True progress is not found in breaking away from the old ways, but in abiding in the teaching of Christ and His Spirit in the Church. There is an apparent contradiction here, for how can we abide, and yet advance? It is a paradox, like much else in scripture; but Christian experience proves it true. Those make the best progress in religion who hold fast by the faith once for all delivered to the saints, and not those who drift away from their moorings, rudderless upon a sea of doubt.
- Henry Barclay Swete (1835-1917), The Life of the World to Come

(What is the "rudder" in your life? How are you being "steered" these days?)

JOS 24:1-13;    PS 136:1-3, 16-18, 21-22, 24;    MT 19:3-12

R. His mercy endures forever.

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good,
for his mercy endures forever;
Give thanks to the God of gods,
for his mercy endures forever;
Give thanks to the LORD of lords,
for his mercy endures forever.

Who led his people through the wilderness,
for his mercy endures forever;
Who smote great kings,
for his mercy endures forever;
And slew powerful kings,
for his mercy endures forever.

And made their land a heritage,
for his mercy endures forever;
The heritage of Israel his servant,
for his mercy endures forever;
And freed us from our foes,
for his mercy endures forever.





The reading and the gospel for today are about commitments. The former is about God's commitment to the Israelites from the time of Abraham's father, Terah, to the time of Joshua. Despite their many transgressions, God saved them from innumerable armies and rulers who were determined to conquer and enslave the Jewish people. They were God's chosen people and His commitment and mercy endures forever.

The gospel reading from Matthew is the story of the Pharisees' attempt to trap Jesus by asking if a man can divorce his wife. Jesus defends the commitment of marriage as originally intended and explains that divorce was allowed in the time of Moses only because of the "hardness of the hearts" of the Jewish people at the time. Jesus is very straightforward in his expectation that marriage is a permanent commitment. . . 

As God told the Israelites, "...it was not your sword or your bow. I gave you a land that you had not tilled and cities that you had not built, to dwell in; you have eaten of vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant." For any of us who have been married for a long time, it is totally evident that we have not accomplished that long-term commitment on our own. At times, it is only with awareness of and reliance on God's presence to provide what we do not deserve that we are able to meet the commitment to each other.

- by Susan Tinley

Selected Quotes from St. John of the Cross on the Journey of the Soul to God by Contemplation

- from Dark Night of the Soul

Bk 1, Ch 10 #1.  Spiritual persons suffer great trials from the fear of being lost on the road and that God has abandoned them. Their soul was taking pleasure in being in that quietness and ease, instead of working with its faculties. 

#3. Let them trust in God... who will bring them into the clear and pure light of love. This last He will give them by means of that other dark night. 

#4. The way to conduct themselves is to allow the soul to remain in peace and quietness, although it may seem clear to them that they are doing nothing and are wasting their time. What they must do is merely to leave the soul free and disencumbered and at rest from all knowledge and thought, but contenting themselves with merely a peaceful and loving attentiveness toward God, and in being without anxiety, ability and desire to have experience of Him or to perceive Him.

- compiled by James and Tyra Arraj