Praise and glory to you, our loving God and Father for another week that had passed, we are halfway through July, and most of all, thank you for all the wonderful gifts and blessings you have given us without us even asking you these.
Truly, that is how much you love us which we fail to recognize, of how you lavish us with blessings we never asked for but so necessary, so important. Teach us to be like you, God: to be more loving than precise in keeping tabs with our obligations; Teach us to be like King Hezekiah in the first reading: he never asked to be healed of his sickness nor be given another chance to live when told he would die; he simply reminded you of how good and kind he had been all his life, of "how faithfully and wholeheartedly" he conducted himself in serving you that you.
Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah: “Go, tell Hezekiah: Thus says the Lord, the God of your Father David: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears. I will heal you; in three days you shall go up to the Lord’s temple; I will add fifteen years to your life.”
Isaiah 38:4-5
Forgive us, Father, when we get to focused with the letters of your laws like the Pharisees that we forget its aim which is for us to love you more through the people we meet, the people who come to us asking for help.
May we love more than obey your laws; May we put more love in our obedience to you and your laws, Father; Like St. Bonaventure, may we seek answers to our many questions in God's grace, not in doctrine; in the longing of the will, not in the understanding; in the sighs of prayer, not in research; and look not to the light but rather to the raging fire that carries the soul to God with intense fervor and glowing love. Amen.
