Monday Readings

MONDAY
Acts 7:44-50
“Our ancestors had the tent of testimony in the desert just as the One who spoke to Moses directed him to make it according to the pattern he had seen. Our ancestors who inherited it brought it with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out from before our ancestors, up to the time of David, who found favor in the sight of God and asked that he might find a dwelling place for the house of Jacob. But Solomon built a house for him. Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands. As the prophet says: ‘The heavens are my throne, the earth is my footstool. What kind of house can you build for me? says the Lord, or what is to be my resting place? Did not my hand make all these things?’

Matthew 18:1-5
At that time the disciples approached Jesus and said, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” He called a child over, placed it in their midst, and said, “Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me.

God gave Moses a heavenly pattern for the Tabernacle. Likewise, God gave us a heavenly pattern for our lives. We, who are temples of the Holy Spirit should be humble and childlike as Jesus was humble and childlike. One way to be childlike is to make something beautiful for God, as a child makes something beautiful for his or her parents. These things are beautiful not because we are great, but because we are loved.

Lord, have mercy on us and save us.
O Lord,
guard our thoughts from the errors of this troubled world
and awaken spiritual life within us,
through meditation on your life-giving commandments.
Thus, with enlightened thoughts, the reflections of your grace, our hearts will be purified of vain endeavors,
and we shall glorify you in the holy temple of your majesty,
now and forever.
Amen.