Our Rescued Soul: Psalm 124

In today’s Mass (December 28), the responsorial came from Psalm 124 with the refrain: “Our soul has been rescued like a bird from the fowler’s snare.” This short psalm ends with this sentence: “Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth” (Psalm 124: 8).

The one snare that really matters in life is the snare of sin. On our own, we have no hope, and there is no escape from its insidious grip. With God, we have hope. During this Christmas season we celebrate and remember that God became one of us, and He did so to set us free from sin and unite us to Himself to have abundant life. When we give ourselves fully to Jesus and open wide our heart, He pours His life into us to make us more like Himself.

Jesus’ message isn’t just about salvation. Of course, nothing really matters without salvation, but God wants so much more than merely to save us. He makes us a new creation, fills us with His life, and makes us partakers of the divine nature as Saint Peter said: “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, that through these you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of passion, and become partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:3-4).

God doesn’t just save us from the power of the evil one, He saves us to make us His spouse. We leave the evil one, the false, hateful spouse to be united to the one true Spouse of our soul. Jesus doesn’t want His bride to be stained and corrupted with sin, He wants His bride to be pure and holy and madly in love with Him. God certainly wants to set us free from our bondage, and He wants even more to set us truly free; true freedom is doing what we were made to do. We are made to be God’s house, His temple, and His bride, and we will only be fulfilled and at peace when our help is in Him and He reigns in our hearts.

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
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