The Feast of Our Lady, Queen | Monday 22 August 2022

Today is Monday the 22nd August, the feast of Our Lady, Queen.


Salt of the Sound sings, ‘It Is Well With My Soul’.


Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say
It is well, it is well with my soul
My sin - oh, the bliss of this glorious thought
My sin, not in part but the whole
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
It is well with my soul
It is well, it is well with my soul
It is well with my soul (with my soul)
It is well, it is well with my soul

Today’s reading is from the Letter to the Thessalonians.

2 Thessalonians 1:1-5, 11b-12


Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy,

To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

We must always give thanks to God for you, brothers and sisters, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing. Therefore we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith during all your persecutions and the afflictions that you are enduring.

This is evidence of the righteous judgement of God, and is intended to make you worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering. To this end we always pray for you, asking that our God will make you worthy of his call and will fulfil by his power every good resolve and work of faith, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

The writers of this letter begin by wishing those who hear it “grace and peace”. Allow yourself to be included in this greeting. What would it mean to you to experience God’s grace and peace more deeply just now?

They then give thanks for the growing faith and love of the recipients of the letter. Where do you experience growth in your own faith and love at this point in your life?

Next, they ask God to make you worthy of his call. Notice that this is God’s work more than it is yours. Can you identify ways in which God has been making you increasingly worthy of his call recently?

Take note, as the passage is read again, of what the Thessalonians are like, in the experience of Paul, Silvanus and Timothy.

In these final moments of prayer, return to that desire for “grace and peace”. Speak to Jesus about how you would like those gifts to be more present in your own life.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.