?When you lie in silence on your beds Offer the right sacrifices to the Lord And put your trust in Him? Psalm 4.4 Psalm 4 is a good evening prayer . God works in us when we lie down and rest. When we are awake and lie down in silence, thinking about many painful or creative things, God is with us. God is inviting us to think properly and to offer a Spiritual sacrifice. Often times when we are silent our minds wander and it may not be always the pleasant things that come to us. It is possible that even non spiritual things work in us. The psalmist is inviting us to offer sacrifices to the Lord and to put our trust in our dear God when we are in bed. Offering sacrifices is a very simple and intimate thing in our lives. We might be able to offer sacrifices to our God. A very intimate sacrifice is done in the Altar of our hearts. Our homes and our beds are Holy dwellings of our God. God lives in our body and mind. We are the temples of the Holy Spirit. Whether we are awake or asleep we are in the Holy Presence of our God. I think this attitude and awareness enables us to function differently from what we might have been doing till today Ruby?s life I have heard from Ruby (real name is withheld) encouraging news. Ruby is unmarried and a single mother. The father of the child visits with her and the son. Ruby was touched at the downing of the World trade Center. She is afraid for her life. She is frightened about the loss of her soul. She is reminded of the Bible message ? even if you gain the whole world and if you lose your soul what gain you have? The other day the father of her child ,James ( real name is withheld) came to visit with her and the child. They had a long chat in their bed. As he forced her to sin with him she turned around and asked him. ? Are you not afraid. If you die in sin where will you go? I am not willing to go to hell when I die.? Ruby was touched when the World Trade Center was downed under terrorists attack. Ruby was able to convince him that their bed is a sacred place. She read the psalm 4. And she trembled literally as she read the verse 4. ? Tremble and sin not; reflect upon your beds? and exactly that is what Ruby was able to do. She felt God touching her through this event of the disastrous event in New York God touched Ruby her son and her life style. She is tired of sins in her life. Sins multiplied and their bed became sinful place. But God touched the same bed to make them turn around in the name of the Lord. Repentance is in her heart. She is resolved not to sin. She was able to convince James to return to the Lord. He is also coming to see me. I think such miracles are because of prayers and intercessions. God uses His whips to chastise the people. People get tired of sinful lives and they turn away from their sins and return to the Lord. An Ash Wednesday prayer Every year as I put ashes on people?s forehead on Ash Wednesday, I am reminded of the prayer ? Turn away from sin and return to the Lord?. I think Ruby is returning to the Lord. Ruby is trusting n God and returning to God. She knows that her bed is a Holy dwelling place of her God. Ruby is worried about her son. She wants to set an example for her son. Many of you as you read this live story might be up in arms to blame this woman and this man who fathered a child but I am inviting you to slow down. Jesus asked the crowd of sinners to slow down. When an adulterous woman was caught in the act of committing sin, what they did was to lead her out of the city and to stone her so she might die because that is the prescription in the Mosaic Law. Jesus intervened and said ? If you are clean you be the first one to cast the stone at her? and no one stoned her. Jesus invites us I think Jesus invited them to look into their lives. The God in Jesus touched their souls and made them aware of their illness, their sinfulness. They turned away from committing a murder. Jesus saved them from killing a person in His presence. God doesn?t want any of us to judge anyone and to sin in His presence. We are instructed in catholic ways but at times or often we are too catholic. We condemn people and we make the lives of other people miserable. Very often we talk about negativity. We are buried in the concept of sin and shame and try to correct people and that makes the others stubborn and sin again in their stubbornness. You and me, we need people to change. We like to see people change. We are upset if someone sins. But when we sin we are least bothered. Of course we are bothered but we don?t want anyone to challenge and to judge us. Now returning to Ruby I would say she is conscious of her life style. She is changing. She wants to change but she cannot change alone. She wants her man also to change so that there would be peace in life. She could go away and marry another person and that is not possible in this juncture. But God touched this man James and he is changing his life style also. He is trusting in God. ? Trust in God ? Psalm 4.4 . James is reflecting about the sinfulness in bed and he now thinks that there must be a change in life style. He is also conscious of his bed. Ruby was able to convince him that their bed is a sacred place and that is the place where they have to reflect about their sins and to offer sacrifices every evening. They are changing their life styles now. Praise God. I would say another impact of the world trade center in the life of Ruby. >From every negativity God uses his winnowing fan to separate the chaff from the grains. Ruby is wondering why such a thing had happened in her life. Her parents are good Catholics and she herself is educated in catholic school and she went to church every Sunday. James too went to church regularly and they were faithful to the teaching of the Church but they couldn?t resist the temptation and fear amounted in their lives. Today God abounds in their lives. God used this event, the downing of the World Trade center to make them return to the Lord. Please keep Ruby and James in your prayers. Fr.Thomas Mathew California Sept 20/2001 _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp ********************************************************************** This mail is generated from JOYnet, a Jesus Youth mailing list. To unsubscribe, send a mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For automatic help, send a mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] In case of any issue related to the mailing list contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] To know more about Jesus Youth, visit http://www.jesusyouth.org **********************************************************************
