My Cup Overflows

King David teaches us the formula to handle any crisis; listen to the voice of the shepherd and wait for His leading. 

The Lord Jesus said; “I am the good shepherd.  My sheep hear my voice, and they follow me; they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand'.

When my world is threatened, my eyes can deceive me.  My understanding can mislead me.  My past can taint my outlook and my future can frighten me.  The Lord Jesus says if I hear His voice and follow Him I will not be destroyed.  

King David says when my Shepard is around, no matter what goes around me I will be able to rest.  He will lead me to green pastures through the crisis and He will restore my soul.  I may walk through the valley of death, but I will walk in security because He is walking beside me.

Lord, give me the grace to find rest in hearing your voice and following your leading.  Give me the wisdom to trust you more than I trust my circumstances, my weaknesses and my enemies. When I am too caught-up with myself may I hear voice clearly so that I may not perish.  Awaken my spirit Lord, so that I may see and understand your truths; that if you have a say about my life and family, my cup will ALWAYS overflow.

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside still waters.

He restores my soul.

He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil, for you are with me;

your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;

you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,

and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

"Adam, where are you?"

'Adam, where are you?' This question is charged with all the sorrow of a Father who has lost his child.

The Father knew the risk of freedom; he knew that his children could be lost… yet perhaps not even the Father could imagine so great a fall, so profound an abyss! Here, before the boundless tragedy of the Holocaust, that cries – “Where are you?” – echoes like a faint voice in an unfathomable abyss…

'Adam, who are you? I no longer recognise you.'

Who are you, o man? What have you become? Of what horror have you been capable? What made you fall to such depths? Certainly it is not the dust of the earth from which you were made. The dust of the earth is something good, the work of my hands. Certainly it is not the breath of life which I breathed into you. That breath comes from me, and it is something good.

“No, this abyss is not merely the work of your own hands, your own heart… Who corrupted you? Who disfigured you? Who led you to presume that you are the master of good and evil? Who convinced you that you were god? Not only did you torture and kill your brothers and sisters, but you sacrificed them to yourself, because you made yourself a god.

“Today, in this place, we hear once more the voice of God: “Adam, where are you?”

“From the ground there rises up a soft cry: 'Have mercy on us, O Lord!' To you, O Lord our God, belongs righteousness; but to us confusion of face and shame.

“A great evil has befallen us, such as never happened under the heavens. Now, Lord, hear our prayer, hear our plea, save us in your mercy. Save us from this horror.

“Almighty Lord, a soul in anguish cries out to you. Hear, Lord, and have mercy! We have sinned against you. You reign forever. Remember us in your mercy. Grant us the grace to be ashamed of what we men have done, to be ashamed of this massive idolatry, of having despised and destroyed our own flesh which you formed from the earth, to which you gave life with your own breath of life. Never again, Lord, never again!

“'Adam, where are you?' Here we are, Lord, shamed by what man, created in your own image and likeness, was capable of doing. Remember us in your mercy”.

(Pope Francis' reflections at the Jerusalem Memorial for victims of Holocaust)

The Eternal Flame at Yad Vashem

During his visit, the Pope signed the Yad Vashem Guest Book in Spanish.  English translation of his message:

"With shame for what man, who was created in the image of God, was able to do; with shame for the fact that man made himself the owner of evil; with shame that man made himself into God and sacrificed his brothers.

Never again!! Never again!!

Francis

5.26.2014"