Genesis 10-11
Chapter 10 classifies the groups of people. This is referred to as the Table of Nations. How easy it is to lose sight of the fact that every human being is descended from one man and one woman. More importantly, how often we forget that we are all made in the image of God.
Chapter 11 describes the incident of the Tower of Babel and ends with the ancestors of the Israelites. I find the Tower of Babel an act of compassion on God's part. If you think about it, eventually the tower could have reached very thin air and many could have perished from lack of oxygen. It reminds me of how often our plans seem so smart but we can't always see the consequences.
Psalm 8
A beautiful psalm that speaks of God's grandeur and our inadequate attempts to praise him. The psalmist is struck by the smallness of humans and then by the royal dignity and power that God has graciously bestowed on them.
Matthew 6:1-18
This passage speaks of the importance of do good deeds, give alms, fast and pray with a warning to not make these things known to others to gain earthly praise. Then Jesus teaches us how to pray. As a Baptist, I was never encouraged to pray the Lord's Prayer. As a Catholic, I see the power in this prayer to truly transform our hearts. The mot impacting portion for me is "Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors." You can't say this prayer day after day and miss the fact that His forgiveness of us is dependent upon how we forgive others. That is further explained in verse 14.
Catechism 50-53
This section speaks of the Revelation of God to man and how it was done in stages culminating in the mission of Christ. The Old Testament isn't a bunch of failed experiments before getting it right with Jesus. It would have been easily missed had not there been so many prophecies and foreshadowing. The plan was revealed by so many and in so many times before Jesus was ever born.
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