Nov 14 Tue
Reflections on Psalm 2 (6) TUESDAY
The fact of being children of God should fill us with a sense of apostolic responsibility.
He who sits in the heavens laughs;
the Lord holds them in derision.
Then he will speak to them in his wrath,
and terrify them in his fury.
“How righteous is God's anger, how just his ire, and how great his clemency!”
I have set my king
on Sion, my holy mountain,
I will tell of the decree of the Lord.
The Lord said to me, “You are my son,
today I have begotten you”.
“The kindness of God our Father has given us his Son for a king. When he threatens, he becomes tender; when he says he is angry, he gives us his love. ‘You are my son’: this is addressed to Christ – and to you and me, if we decide to become another Christ, Christ himself.”
“Words cannot go so far as the heart, which is moved by God's goodness. He says to us: ‘You are my son.’ Not a stranger, not a well-treated servant, not a friend – that would be a lot already. A son! He gives us free access to treat him as sons, with a son's piety and I would even say with the boldness and daring of a son whose Father cannot deny him anything.”
True, many people are bent on injustice. But the Lord insists:
Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,
and the ends of the earth your possession.
You shall break them with a rod of iron,
and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.
“That is a strong promise, and it's God who makes it. We cannot tone it down. Not for nothing is Christ the redeemer of the world; he rules as sovereign, at the right hand of the Father. It is a terrifying announcement of what awaits each man when life is over – for over it will be. When history comes to an end, it will be the lot of all those whose hearts have been hardened by evil and despair.”
But God, although he can conquer, prefers to convince people:
Now therefore, O kings, be wise;
be warned, O rulers of the earth.
Serve the Lord with fear,
with trembling kiss his feet,
lest he be angry, and you perish in the way;
for his wrath is quickly kindled....
“This deed is the working of salvation, the kingdom of Christ in souls, the manifestation of the mercy of God.”
Blessed are they who take refuge in him.
“We Christians have the right to proclaim the royalty of Christ. Although injustice abounds, although many do not desire the kingdom of love, the work of salvation is taking place in the same human history that harbors evil.”
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