No one can really claim ignorance of wrong doing or sin. For His laws are written on our hearts and if we love Him and are striving to follow after Him; our conscience will sound alarms. Even the Holy Spirit will highlight to us areas in our lives in need of purification. Even if our conscience is already dulled through sin, He will send us prophets to remind us. We should do well to listen!
For Jesus, Lord of the sky and sea, of all that is living; through the great love and mercy of God our Heavenly Father wills that we should not perish by our sins. That by repenting and believing in His Son, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ we shall have salvation through Him.
No storms of life! No turbulent times! Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen (RM 8:35, 37-39)
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First reading
Amos 3:1-8,4:11-12
It is for all your sins that I mean to punish you
Listen, sons of Israel, to this oracle the Lord speaks against you, against the whole family I brought out of the land of Egypt:
You alone, of all the families of earth, have I acknowledged,
therefore it is for all your sins that I mean to punish you.
Do two men take the road together if they have not planned to do so?
Does the lion roar in the jungle
if no prey has been found?
Does the young lion growl in his lair if he has captured nothing?
Does the bird fall to the ground
if no trap has been set?
Does the snare spring up from the ground if nothing has been caught?
Does the trumpet sound in the city without the populace becoming alarmed?
Does misfortune come to a city
if the Lord has not sent it?
No more does the Lord do anything without revealing his plans to his servants the prophets.
The lion roars: who can help feeling afraid?
The Lord speaks: who can refuse to prophesy?
I overthrew you as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were like a brand snatched from the blaze; and yet you never came back to me.
It is the Lord who speaks.
This therefore, Israel, is what I plan to do to you, and because I am going to do this to you, Israel, prepare to meet your God!
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Gospel
Matthew 8:23-27
Jesus rebuked the winds and the seas, and all was calm
Jesus got into the boat followed by his disciples. Without warning a storm broke over the lake, so violent that the waves were breaking right over the boat. But he was asleep. So they went to him and woke him saying, ‘Save us, Lord, we are going down!’ And he said to them, ‘Why are you so frightened, you men of little faith?’ And with that he stood up and rebuked the winds and the sea; and all was calm again. The men were astounded and said, ‘Whatever kind of man is this? Even the winds and the sea obey him.’
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