DAILY DEVOTIONAL

Tuesday, February 19, 2019

Then Jesus began to say to the disciples, “Beware that no one leads you astray.  Many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray. When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is still to come.  For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. This is but the beginning of the birth pangs. – Mark 13:5-8

In the ending of the past is the beginning of the future.

God built into Creation a visionary process.  A stability that is still able to make progress.  Within the DNA of life is the ability to create kind after their kind yet within it to change ever so slightly in its slow progress of unfolding.  Thus we are both of our past and of our future.  Resistance to this dynamic God placed into Life is to deny and to thwart the ongoing will of God, the wishes and ways of God.

A glorious Realm of God where the ways of heaven are slowly becoming the ways of earth is emerging in our midst.  It is a glorious Realm that is still in the agony of a new life being born.  And in this Realm’s birthing process. there will be struggle and even pain.  But all that must be endured for the Love and the Joy to be fulfilled.

Christ tells His disciple that one day, not that many years ahead, this massive Temple of Herod’s will be destroyed.  The land will experience war and then even more wars, but that does not mean that the Hope will either be lost or defeated.  No, the emerging Realm of Heaven on Earth cannot be denied.  It will “become”.

Yet, Christ gives a word of caution to those who will follow Him. “Beware that no one leads you astray. Many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray. …”  But who are these voices that lead us astray?  They are those who claim to speak on behalf of Christ but the tone of their voices and the essence of their spirit will not be in keeping with the quality of soul found in Christ.

Always in Christ’s Service,

Fr. Charitas de la Cruz