Prayer Request
Deuteronomy 26: 4-10; Psalm 91; Romans 10: 8-13; Luke 4: 1-13
Moses reminds his people that their land flows with milk and honey, but Jesus is led by the Spirit into the wilderness. No milk and honey for him. Was he tempted all through the 40 days? He was “famished”, and then the devil began to speak to him. In his weakness of body, his spirit is still strong, so the devil “departed from him until an opportune time.”
Notice, the devil is not finished with him who is like us in all things. When else might Jesus have been tempted, and how? When you are exhausted, famished, sick, how do you respond? The psalmist cries out: “Be with us, Lord, when we are in trouble.” First, enter the wilderness with Jesus for these 40 days, baking in the sun during the day and freezing with cold in the night. Feel, see, hear and be with Jesus in an Ignatian contemplation. Then use the antiphon, “Be with us for we are in trouble” as a mantra through the day. Notice the present tense, for we the people of God around the world, are definitely in trouble.
Be with us for we are in trouble. Be with the Haitians, the Iraqis, the Palestinians, the Sudanese and Somalians. Be with the poor, the sick, the famished—and HELP!