Most of the year gives me a chance to attend the early mass in town and get horses ridden in the evenings. Summer time changes that - especially in South Texas. Several of the horses are ridden in the morning and others are ridden in the evening. This allows RanchForeman to keep sort-of-normal business hours and still get the horses trained during the cooler parts of the day. You can't teach an over heated horse anything... not to mention getting over heated yourself.So, the daily readings keep my attention until the summer decides to rest until next year. Here are today's readings. The first one, from Judges, caught my attention. Mainly because I didn't understand anything at all. Tree kings and Lebanon cedars. What the heck!?!?
So, I shot an email over to Father Ed and am just loving his reply. Be sure to read today's first reading before you continue. The email is posted below in it's entirety so you can get the message and get to know his unique personality a little.
Hello, James.
The story about the trees is really a curse on King Abimelech (a son of Judge Gideon and one of his concubines or slave girls) by Jotham, Judge Gideon’s youngest/legitimate son. Abimelech was a power hungry bastard who disagreed with his father, Gideon, who felt that God should be the only King of Israel. So Gideon refused to be the king. Abimelech was hell-bent on becoming the king. The result is that Israel (Shechem) got a buckthorn for a King. (This meant that if people ever disobeyed King Abimelech, he would have them burned, like a buckthorn.)
You see, Abimelech had murdered many members of his own family to secure the throne. He was a tyrant and opened the city of Shechem to crime syndicates (kind of like a very early Tony Soprano!) Abimelech became a buckthorn in the people’s side!
In his third year as king, some lady dropped a millstone from a tower onto his head. Before he died, he had one of his soldiers run a spear through him so it looked like he died in battle and not at the hands of a woman. Such a deal!
Blessings!
Fr. Ed
How common is it for us to demand the newest of the new, or what's cool, trendy, or simply our favorite 'such and such'. Be careful, you just might get it. Then what... Our country is right in the middle of just such a predicament right now.
Do you ask for the ability to persevere regardless of the circumstance, or do you just ask for the perfect circumstance? Do you ask for experiences to develop wisdom, or do you just ask to be wise? We know what we want, but don't have a clue about what we need. Pray for the humility just to know that. And then the rest will start falling into place.
In the book, The Shack
(that's the little house, not the basketball player ;) ) there is a quote from God the Father that says, "You demand your independence, but then complain that I actually love you enough to give it to you."
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