You Have Been Told, O Man, What Is Good And What YAHWEH Requires Of You!

"Listen to what YAHWEH said to me, 'Stand up, let the mountains hear your claim, and the hills listen to your plea.'

Hear, O mountains, YAHWEH's complaint!  Foundations of the earth, pay attention!  For YAHWEH has a case against HIS people, and will argue it with Israel.

'O MY people, what have I done to you?  In what way have I been a burden to you?  Answer ME.

I brought you out of Egypt; I rescued you from the land of bondage; I sent Moses, Aaron and Miriam to lead you.

O MY people, remember what Balak, king of Moab, plotted, and what Balaam, son of Beor, answered him.  Remember your journey from Shittim to Gilgal, how you have come to know YAHWEH's righteous paths.'

'What shall I bring when I come to YAHWEH and bow down before GOD the most high?  Shall I come with burnt offerings, with sacrifices of yearling calves?  Will  YAHWEH be pleased with thousands of rams, with an overabundance of oil libations?  Should I offer my firstborn for my sins, the fruit of my body for my wrongdoing?'

'You have been told, O man, what is good and what YAHWEH requires of you: to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your GOD.'" - Micah 6:1-8 

(O MY people, what have I done to you?  In what way have I been a burden to you.  YAHWEH argues with HIS people.  We see  GOD's love confronting HIS people's indifference.

Micah is addressing a people without understanding.  When they are in trouble or feel an inclination for religion, they think of expensive things: sacrifices, offerings and even the sacrifice of their children, according to the Canaanite religion.

To do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your GOD.  The answer is short and clear:

- do justice is Amos message;

- to love mercy: see Hosea 2:21

- to walk humbly with GOD: see Isaiah.

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We Do Not Know How To Pray

"Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes for us, without words, as if with groans.  And he, who sees inner secrets, knows the desires of the Spirit, for he asks for the holy ones, what is pleasing to GOD." - Romans 8:26-27 

(We do not know how to pray.  We often think that we pray only when we are saying something and asking for things.  Paul shows that words are not as important as the deep desire of the Spirit of GOD within us.

The Spirit intercedes for us.  It is good to present our problems and worries to GOD, using words that the Spirit inspires.  And still better when the Spirit invites us to remain in silent prayer and GOD communicates HIS peace to us.)  

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Woe To Those Who Plot Wickedness And Plan Evil Even On Their Beds!

"Woe to those who plot wickedness and plan evil even on their beds!  When morning comes they do it, as soon as it is within  their reach.

If they covet fields, they seize them.  Do they like houses?  They take them.  They seize the owner and his household; both, the man and his property.

This is why YAHWEH speaks, 'I AM plotting evil against this whole brood, from which your necks cannot escape.  No more shall you walk with head held high, for it will be an evil time.'

On that day, they will sing a taunting song against you; and a bitter lamentation will be heard, 'We have been stripped of our property in our homeland.  Who will free us from the wicked who allots our fields.'  Truly, no one will be found in the assembly of YAHWEH to keep a field for you." - Micah 2:1-5 

(HE denounces the exploiters, those who always have legal means to despoil little people.  We must not forget that the Scriptures had a code of laws--far ahead of any nation--to defend the rights and the lives of the poor, the widow, etc.  See Deuteronomy 23:16.

Everyone, naturally, is furious with the prophet who disturbs the established injustice.)

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Canticle Of Hezekiah

"Once I said: In the noontime of my life I go;

I am sent to the land of the dead,

for the rest of my years.

I said: Never again shall I see YAHWEH 

in the land of the living;

never again shall I see the inhabitants of the earth.

Like a shepherd's tent, my dwelling

has been pulled down and thrown away;

like a weaver, YOU rolled up my life

and cut it from the loom:

from day to night YOU made me waste away.

I have cried for help until morning.

Like a lion, HE has broken all my bones.

I have uttered shrill cries

like a swallow or a crane,

I have moaned like a dove.

My eyes all the while are growing weary

as I look up to the heavens:

Come and help me, O LORD!

For I am troubled.

But how can I speak

and what shall I say to HIM,

If HE HIMSELF is doing this to me?

I will have to walk all my years

bearing this anguish of my soul.

O LORD, give me back my health

and give me back my life!"

- Isaiah 38:10-16

(Hezekiah's canticle is a psalm of thanksgiving like those we find in the Book of Psalms.  It expresses the profound feelings of the believers of the Old Testament for whom dying meant losing everything and who tried to convince GOD that HE would gain nothing in letting HIS faithful disappear forever.)

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"Learn From ME For I AM..." Or "Learn From ME That I AM..."?

"Come to ME, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take MY yoke upon you and learn from ME, for I AM gentle and humble of heart; and you will find rest.  For MY yoke is easy; and MY burden is light." - Matthew 11:28-30 

(Must we translate "learn from ME for I AM..." or "learn from ME that I AM..."?  The humility of JESUS reveals to us the humility of GOD who never seeks to put us down or intimidate us, but instead always wants to raise us to HIM.  Such humility does not prevent HIM from being GOD, and HE may exact everything from us because HE does not use external force: HIS influence reaches to the depths of our heart.  See Luke 10:21.

Come to ME.  I will not relieve you of your load but by placing MY yoke on you, I give you the means of carrying the load.  

JESUS plays with the words yoke and load, for the Jews used to call "load" the divine teachings imparted to pupils, and "yoke" the balancing of the teacher's sentences, which should be learned by heart.

JESUS, the patient and humble teacher, enables us to see the mercy of GOD in our lives and in our own cross.  HE shows us the love of GOD even in the requirements of the law.  Only GOD is good; and good is the authority of CHRIST.)    

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Events And Daily Life Are Also A Source Of Prayer

"On that occasion, JESUS said, 'FATHER, LORD of heaven and earth, I praise YOU; because YOU have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to simple people.  Yes, FATHER, this was YOUR gracious will.

Everything has been entrusted to ME by MY FATHER.  No one knows the Son except the FATHER; and no one knows the FATHER except the Son, and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal HIM.'" - Matthew 11:25-27 

(JESUS' prayer impressed the disciples.  In this text it is a short prayer, prompted by the most recent events; events and daily life are also a source of prayer.

YOU have hidden these things.  Intelligent people are not excluded from the faith, of course, but it is the glory of GOD that faith should not seem to be the privilege of the wise and the intelligent; human wisdom never gives what is essential and often hides it.  There were in Palestine at the time some wise people and many others who pretended to be so, but they were rarely seen among the disciples of JESUS.

Everything has been entrusted to ME.  GOD does what is needed for people to have always and in all places thousands of ways of knowing HIM.  In this life it is only through JESUS that we have the revelation of the FATHER.)

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Chorazin And Bethsaida

"Then JESUS began to denounce the cities in which HE had performed most of HIS miracles, because the people there did not change their ways.  'Alas for you Chorazin and Bethsaida!  If the miracles worked in you had taken place in Tyre and Sidon, the people there would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.  But I assure you, for Tyre and Sidon; it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you.  And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to heaven?  You will be thrown down to the place of the dead!  For if the miracles which were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would still be there today!  But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.'" - Matthew 11:20-24 

(Chorazin and Bethsaida: these two cities were the seats of higher schools of religion but had not received the Gospel.  Tyre and Sidon: two pagan cities, cursed by the prophets.)

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Against An Unthinking People

"Hear the warning of YAHWEH,

rulers of Sodom.

Listen to the word of GOD, 

people of Gomorrah.

'What do I care,' says YAHWEH

'for your endless sacrifices?

I AM fed up with your burnt offerings,

and the fat of your bulls.

The blood of fatlings, and lambs and he-goats

I abhor, when you come before me and

trample on MY courts.

Who asked you to visit ME?

I AM fed up with your oblations.

I grow sick with your incense.

Your New Moons, Sabbaths and meetings,

evil with holy assemblies,

I can no longer bear.

I hate your New Moons and appointed feasts.

They burden ME.

When you stretch out your hands

I will close MY eyes;

the more you pray,

the more I refuse to listen,

for your hands are bloody.

Wash and make yourselves clean.

Remove from MY sight

the evil of your deeds.

Put an end to your wickedness

and learn to do good.

Seek justice and keep in line the abusers;

give the fatherless their rights

and defend the widow.'"

- Isaiah 1:10-17

(What do I care for your endless sacrifices?  It is characteristic of the prophets to condemn external worship that does not express a true surrender to GOD.  The sacrifices and the festivals in question here were required by the law of GOD; yet GOD says that HE detests them, because when done without proper dispositions, they are a lie [see Psalm 40:7 and 50:16, also, Matthew 5:23].

Give the fatherless their rights.  The Mosaic commandments condemned theft [Exodus 20:14].  The prophets denounce a social system which crushes the lowly.

Some people are fond of great ceremonies, others of their own devotions and prayers and still others, of doing generous and philanthropic works.  When doing this, we may be covering up the injustice we do every day.)

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The Word Of GOD Appears Personified

"As the rain and the snow come down

from the heavens and do not return

till they have watered the earth,

making it yield seed for the sower

and food for others to eat,

so is MY word that goes forth out of MY mouth:

it will not return to ME idle,

but it shall accomplish MY will,

the purpose for which it has been sent."

- Isaiah 55:10-11

(Here the word of GOD appears personified.  It is already much more than the words spoken by the prophets.  This word which comes from the FATHER and returns to HIM will be presented by the apostle John in the first page of his Gospel: it is CHRIST.  See also in 45:8)

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'HE Rebuked The Wind And Said To The Sea: Peace! Be Still! The Wind Ceased And There Was Made A Great Calm.'

"YAHWEH reigns, robed in majesty;

YAHWEH is girded with strength.

The world now, is firm; it cannot be moved.

YOUR throne stands from long ago, O YAHWEH;

from all eternity YOU are.

The floods have lifted up, O YAHWEH,

the foods have lifted up their roaring,

the floods have lifted up their pounding waves.

Mightier than the thunder of great waters,

mightier than the breakers of the sea,

YAHWEH on high, is mighty!

YOUR decrees can be trusted;

holiness dwells in YOUR house,

day after day, without end, O YAHWEH."

- Psalm 93:1-5

(This is the first of the 'royal' psalms [93; 95-100] celebrating the kingship of GOD, creator and controller of our universe, whose eternal tranquility contrasts with the restless sea.  HE is so calm and silent that we might think HE sleeps.  But only the GOD-made-man could sleep.  Even then, when the apostles cried to HIM, 'HE rebuked the wind and said to the sea: Peace!  Be still!  The wind ceased and there was made a great calm' [Mark 4:39].  'YOU are a king then?' said Pilate.  HE is indeed--though HIS kingship was hidden.  But now, HE sits at the right hand.  We are of HIS Kingdom.  Let us sing to our LORD, ascended and enthroned in heaven.

The LORD of history and of nature is much stronger than awesome historical conflicts.)

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