Friday of the 10th Week in Course 2025
I suspect that I’m not the only one here today who has ever felt trapped in a deep well, a hole that has no way out. Perhaps your whole family has been in such a trap, and you have gotten to the limit of your power to get them out. Like the psalmist, you are looking way up at the sky but maybe only seeing dark clouds. You pray to God: “have pity on me and answer me; hide not your face from me. Please get us out of this danger.”
Elijah had a tremendous victory over the false prophets of Baal and Astarte on Mount Carmel. God, the true God, Adonai, had heard his prayer and sent fire down on the mountain to consume and accept his sacrificial offering. But quick as a fox, the foreign queen Jezebel, hearing of her very own prophets and priests being slaughtered by Elijah, set the whole kingdom of Israel to hunting him down. He had fled to the desert and come to the mountain called Sinai, where the original covenant between Moses and God and Israel had been sealed with the Ten Commandments. You just heard his complaint, once he realized that God was not in wind, fire and earthquake, but in a voice like a tiny breeze. He thinks he is the only true prophet remaining.
But the Word of God is itself like a fire burning in his heart, and he is tasked with changing the leadership of Israel, of Israel’s great enemy, Syria, and his own prophetic leadership. He listens and obeys at once. So we should also do, even if we are feeling down in a deep hole with no escape. God will not abandon us who have covenanted ourselves with Him.
Look at today’s Gospel, and maybe even memorize it, whether you are single or married, male or female. In the Garden of Eden, our first parents messed up grievously. They heard the voice of God telling them what to do to care for this earth, and what not to do, and then they listened not to the loving voice of God, but the envious voice of the Horrible Serpent, Satan, our adversary. Result, catastrophe. Our emotions got out of our mind’s control, and our minds were clouded with feelings of lust and anger and jealousy and need to control others. We must implore God for the grace to get our passions under control, and He will always answer “yes” to that prayer.
If you find yourself looking for inappropriate pictures or stories on the Internet, call on God and His angels to protect you and hit Windows-X and type US. That takes down the screen and puts the computer, and maybe your brain, into a rest mode. Then read a favorite scripture, maybe today’s readings, and pray for God’s assistance. Have faith that you will leave the encounter stronger to resist next time the temptation arises. God is faithful. Be at peace in your heart with the vocation God has called you to embrace. And hug your spouse and children, frequently.
