Turn to the Lord

Readings for Tuesday July 14, 2009

Memorial of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, virgin

First Reading: Exodus 2:1-15
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 69
Gospel: Matthew 11:2-24


Pharaoh, too, heard of the affair and sought to put Moses to death. But Moses fled from him and stayed in the land of Midian. (Exodus 2:15)

In today's first reading we hear of Moses and how after slaying the Egyptian, became fearful of all those who knew. Moses, when confronted with such an accusation, did what most of us would do; he ran. Most of us are not good with conflict and in difficult times, the easiest thing to do is to just run away from your problems. But as that may seem like the easy situation at the time, our undealt with problems always seem to have a way of creeping back into our lives.

A wise decision to make when faced with conflict would be to heed the words of the psalmist, "Turn to the Lord in your time of need, and you will live." When faced with conflict or any sort of difficulties we must take them to the Lord, it is by doing this that we will be able to draw closer to Him and to truly find our life. In taking our problems to God, we will also gain greater clarity and direction on our issues. So many times we take our problems and issues to everyone else but God. We seem more than happy to take our problems to family, friends, neighbors, strangers off the street, various talk show hosts, reality TV, etc. While we will turn to everyone in the world, we seem to fail to realize that it is the creator of heaven and of earth that is really going to help us figure things out.

Like Moses, we can try to run away if we wish, but eventually we will find that there is nothing else that can save us except by turning to Him who waits for us; patiently waiting to give us the great gift of life.

Father above, we thank you and praise you for the gift of this day. Lord, we praise you and thank you for all that we have and all that we are. Lord, help us to always turn to you in our time of need and surrender to you. Lord, help us also to always give you thanks at all times and for all that you bless us with. Lord Jesus, we praise you for your saving grace and for your great love and mercy for us. Help us to follow you no matter how big a cross we must carry and no matter where you lead us. We ask this all through Christ our Lord. Amen.