Memorial of Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, Virgin

 Lectionary: 390

Take care you remain tranquil and do not fear;
let not your courage fail
before these two stumps of smoldering brands....
Thus says the LORD:
This shall not stand, it shall not be!
Damascus is the capital of Aram,
and Rezin is the head of Damascus;
Samaria is the capital of Ephraim,
and Remaliah’s son the head of Samaria.

The Lord God demanded of Job, "Where were you when I said to the sea, 'Thus far shall you come but no farther, and here shall your proud waves stop?'"

He gives a similar reassurance to Ahaz with the passage in today's first reading: "This shall not stand, it shall not be!" The Lord sets the boundaries of the nations, as we read in Deuteronomy: 

When the Most High allotted each nation its heritage,

when he separated out human beings,

He set up the boundaries of the peoples

after the number of the divine beings;

But the LORD’s portion was his people;

his allotted share was Jacob.

He had also appointed certain cities as their capitals -- Damascus in Aram and Samaria in Ephraim, with their respective kings, Rezin and Remaliah’s son  -- as we hear in today's reading. He would not ignore the arrogance of their kings who sieged Jerusalem in an effort to force Judah into an alliance. Nor had he promised to protect them Aram and Samaria, as He had with Jerusalem and its kings, the heirs of King David. 

If that holy city were to be destroyed, it would be in God's time, and for His purposes, and not by "these two stumps of smoldering brands, the blazing anger of Rezin and the Arameans, and of the son Remaliah...."

We have seen in our time a continual shifting of alliances and boundaries, along with the emergence of some nations and the disappearance of others. Closer to home we have seen the boundaries of sacred relationships flouted by divorce, serial polygamy, marketing of artificial insemination, single motherhood, and surrogate motherhood. More disturbing is the ruthless exploitation of children by homosexual ideology and transgenderism. 

It's frankly alarming, so it's good to hear God speak through the prophet Isaiah:

Take care you remain tranquil and do not fear;

let not your courage fail....

The God who sets boundaries can reestablish them in His time, and he can allow these rampant, careless violations to continue as a rebuke to those who began that practice and taught others to do so. 

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You traverse sea and land to make one convert, and when that happens you make him a child of Gehenna twice as much as yourselves. Mt 23:15

Saint Paul faced a similar dilemma, but perhaps worse, as pharisaic Christians reconverted his disciples back to their false beliefs. 

Take care you remain tranquil and do not fear;

let not your courage fail....

The Word of God reminds me, speaking for myself, that I should remove all my concerns from my heart, and be content that His plan is being worked out; and it will work out better than anything I can ask for or imagine. Yes, I have my own concerns -- people I care about and causes that I believe in and apparent threats to me and those I love -- but in surrender I trust that all will be well, and all will be well, and all manner of things will be well.