Genesis 8-9
The flood waters recede. I like verse 1 of chapter 8, "God remembered Noah and all the animals." How wonderful that we are not just left to navigate the storms on our own! God remembers! I also liked verse 19 where all the animals come out by families. How orderly!
Chapter 9 is about the covenant with Noah. Some very serious warnings for anyone who spills blood. The promise of the rainbow that God would never destroy the earth with flood again. Then the curse on Canaan because Ham looked upon his father's nakedness.
Psalm 7 - God the Vindicator
Verses 15-17 were interesting. "Consider how one conceives iniquity; is pregnant with mischief, and gives birth to deception. He digs a hole and bores it deep, but falls into the pit he has made. His malice turns back upon his head; his violence falls on his own skull." You may have evil planned towards someone else it often we do ourselves more harm than anyone else.
Matthew 5:21-48
A lot of serious warnings. Anger equal to murder. Lust equal to adultery. Divorce leads to adultery. Say what you mean. Turn the other cheek. Love your enemies. The last verse is one that we rarely pay attention to, "Be perfect, just as your Heavenly Father is perfect." This is one of the verses that drew me to Catholicism. Our churches expect so little of us in regards to holiness and yet Jesus clearly expected a great deal from us.
Catechism 39-49
How can we speak about God? We do start with what we know and the resemblance to creatures. But God transcends all creatures. So our human words always fall short of the mystery of God. Another drawing of Catholicism. We can know a lot about God but we aren't God so none of us know it all. I like that the Catholic Church acknowledges mysteries. There are subjects that can be exhaustively studied over centuries and we can still feel as though we have only scratched the surface with our limited human understanding. We never reach the end. There is always more wisdom to gain.
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