[00:00:05] Hello! My name is Sally Moriarty-Flask; welcome to From His Word to Our Hearts, my weekly Bible study podcast. Together we will explore the readings to be proclaimed at the Catholic Mass on Sunday, November 17, 2024, the 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time. This week's episode is entitled Light in the Darkness. And in these readings, we'll ask: how do we find light amidst all the darkness in our world?
As we journey through the readings this week, consider the following: each of us is affected differently by the darkness that surrounds us. So, where do we turn to find light in the world?
Let's begin: In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Heavenly Father, we praise you and we thank you for the many gifts you give us, especially for the gift of your Son, who is the light of the world. Help us to see his light amidst all the darkness, hatred, and division that surround us. Help us use his light to see the goodness in others. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
[00:01:19] Now that we've opened our hearts in prayer, let's listen to what God is telling us in the Scriptures. Our Gospel this week is From Mark 13: 24-32.
[00:01:32] “[Jesus said to his disciples:] ‘In those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from the heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of man coming in clouds with great power and glory. And then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven. From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates. Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away before all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. But of that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.’”
[00:02:48] As we draw closer to the end of the Liturgical Year, the current Liturgical Year, the Church chooses readings that focus on eschatology. Now, that's a big theological word that simply means the end times or the Second Coming. If you remember, last week I said that Jesus’ words of praise for the poor widow were the last words that he would speak in the Temple. Jesus then left the Temple, left the city of Jerusalem, crossed the Kidron Valley, and is now seated atop the Mount of Olives. And from his vantage point, he has a clear view of the Temple Mount. Now, I also have to point out that this section of Mark's Gospel is very dark and full of apocalyptic - or end times - imagery. So, on that lighthearted note, let's jump deeply into this week's Gospel…
[00:03:45] “[Jesus said to his disciples:] ‘In those days, after that tribulation,”
We need to understand that the Jerusalem Temple - which, as I said, would have been visible from Jesus’ location (where he was seated on top of the Mount of Olives) - was considered by faithful Jews to be the center of the universe… the meeting place of heaven and earth. While Jesus is certainly referring here to future events (meaning when he says “in those days” and “after that tribulation”) but events of the past often foreshadow events that will come to pass in the future.
[00:04:31] And we know, historically, that the Temple (the Jerusalem Temple) had been damaged or destroyed a number of times. From the viewpoint of a 1st century Jew, the most recent occurrence would have been the desecration of the temple by the king of Syria, Antiochus IV Epiphanes, in 167 BC, when - of all things - he erected an idol to Zeus in the Temple and sacrificed a pig on the altar. It's hard to find too many things that would have been considered more offensive to the Jewish people… so those events would have been a relatively fresh mental and emotional wound - and spiritual wound - to the Jewish people. Jesus’ words here are likely a foreshadowing of some future destruction of the Temple, given past historical experiences. Now, the Gospel of Mark was written somewhere around 60 AD before the great Jewish revolt against the Roman emperor Nero had even started; that actually started in 66 AD.
[00:05:51] The Jerusalem Temple WOULD eventually be destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD, but Mark wouldn't have had any firsthand knowledge of that when he wrote his Gospel. Now, that brings me to another point… did Jesus actually predict the future here? Did he predict the future destruction of the Temple? Well, the best answer I can give is… maybe! As the Son of God… as one who, before his Incarnation, existed outside of time and space… Jesus would have known (in all his divinity) that the destruction of the Temple would take place in 70 AD; he would have already known that. And if we look at Luke 19, we read that when Jesus drew near to the city, he wept over it. We always assume that's only because he knows he's going to his death… but, maybe there's more to it than that. The other possibility is that Mark's Gospel was written later (closer to 70 AD) and that Mark was able to foresee the destruction of the Temple because of the other events that were taking place. There's a lot of “ifs” and “possibles” and “maybes” in all of that. The thing is, we can't know with any certainty any of that. That's another instance where our imagination can play a part… because, truthfully, that's the beauty of Scripture, right?
[00:07:23] There's so much we DON'T know about it, but there's also so much we DO know. And for the things we don't or can't know, that is always when we are invited to use our imaginations to fill in the blanks. And probably one of the best times that we do that with is Jesus hidden life, right? His life from the last time we encounter him in the Gospels, which is when he's about 12 years old in the Temple, until he's 30. That entire hidden life, we are invited to use our imaginations. So, there's nothing wrong with that… our imagination is also a gift from God. So, let's go back to the Gospel…
[00:08:06] “In those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from the heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.”
These images are all intended to indicate the type of cosmic upheaval that will accompany God's Final Judgment. And remember, the first creation story in Genesis 1, on Day 4 God creates the greater light to rule the day (meaning the sun), the lesser light to rule the night (meaning the moon), and the stars were set in the firmament.
[00:08:48] So, when Jesus says THE SUN WILL BE DARKENED, THE MOON WILL NOT GIVE ITS LIGHT, and THE STARS WILL BE FALLING FROM HEAVEN, what he's really saying is that the Day of Judgment will serve as a sort of undoing of creation… a reversal of everything that happened on the fourth day of creation in the first creation story in Genesis. Mark's Gospel goes on…
[00:09:20] “And then they will see the Son of man coming in clouds with great power and glory.”
Again, the term Son of man originates with two Old Testament prophets: Daniel and Ezekiel, and it's been a common name that Jesus has used to refer to himself throughout his public ministry. Words like COMING IN CLOUDS are an echo of the words in the Book of Daniel that are used to refer to the presence of the divine. So, what Jesus is most likely referring to here is his own Resurrection, Ascension, and Enthronement in Heaven.
[00:10:04] “And then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.”
Now remember, ANGELS are always considered to be messengers of God, we know that from Old Testament lore, but Jesus here can also be referring to the future work of the Apostles as messengers of the Gospel - the good news of Jesus Christ. The word ELECT is always used, firstly to refer to the Chosen People (the Jews), but in a broader context it can also refer to all of the faithful… to all of us. And then whenever the FOUR WINDS are mentioned in the Bible, that means all four corners of the earth, right? North, south, east and west. That's to include the totality of all life on earth. And FROM THE ENDS OF THE EARTH TO THE ENDS OF HEAVEN is meant to indicate all of creation, everything that was ever made. Then this seemingly strange sentence is thrown in here…
[00:11:20] “From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near.”
[00:11:30] That seems so out of context, so out of place. But really what Jesus is quoting is a proverb - a farmer's proverb - from biblical times that predicts the change of season from winter to spring, right? Because when you say summer is near that means spring is in the process so, it's just a reminder that time always flows - and we go from winter to spring to summer. That proverb, that saying, would have been extremely well known to the disciples, to any of the Jews in Jesus’ time. So, while it seems out of place to us, it would have been - they would have been - very familiar with it. Mark goes on - or Mark has Jesus go on saying…
[00:12:22] “So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates.”
These words - again - refer to the Day of God's Judgment, the Second Coming.
[00:12:38] “Truly, I say to you, this generation”
[00:12:41] The words THIS GENERATION would have been understood, since Old Testament times, to mean around 40 years. They talk about when the Israelites wandered in the desert for 40 years… that was the length of a generation. A number of the original Israelites that left Egypt would have died before they arrived at the Promised Land. So, not only did they have to set aside everything that they learned in Egypt, their familiarity with the gods of the Egyptians (small “g” gods), and relearn how to live as the one true God's Chosen People… that is all represented by that 40 years. So, when Jesus says THIS GENERATION he's talking about approximately a 40-year span of time. So, he goes on…
[00:13:29] “this generation will not pass away before all these things take place.”
[00:13:34] And, as we know - as I had mentioned earlier - the Temple was in fact destroyed in 70 AD by the Romans. So that did happen. The worst-case scenario, from a Jewish point of view, did happen. Jesus goes on…
“Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.”
Remember, Jesus is the Logos, the Word of God spoken in the beginning… and he is eternal. So, no, his words will never pass away.
[00:14:05] “But of that day or that hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”
And, the words OF THAT DAY OR THAT HOUR are referring specifically to the Day of Judgment, the Second Coming. And Jesus says, no one knows… no one knows when that will be. Not humans, not the angels, not even he, the Son, knows only the Father. The Gospel of Matthew reminds us that the fullness of all knowledge resides with the Father alone when he says in chapter 11: “no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”
[00:14:48] So, the fullness is with the Father… the Son is begotten by the Father… and they share one essence… but there are still things that only the Father has a full knowledge of. Now, while this particular passage, as I said, is most likely referring to the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple, we should also think of the Crucifixion when we hear these words… the destruction of the Temple of Jesus' own Body. Remember what Jesus says in John 2: “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” So, when we think about the destruction of the Temple, we can't think just of the destruction of a brick and mortar Temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem! We also have to think of the destruction of Jesus' Temple, the Temple of his Body in the Crucifixion. Remember I warned you when we started into this section of Mark's Gospel…. I said it was dark. And, although difficult, I think it's important that we are reminded of this biblical darkness because it can help us address the darkness that we are dealing with in our own world. And there's plenty of that right now, right? We've had hurricanes, tornadoes, climate change, inflation, homelessness, a broken immigration system, divorce, political division, hatred, prejudice, war… so much darkness is out there. But I think you get the picture. So, I'm going to ask again… how do we find light in our world when we are trapped in the midst of so much darkness? Darkness not even of our making.
[00:16:49] I think we have to be honest and say that the answer may not lie within our world as much as we would like it to. I think rather, the answer has to lie squarely with Jesus. In John's Gospel, Jesus says: “I am the light of the world.” And we have to see him as a constant presence for us. He needs to be a constant presence in each one of us… with each one of us. Someone that we can all rely on to light our way… to help us see the good in difficult situations… to find a silver lining in a dark cloud… to look for the good in people - no matter how difficult that can sometimes be. It takes faith, it takes determination, and it takes a lot of grace… but it can be done.
And on that light note, let's go to our First Reading, which is from the Book of Daniel 12: 1 - 3.
[00:18:15] “[In those days, I Daniel, heard this word of the Lord:] ‘At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as has never been since there was a nation till that time; but at that time your people shall be delivered, every one whose name shall be found written in the book. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars, for ever and ever.’”
[00:19:07] Sorry, I did warn you when we started… they're going to be dark. One thing I want to do here is take a bit of a dive into the background of the Book of Daniel before we go any further, because I think it's really important. It's so easy to read the Book of Daniel with our modern perspective, especially looking at it through the lens of the New Testament, and see it simply as a series of predictions regarding the end times… and too often, that is exactly how we see this book. We ignore the totality of the book and pick out what suits us. Daniel is much more intricate than that, and we need to stop and really understand it. The stories in the Book of Daniel are set at the time of the Babylonian exile. And the book really tries to tackle some very complex questions like… What is the nature of God? How can God's actions be discerned? And how is his justice made manifest in an unjust world?
[00:20:16] And okay, none of that is easy to do. And to be honest, we are still wrestling with those very same questions. In fact, I posed a similar question when we began, right? How do we find light amidst the darkness of the world? How do we discern God's presence in all of that? But one point I want to make - which might help us - is that the Book of Daniel was written to reassure God's people of his constant care for them and to remind them that despite the darkness encountered in a world subject to sin, evil, and injustice, God's people must, nevertheless, remain faithful to him, just as he remains faithful to them.
[00:21:06] Ultimately, the answer has to be the same for us as it was for the Jewish people… and it always comes back to God, right? I said that earlier… Jesus said: “I am the light of the world” - God the Father, Jesus Christ his Son, and the Holy Spirit, which is the love that proceeds from them both… THAT love is precisely what brings light to the world.
[00:21:33] Now, one other thing I want to point out here is that Daniel is classified as one of the four major prophets in the Christian Bible, but he doesn't even appear - that book does not appear - among the prophets in the Jewish Bible. Now, to make sense of that, let me review how the Jewish Bible is organized (our Old Testament). It is divided into three categories, right? The law, the prophets, and the writings. The Book of Daniel is actually counted among the writings in the Jewish Bible rather than the prophets, mostly I think, because the book is so tremendously difficult to classify. It contains historical accounts, certainly, but it also contains folktales and symbolic or apocalyptic visions. And trying to classify the book as a specific genre is not the only problem. It was also written in three different languages. It was written in Aramaic, Hebrew, and Greek. And if that's not complicated enough, it's supposed to take place in Babylon at the time of the exile (which is about the 6th century BC) but it addresses events that took place at the time of the Maccabean revolt, which was the 2nd century BC (about 400 years later). All of those factors, taken together, make Daniel one of the most confounding books in the Old Testament. So, let's keep all of that information in mind as we move on.
[00:23:16] Now think back to our passage from Mark… that passage focused heavily on eschatology, the end times. And this passage from Daniel does the same. These readings, taken together, remind us - as Christians - that we live in the final chapter of mankind's story… the age of the Church… the time before the end of all creation. And in the Gospel, Jesus told his disciples that no one knows when the end will come, right? No one knows the day or the hour, except the Father. These warnings are not given to make us sad… to make us fearful… but they do remind us to be prepared and to live accordingly. No one knows the time… no one knows when the end will come, whether that's the end of our own individual lives or the end of the world. So, think of these readings as the Church's way of saying to us: it's better to be prepared - to be ready to meet the Lord at any time - than it is to put off our preparations until it's too late. So, with that in mind, let's dive deep into Daniel's message for us this week.
[00:24:38] “[In those days, I Daniel, heard this word of the Lord:] ‘At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince, who has charge of your people.
[00:24:48] Daniel is referring here to Michael, the Archangel, who you should, hopefully, remember is always depicted as a warrior and a protector of the Chosen People… and of the Church, right? He's usually carrying a shield… usually has a sword… he's depicted as a warrior. We look to Michael, today, as the defender of the Church, right? But he was originally the protector of the Chosen People.
[00:25:17] “And there shall be a time of trouble, such as has never been since there was a nation till that time;”
That's the same kind of stark warning that we hear from a number of Old Testament prophets whenever the Judgment Day (which is also sometimes referred to as the Day of the Lord) whenever that is mentioned - think here especially of Amos or Joel. And, of course, the Age of the Church is rife with difficulties, troubles, challenges, and crosses to carry. That's what Jesus promised us, right? Jesus never said life would be easy. He said, we all have to take up our crosses and follow him. We were warned! We were told this was how it was going to be!
[00:26:06] “but at that time your people shall be delivered,”
[00:26:10] Now, Daniel is talking specifically about the Jews being delivered from exile in Babylon. In our modern sensibilities, it's so easy to see how this passage relates to the Book of Revelation, right? To that book by John that describes the end times. And then Daniel goes on to say…
[00:26:34] “every one whose name shall be found written in the book.”
[00:26:39] Now, that, I have to say, really sort of confounded me. This reference to THE BOOK is difficult to find anywhere else in the Old Testament. The closest counterpart that I could find was in Psalm 69, which talks about the names of the wicked being BLOTTED OUT OF THE BOOK OF THE LIVING and in Isaiah 4, which talks about the glory of Zion and the names of the holy ones being RECORDED FOR LIFE. It is quite clear, however, that the Apostle John would have been familiar with those citations because he references the Book of Life in Revelation 20. And then the book goes on…
[00:27:24] “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.”
[00:27:33] I find this phrase quite fascinating! This is the first mention of individual resurrection after death and the first mention of eternal reward or punishment after individual resurrection. Belief in individual resurrection after death was not common among the Jews - even in Jesus’ time. The Pharisees accepted individual resurrection while the Sadducees did not.
[00:28:03] “And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament; and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars, for ever and ever.”
[00:28:14] We just talked - two weeks ago - about the importance of keeping the law and passing it on to future generations, right? When we when we went through the Book of Deuteronomy. The WISE, referenced here, are those who keep the law despite being in exile. And, those who TURN MANY TO RIGHTEOUSNESS are those who teach - or pass on - the law, in spite of the challenges and hardships they face. Reading this through the lens of the New Testament, we see the WISE as those who have accepted the gifts of faith and salvation offered by Jesus. And those who TURN MANY TO RIGHTEOUSNESS are the people who work to evangelize - to spread the message of the Gospel. And finally, the passage mentions that the wise will be like the STARS, right?
[00:29:12] To shine like STARS means to be companions of the angels, to dwell amongst the beings in heaven. That's a beautiful promise. So, another example of that light in the darkness!
[00:29:33] Our Psalm this week is Psalm 16, and the refrain is: “You are my inheritance, O Lord!”
And here are the verses…
[00:29:41] “The LORD is my chosen portion, and my cup; you hold fast my lot. I keep the LORD always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my soul rejoices; my body also dwells secure. For you will not give me up to Sheol, or let your godly one see the pit. You will show me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy, in your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”
[00:30:14] This Psalm is an Individual Prayer of Confidence, attributed directly to David, and it focuses on confidence and trust in God. This is one of the Psalms that is used at the Great Vigil of Easter when the Liturgy of the Church provides a series of readings highlighting the story of salvation of history. Now I had to do a deep dive to understand what has happened with this Psalm over the years… and that all started with the refrain. I have to point out here the specific words of the refrain - that: “You are my inheritance, O Lord!” - that refrain, which is used by the Catholic Church, do not actually appear anywhere in the text of the Psalm! That's not totally unheard of, as sometimes the refrain for a Psalm comes from another book of Scripture.
[00:31:07] But the problem here is the Lectionary always indicates the source of the refrain, and in this particular case, the Lectionary says that the refrain is from verse 1 of the Psalm, which it clearly is not! After much research - fruitless research on my own part, to be honest - I went to consult with my former boss at my home parish, a man by the name of Jeremy Hoy, who knows more about Liturgical Music than anyone else I have ever encountered.
[00:31:41] And we went through different books… and references… and resources… and Bibles… and this and that and the other thing… and we settled on the notion that the Psalm refrain is actually a paraphrased version of verse 5 of Psalm 16. And the thing that really hammered that home - or hammered home to me in this whole enterprise… this whole deep dive I did here - is that the words of any translation rely so heavily upon the original source text.
[00:32:20] And that brings me to my other interesting discovery… that the Psalm refrain used by the Church is based on the original text in the Septuagint. Now, I do not have the time here (nor do I want to inflict upon you a long, drawn out explanation of what the Septuagint is or how it came to be) but suffice it to say that the Septuagint is a Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible and it dates back to the 3rd century BC. That's all I'm going to say at this point. I also learned, though, that verse 5 of Psalm 16, upon which this refrain is based, comes initially from a quote from chapter 18 of the book of Numbers. This was like trying to go through a maze… I kid you not!
[00:33:10] So, I would like to thank Jeremy Hoy for his assistance with this endeavor. I would also like to thank John Paul Salay (he is the gentleman that filled my position in the Liturgy and Music Office when I retired last year) and I would like to thank him for sharing with me a version of online Scripture that I have never before encountered… It's called an Interlinear, and it shows word-by-word, line-by-line, comparison of the text with Greek, Hebrew, English, a whole host of translations. It was one of the most exciting finds I have encountered recently.
[00:33:50] It was exceedingly helpful in solving the riddle of this Psalm and has been, since I encountered it and will continue to be, an invaluable resource as I study Scripture. That leads us to the reading from the Letter to the Hebrews 10: 11 - 14, 18.
[00:34:12] “[Brothers and Sisters:] Every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, then to wait until his enemies should be made a stool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.”
[00:34:53] This is the last of our 7 passages from the Letter of Hebrews. And just as we have skipped through some of the chapters over the last couple of weeks, we do the same thing this week. This passage is the culmination of the author's comparison between the Levitical priesthood and the one priesthood of Christ. So, let's begin…
[00:35:16] “[Brothers and Sisters:] Every priest stands daily at his service”
[00:35:22] The author is referring to the Levitical priests here, right? When he says STANDS DAILY AT HIS SERVICE, what he is describing are the daily Temple services: the morning and evening burnt offerings, the burning of incense, the individual offerings brought to the Temple for either cleansing of sin or for purification. And what is the Levitical priest doing in the Temple? The text tells us…
“offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.”
[00:35:59] Temple sacrifices were offered for repentance only.
[00:36:05] “But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins”
Let's dwell with these words just a little bit. The author is clearly referring here to the Crucifixion. And in the words HAD OFFERED we are reminded again that Jesus’ Crucifixion was an event that took place at one specific point in history; in the words SINGLE SACRIFICE we recognize his priestly act of dying on the Cross; and the phrase FOR ALL TIME illustrates that the forgiveness of sins is linked for all eternity to Christ's one perfect sacrifice. So, from that we have learned that the many sacrifices offered by the Levitical priesthood have been superseded… replaced… made better… made eternally better… by the One Perfect sacrifice of Christ and that the many Levitical priests have been replaced by the one person of Jesus Christ, our great High Priest. After the sacrifice…
[00:37:25] “he sat down at the right hand of God”
That is his enthronement in heaven after his Resurrection and his Ascension to the Father.
“then to wait until his enemies should be made a stool for his feet.”
[00:37:43] That's awkward phrasing - we think footstool rather than a stool for his feet. These words are a promise made in Psalm 110, which says: “Sit at my right hand, while I make your enemies a footstool.” The enemies of God are sin and death, right? Jesus conquered those. And yet, until the fullness of the kingdom of heaven is realized they are still things we are prone to, us imperfect humans.
“For by a single offering”
So, that one perfect sacrifice has replaced every other sacrifice. No other offering will be needed.
“For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.”
In the NAB (the New American Bible) the words ARE SANCTIFIED are translated as BEING CONSECRATED. The Greek word used here is hagiazomenous which means to set aside or dedicate to God.
[00:38:50] So, sanctified… consecrated… both mean TO BE MADE HOLY and we receive the gift of sanctification, of grace, of a sharing in the divine life through the Sacrament of Baptism initially.
“Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.”
[00:39:14] In other words, repeated sacrifices made in the Temple under the Old Covenant were ineffective and had to be constantly repeated. The one perfect sacrifice of Christ - the Priest of the New Covenant offering the Perfect Sacrifice of himself - takes away sin for all time. And, we should never forget that Christ's one perfect High Priesthood is what all the faithful share in when they are baptized... when we are anointed priest, prophet, and king.
[00:39:48] As Catholics, we believe that being anointed priest in our Baptism makes us part of the common priesthood of the faithful enabling us to share in the role of mediator to the Father, which makes our prayers efficacious; we are anointed prophets in order to speak the truth to others when we evangelize or share our faith; and we are anointed kings in order to help lead others to God's kingdom. So, when I asked the question… how do we find light amidst all the darkness in our world? I think that, perhaps, the answer may be within ourselves - the light that is in us - the light of God's grace that burns brightly within each one of us! And it is up to us to share that light with the world.
[00:40:51] Will there be bad days? Absolutely, certainly!
Will we run into challenges and difficulties? You bet!
Will there be times when our light dims or seems in danger of going out? Unfortunately, yes!
[00:41:11] But if we follow Christ, if we keep our eyes fixed on him, we will always have his light to guide us. And that is the light - in this world and the next - that never fails!
[00:41:33] If you would like to reach out to me with questions or comments, send me an email at
[email protected]
Thank you for listening and until next we meet, may God shower his blessings upon you like a soft and gentle rain and may he hold you, safe and secure, in the palm of his hand.
From His Word to Our Hearts is produced by SFS Audio Solutions.
The content of this show was assembled by me, Sally Moriarty-Flask.
Our music was composed by Jimmy Flask and is used with the permission of the composer. All rights reserved.
Information regarding reference used in preparing the exegesis for this podcast is available upon request.
Thank you for listening and God bless!
