Devotion
If God wanted to start all over, would you be spared?
David Jacobs
My son loves to play video games. In some games, he would make a character that he uses throughout the entire game, and as he progresses, the character gets better. Whenever he makes a mistake or if he dies, he can go back to a point in the game where he saved it, so that he doesn't have to start over from scratch. It saves him a lot of time, and it makes me wonder how humans' behaviors would change if we had a similar "save game" feature. We would be more willing to make mistakes, hurt ourselves and others, and to die. We only have one chance to start over, one chance at a life eternal, so we need to make this one life count.
It may feel that we are surrounded by evil in today's world: violence, greed, and lust are obvious in nearly every part of society. Earth in Noah's time was similar, and God had seen enough. Like my son's video games, God has the ability to start over whenever he wants. Unfortunately for anyone living in Noah's time, they do not have the same luxury. God decided to wipe the corruption, evil, and violence from the world and start anew with his one player.
Noah was devoted to God, so God established an agreement with him. As we all know, God tasked Noah with the responsibility of making an ark as well as gathering two of every living thing on it. Noah obeys, and his devotion leads to his life and his families live being spared. I ask you, believers of the word of Christ: is today's society so different from society during Noah's time? Does corruption, evil, and violence not permeate every facet of our lives? We know that a day of reckoning is coming for the wicked. God will come to judge them. We cannot just hit the reset button, we cannot load from a save point. We have one chance to establish a covenant with God. As Christians, we should be eternally grateful to have this chance at all.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, deliver me from evil. Forgive me, merciful God, for I know I have not been free of sin. With every fibre of my being, I long to be like Noah: to establish a covenant with you, and to foster a loving relationship between you and my family. Thank you, Abba Father, my alpha and omega. I will not squander my life. Amen.
Devotion
Culpability
Frances Taylor
This is an interesting passage because, among other things, it talks about sin and who is considered guilty of sin. Paul is talking about how he has been forgiven, how God has been merciful to him because his actions were committed in unbelief. In order for sin to be committed, one needs to know he is committing it. No one can commit sin in retrospect. Sin is always a deliberate act. This can be hard for some to understand. Actions can be considered sinful, even though the person committing them may not be culpable. For example, lying is a sin. However, is the two year old hiding behind the curtains sinning when he or she claims not to have broken the vase? No, because the child has no understanding of the difference between truth and lie. Those who do not have a relationship with God, who do not know the commandments, who have never heard of Jesus, may commit sinful actions, but are not guilty of sin. This is what Paul claims is his situation. Paul ...
Morning Prayer
And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there: And both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, ) full of grace and truth.
Inspiration
When the Lord sent his only Son, he sent also his word. For his body was this very word made flesh. Importantly this was not simply a manifestation of God's word, but also rather an 'animation' of it (meant here in the original Latin as 'animare' –'to instill with life or spirit'), an instance of God's love and divine grace in action, among us.
Prayer
Lord, I am grateful for your mercy in showing us your word made flesh so that we may be redeemed. Further, I am grateful to you for showing us your love and grace through your only begotten son. Let his body not have been torn and broken for no avail, but feed us now in the Eucharist. Let not his blood have...
