced even more in the improvement of her spiritual hearing after she received the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

[Salvation]

Prayer for Life

 

Dearest Lady of Guadalupe, fruitful Mother of Holiness, teach me your ways of gentleness and strength.  Hear my prayer, offered with deep-felt confidence to beg this favor...

O Mary, conceived without sin, I come to your throne of grace to share the fervent devotion of your faithful Mexican children who call to thee under the glorious Aztec title of "Guadalupe"--the Virgin who crushed the serpent.

Queen of Martyrs, whose Immaculate Heart was pierced by seven swords of grief, help me to walk valiantly amid the sharp thorns strewn across my pathway.  Invoke the Holy Spirit of Wisdom to fortify my will to frequent the Sacraments so that, thus enlightened and strengthened, I may prefer God to all creatures and shun every occasion of sin.

Help me, as a living branch of the vine that is Jesus Christ, to exemplify His Divine charity always seeking the good of others. Queen of Apostles, aid me to win souls for the Sacred Heart of my Savior.  Keep my apostolate fearless, dynamic and articulate, to proclaim the loving solicitude of Our Father in Heaven so that the wayward may heed His pleading and obtain pardon, through the merits of your merciful Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.