We Are The Parched Desert

My friends, I am inspired today! The Holy Spirit has been working overtime in the past twenty-four hours to reveal an essential principle to me. It certainly is amazing that revelation can happen even though we are ignorant or unexpecting.

The following Scripture passage comes from yesterdays first Mass reading:

The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom…it shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice with joy annd singing. … The eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing for joy. For waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water…. And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. (Isaiah 35:1-10)

To what is this connected? As I read a book on prayer last evening, the author remarked that personal prayer is analogous to water that brings life to the dry, parched desert; that we need prayer to make us fruitful. Moreover, as I studied the eleventh chapter of Matthew’s Gospel, I saw how Jesus fulfilled the prophecy quoted above.

It is simple! When Jesus comes to us, physically in the Eucharist and spiritually in prayer, our lives are made fruitful. When we receive the Lord, the parched deserts that are our lives gradually cease to be arid. When we become less arid and are able to bear much fruit, we can become builders of the Kingdom of Heaven, the City of God on Earth.

God Bless.

Isaiah 35:1-10
View in: NAB NIV KJV NJB Vulg LXX Hebrew

1The land that was desolate and impassable shall be glad, and the wilderness shall rejoice, and shall flourish like the lily.

2It shall bud forth and blossom, and shall rejoice with joy and praise: the glory of Libanus is given to it: the beauty of Carmel, and Saron, they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the beauty of our God.

3Strengthen ye the feeble hands, and confirm the weak knees.

4Say to the fainthearted: Take courage, and fear not: behold your God will bring the revenge of recompense: God himself will come and will save you.

5Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.

6Then shall the lame man leap as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb shall be free: for waters are broken out in the desert, and streams in the wilderness.

7And that which was dry land, shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water. In the dens where dragons dwell before, shall rise up the verdure of the reed and the bulrush.

8And a path and a way shall be there, and it shall be called the holy way: the unclean shall not pass over it, and this shall be unto you a straight way, so that fools shall not err therein.

9No lion shall be there, nor shall any mischievous beast go up by it, nor be found there: but they shall walk there that shall be delivered.

10And the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and shall come into Sion with praise, and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and mourning shall flee away.

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