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One Bread, One Body - Reflection for July 18, 2014

HOUSE WORK

"Thus says the Lord: Put your house in order." –Isaiah 38:1

When King Hezekiah was terminally ill, Isaiah prophesied to him: "Put your house in order, for you are about to die; you shall not recover" (Is 38:1). Hezekiah ignored the first part of this message and prayed for the Lord to spare his life (Is 38:2). The Lord gave him fifteen more years to live (Is 38:5), but Hezekiah still didn't put his house in order.

Hezekiah used his fifteen extra years to do two terrible things. He carelessly and selfishly let messengers from Babylon obtain important information that eventually resulted in the conquest of the chosen people by the Babylonians (Is 39:2, 5-8). Then Hezekiah fathered a son, Manasseh, three years into his extra fifteen years. However, Hezekiah failed to raise his son in godliness. Manasseh reversed the good work of his father (2 Kgs 21:3). "He immolated his son by fire. He practiced soothsaying and divination, and reintroduced the consulting of ghosts and spirits. He did much evil in the Lord's sight" (2 Kgs 21:6), "shedding so much innocent blood as to fill the length and breadth of Jerusalem" (2 Kgs 21:16). Although Manasseh eventually converted to the Lord (2 Chr 33:13), his reign was a catastrophe. This wasn't all Hezekiah's fault, but surely doesn't indicate that Hezekiah ever put his house in order.

Put your house in order, or you may set the stage for the destruction of yourself, your family, and your nation.

PRAYER: Father, by Your grace, may I put in order my house, relationships, work, finances, entertainment, sexuality, and conversation.
PROMISE: "The Son of Man is indeed Lord of the sabbath." –Mt 12:8
PRAISE: St. Camillus was addicted to gambling until Jesus set him free of his addiction and led him to conversion and faith at the age of twenty-five.

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Acknowledgement

Reprinted with permission from Presentation Ministries, a lay association of the Catholic Church that focuses on evangelization and discipleship through Bible teaching, daily Mass, the charisms of the Holy Spirit, and Small Christian Community. Their ministries include:

· One Bread, One Body
· Daily Bread Radio Program
· Annual Bible Institute
· Discipleship Retreats
· Guadalupe Bible College