[One-Verse Meditation]

Joshua 24:2 “And Joshua said to all the people, ‘Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, “Long ago, your fathers lived beyond the Euphrates, Terah, the father of Abraham and of Nahor; and they served other gods.”’”

[Meditation]

Joshua, facing his own end, turns the Israelites’ gaze toward their very beginning, their roots. The beginning he makes them see was not one of glory. It was the shocking confession, “Your fathers lived beyond the Euphrates and served other gods.” Thus, the family of Abraham, the father of faith, were people who made and sold idols, their lives intertwined with them.

However, regardless of their state, God came to them first. He took hold of the hands that made idols and led them out; He taught His own name to the lips that called on other gods. This is ‘Israel.’ People who can only be explained by ‘the grace that covered the unworthy.’

That Israel is the Church. A saint is one who knows their own state and, at the same time, knows the state of the One who called them. These two kinds of knowing—of ourselves and of God—are what make us sing. Although we may falter after a few steps, glance at other gods, and complain and resent our reality, in the end, we return to the place of ‘that first grace that covered us.’ And we look to heaven again and sing praises.

This was the history of Israel, and this is the today of the Church.

[Prayer]

Lord, I sing to You, who came to me, the unworthy one, placed Your name on my lips, and let me live in You. Let this be a new day of fully enjoying that life. Amen.
__________________

[Daily Reading]

Joshua 23:14-24:8