“Sing a new song to the Lord, his praise in the assembly of the faithful… Let them praise his name with dancing and make music with timbrel and harp. For the Lord takes delight in his people.  He crowns the poor with salvation.  Let the faithful rejoice in their glory, shout for joy and take their rest.  Let the praise of God be on their lips and a two-edged sword in their hand…Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit…”

The two-edged sword is the Word of God who is Jesus.  Jesus confounds, in the end, His adversaries who do not know better because they do not want to know.  They are too befuddled by the temptations of power and pride to be able to have a clear vision of the Lord and His Will.  But in rejoicing in God our Saviour (which is what the name Jesus means), in the relationship He offers us, and in the Salvation he freely gave us on the Cross out of love, we ourselves count in the Body of the Lord, the one that overcomes in the name of the Lord.  We are reminded of the way the trumpet blast and praise of God brought down the mighty citadel walls of Jericho, without any other device, weapon or military action.  St Ephrem reminds us: “Prayer makes peace with the Lord's anger and with the vehemence of his wrath.  In this way too, tears that well up in the eyes can open the door of compassion….. Prayer gave manna to the people and by the same prayer the just are nourished…” Let us not be afraid to praise God before seeing His mighty works in any particular situation, because in so doing, we step into eternal Trust.  We are called to Trust the Lord, so we can praise Him because we know He loves us more than we love ourselves, and He sees everything from close up and from afar. 

Holy God, you who came to earth to show us your face in a way that we would understand, you who took on suffering to make real to us the pain that we inflict on you in turning away from you, have mercy on us and rescue us from our pride, our selfishness and our small vision.  In the words of St Ephrem, “Open up the treasury door for us, Lord, at the prayers of our supplications; let our prayers serve as our ambassador, reconciling us with Your Divinity.” Lord, show us through a relationship with you, that you really do care for us and that you trust us.  Lord, give us the victory particularly in answer to prayer, when we ask you to save another, or to heal another.  You are the One who Saves, not us.  Please save us and save our friends from the tragedy of sin, pain, death and not knowing you; not knowing Love.  We thank you for all your care of us, we praise you for your immense love and your powerful works in us and in the world.  Praise be to you, Lord Jesus our Christ!