PRAYER PAUSE
Friday 22 December 2017
HIS
MERCY REACHES FROM AGE TO AGE
Enter
into the stillness of God within.
Reading: “Holy is his name, and his
mercy reaches from age to age for those who fear him.” (Luke 1:46-56)
Reflection. Hesed is the Hebrew word meaning ‘loyal love’. It expresses the
tender enduring relationship God has for his people Israel and by extension for
all his people. It is also translated as ‘mercy’, ‘compassion’ and so forth. Here
it is on the lips of Mary as she ponders the astonishing intervention of God in
her life. She is to bear a son who will be Son of God and son of David. Her joy
breaks out in this song the church sings every day: Magnificat, ‘my soul glorifies the Lord.’ It echoes, almost word
for word, the song of Hannah, the mother of Samuel, at the boy’s birth when she
had been barren for so long (1 Sam 1:24-28). And the word applies today to God’s
enduring love for us in all our turmoil. In its technical meaning it applies to
treaty obligations: God has hesed for
us, And on our part we are to have hesed
for God.
Prayer. Lord, may we open our
hearts to receive your hesed. Have hesed too, on your people in Yemen and other
places where people are dying and suffering so much. Amen.
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