How will we find salvation, except for the Lord? Is your Easter “Alleluia” still as strong as when it burst forth on Resurrection Day: “The Lord is risen, he is truly risen”? Fortified for the journey, hear scripture pointing the way.
The book of Genesis tells the story of Abram and his lifelong struggle to follow the hard and dangerous path God assigns him: leave the city of Ur (near the Persian Gulf), walk hundreds of miles north with his father and family through all of Mesopotamia to what is now Syria. And then, continue with your wife Sarah south into Canaan, the promised land. The hardships and travel are not over, and the couple still have no children. God hears Abram’s worries, demands a blood sacrifice, and accepts it with a fiery apparition sealing the covenant promise: a fruitful land and countless descendants. Abram will be Abraham, the father of the Chosen People.
In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus tells his disciples their journey to salvation will have many perils and pitfalls, such as false prophets and false idols. They must see these alluring messengers as rotten to the core. Today the siren song of substance abuse and the honeyed promises of “influencers” and social media fame distract from our journey to God’s Kingdom, our promised land. In a letter to Mrs. Natalie Jordan, Father Eymard quotes Saint Paul, who writes, “Who will separate me from the love of Jesus Christ? No one.” So we, too, are reassured: the light of the Holy Eucharist will guide us. We will find salvation!
Let Us Pray:
Dear God, with the Bread of Life as nourishment on the way, guide us to the promised land – your Kingdom come. Pick us up when we stumble off the path and open our eyes to what is false and ravenous. Amen.
