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Lord’s Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever.

Prayer for God to Dwell with Us Today

Holy Jesus, who has promised that if we love you, you and the Father will love us and come to us and make your home with us, I give you my love without reservation. Your words are sacred and I aspire to live by them, this day and always, and I glorify you for your sacrifice of pain and death, made out of your love for us, that all who follow you might find salvation and eternal life.

Bless me this day to live with your Spirit, to resist temptation to evil, and to show your joy and love to all. Make your home with me, that I might be truly blessed, I pray,

Mason Barge /2023

For God’s Peace

Drop thy still dews of quietness till all our strivings cease,
Take from our souls the strain and stress
and let our ordered lives confess
The beauty of thy peace.

~ J. G. Whittier

Prayer for Generosity

Dearest Lord, teach me to be generous.
Teach me to serve you as you deserve –
to give and not to count the cost,
to fight and not to heed the wounds,
to toil and not to ask for rest,
to labor and not to seek reward,
except to know, my God, that I do your will.

Mason Barge /2023

~ St. Ignatius of Loyola (1540)

Meditation

“The resurrection is at the core of our beliefs as Christians. Without it, our faith is meaningless.”

~ Joseph B. Wirthlin

Blessing

May God the Father bless us; may Christ take care of us; the Holy Ghost enlighten us all the days of our life. The Lord be our defender and keeper of body and soul, both now and for ever, to the ages of ages.

by Æthelwold, Bishop of Winchester, 958 A.D.

Think of the day ahead in terms of God with you, and visualize health, strength, guidance, purity, calm confidence, and victory as the gifts of His presence.

Exodus 20:1-3 (NKJV)

The Ten Commandments - Prologue and First Commandment

nd God spoke all these words, saying:

“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before [or besides] Me.”

Notes on the Scripture

The word “covenant” is almost identical to the word “contract.” The ten laws spoken by God to the Israelites at Mount Sinai are covenantal; the term “commandments” does not fully express the nature of the relationship they imply, for God’s relationship with the Hebrews was a covenant. He does not impose commandments on the Hebrews; He has not freed them from involuntary servitude in Egypt, only to bring them into involuntary servitude under Himself. They must agree willingly, as we see in Exodus 19.

Most people skim over the first words of today’s Scripture, but they have real significance. When you write a contract, the first thing you do is identify the parties, and that is the first thing God does here: He formally recites who He is, and the “you” is unmistakable, in light of the context. There is nobody in hearing range except those Hebrews who have consented to enter into the covenant.

After identifying the parties, the second thing one must do to form a contract is to state what is called “consideration.” The crux of a covenant is that both parties must give, or promise to give, something of value. “I promise to give you $500” is not a contract and a court will not enforce it, because it is entirely one-sided. It becomes a contract only when the recipient also makes a promise, e.g. to paint the first person’s house.

And thus, the second thing God does is to mention His own side of the bargain. In exchange for the assent of the Hebrews to follow His laws, God has made promises to them. So the phrase, “who brought you out of the land of Egypt” has a specific purpose: to show that God has both the ability and the intention of keeping His promises.

God allows people to live without honoring His laws. The voluntary aspect of the ten commandments is difficult to see in Exodus 20, but becomes unmistakable as one reads through Exodus (and Genesis) as a whole. His offer to the Hebrews stands in contrast to His treatment of the Egyptians, to whom he gave unilateral orders: Let my people go, or I will kill your first-born sons.

Notice that God did not tell the Egyptians “thou shalt not steal” or “keep the Sabbath holy”, etc. Once they cease their enslavement of the Hebrews, He leaves them alone. They are allowed to live in such peace as they may find, worshipping myriad idols. Why does God tell the Hebrews they cannot commit murder, etc., but not the Egyptians? It is because He has chosen the Hebrews, because He loves them in a special way. Why them? Nobody knows. God’s reason for choosing Abram and his kin is, ultimately, not told to us.

What we do know is that mankind has lived in sin, alienated from its Creator, since the time of Adam. For whatever reason, God chose this time to start a long-term project, the reconciliation of humanity to Himself. But it is covenantal, not unilateral: if Christ is the bridegroom, we must say “I do.” If we want to have a relationship with God, we have to make an effort.

Moses and the Ten Commandments, window in the Cathedral of St. Paul, Pittsburgh, by Franz Mayer.

Daily Inspiration

“Living In Faith”

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