April 1

Readings for the Day: DN 3:14-20, 91-92, 95, DN 3:52-56, JN 8:31-42

In today’s first reading, three men defied a king.

This king threatened to burn them to death if they wouldn’t worship a golden statue. They responded by saying whether or not their true God would choose to save them, they would never bow before the false god. The king “became livid with utter rage” and demanded the furnace be heated seven times hotter than normal before the three men were to be tossed in.

Sometime later, the king peeked into the furnace and immediately checked with his people to ensure three bound men had been thrown in. He checked because what he saw amid the flames were four men, unbound and unharmed. And the fourth man looked “like a son of God.”

(If you need a time-filler, Johnny Cash wrote a dated song about it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewY9U_FVPeM)

There is a great lesson here. We need to be willing to follow the Lord—wherever he leads. We might be protected from all harm. (Some saints have been protected from illness or harm.) We might not be. (Many saints have died from horrible disease or martyrdom.)

My father’s life of devout Catholicism didn’t disqualify him from diabetes complications that would kill him only after years of suffering. He understood his reward wasn’t in this life. So did the three men in today’s first reading.

“If our God, whom we serve, can save us from the white-hot furnace and from your hands, O king, may he save us! But even if he will not, know, O king, that we will not serve your god or worship the golden statue that you set up.”

David is the Director of Faith Formation at Our Lady of Joy.

If you have comments or questions, send your emails to dlins@oloj.org.

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