“Lord, make your face shine on us and we will be saved.” Psalm 80:19
The scorching daily sun, the hot whisking, afternoon winds and weeks of cloudless skies form part of the summertime Magdala experience. This doesn’t stop us from climbing up Mt. Arbel at 5:00 am to see the strong orange and red beams that light up the morning skies and contemplate the sunrise over the Sea of Galilee. From atop the mountain we contemplate three new-days:
-Nature’s sunrise that dissipates the night, warms the cold earth, enlightens the fields and brings hope to a new beginning. How many times after a night of prayer in the mountains would our Lord contemplate this marvel of God’s love and goodness! Light was essential in Jesus’ time and its principal source was the sun.
-Secondly, it reminds us of the “sun that is born from on high” in our lives through the grace of baptism and divine life in our souls. We love contemplating Jesus standing atop Mt. Arbel looking out over the place where he would be living and preaching the Good News, allowing his face to shine down on them and offering salvation, healing and transformation. We contemplate as he looked over best online bitcoin casino Magdala and prayed over the city, over its inhabitants and surely filled with expectation before his encounter with Mary Magdalene. As he walked down the mountain, his heart filled with a night of prayer, he entered into the city and allowed his “face to shine” as he revealed God’s presence among men.
-Today we ask for the grace to have our own “sunrise” as we ask our Lord to let his face shine on our hearts and warm us from within. The heat, the sun, and the wind of life may beat down on us, but only the light of God’s face can cause an explosive transforming experience from within. From the “Magdala” of our lives we pray and shout out to our Lord up on Mt. Arbel Psalm 27, 8: “My heart says of you, “Seek his face!” Your face, Lord, I will seek.”
Have a wonderful summer, and as the Magdala staff walks daily through the sun-drenched streets of Magdala, we pray that his face shine down upon all of you.
