GOD’S WORD FOR THE DAY (based on Catholic Liturgical Readings)
DATE: 17TH NOVEMBER 2016
THURSDAY OF THE 33RD WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
1ST READING: Revelation 5:1-10
PSALM: Psalm 149: 1-6, 9
GOSPEL: Luke 19:41-44
THEME: THE TIME OF VISITATION
Observable events in nature attest to the fact that there is a season for everything. When a season changes to another, discerning people act swiftly and make the best of the moment. The unwise, however, stand aloof and are overtaken by events. A discerning and wise farmer, for example, would take advantage of the raining season and respond appropriately but a clueless farmer would miss the moment of action and the rains would go “waste”.
The people of Israel had waited and hoped for a divine visitation with the coming of the messiah and yet when that moment came it eluded the grasp of many because they lacked faith in the person of Jesus Christ.
With tears in his eyes and knowing what will befall Jerusalem in the not too distant future, Jesus, in today’s Gospel text, looks at the city and says, “If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes…you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God” (Luke 19:42,44).
By refusing to accept Jesus, the Prince of peace, the city of Jerusalem chose to make itself defenseless and to succumb to a severe devastation. True to the words of Jesus, the Roman government destroyed the city sometime in the year 70 A.D.
There is a time of divine visitation in the life of each person. It is a season when grace is offered free of charge. It is a period when God calls us to a life of repentance and faith. A divine visitation is the right moment for a person to make the biggest breakthrough in his/her life. For those who say “yes” to God during such visitations, whatever they sow by faith germinates and bears fruits in abundance. It is the hour of bliss. However, it takes a wise and discerning heart to know that hour of divine visitation. Many people miss that moment in their lives and resist the very grace that would set them free.
Today, the Lord will visit some people in a particular way. I am going to pray that it would be you. Have an expectant faith and if you should hear the knock of the Lord, quickly run to the handle of the door of your heart and open – it is your time of divine visitation.
Prayer: Open my eyes, Lord, to see you in the events of today, to reach out and touch you and be filled with your love and peace; and may the grace you offer me not go waste but bring real transformation and change. Amen
Andrews Obeng, svd
DIVINE WORD MISSIONARIES
BIBLICAL PASTORAL MINISTRY
(Ghana Province)
“May the darkness of sin and the night of unbelief vanish before the light of the Word and the Spirit of grace. And may the heart of Jesus live in the hearts of all people” (St. Arnold Janssen).