“Therefore, let us be on our guard while the promise of entering into his rest remains, that none of you seem to have failed...” (Hebrews 4:1.)
Saint Ephrem the Syrian offers the following insight on this verse from today’s First Reading:
“In fact, if Joshua, the son of Nun, who allowed them to inherit the land, had settled them and given them rest, they still would not speak at all about the “other day of rest.” Indeed, Joshua made them rest, because he gave them the land as an inheritance, but they did not rest in it perfectly, as God perfectly rested from God’s works, for they lived in toils and wars. If that rest was not a true rest, since Joshua himself, the giver of their rest, was urged by the wars, if this is their condition, I say, there still remains the sabbath of God, who gives rest to those who enter there, as God rested from God’s works, that is, from all the works which God made.” (Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews, 4.)
God's rest cannot simply mean the land of Canaan. God's rest is not a place but a state of which the account of creation speaks. The promise to enter into God's rest is a promise to have a share with God in that blessed state, that peace, that joy. Thanks to their faith, believer have a foretaste of it.” (Cardinal Albert Vanhoye, The Letter to the Hebrews: A New Commentary. Paulist Press 978-0809149285, pages 92-93.)
God's rest cannot simply mean the land of Canaan. God's rest is not a place but a state of which the account of creation speaks. The promise to enter into God's rest is a promise to have a share with God in that blessed state, that peace, that joy. Thanks to their faith, believer have a foretaste of it.” (Cardinal Albert Vanhoye, The Letter to the Hebrews: A New Commentary. Paulist Press 978-0809149285, pages 92-93.)
Collect
Attend to the pleas of Your people
with heavenly care, O Lord,
we pray, that they may see
what must be done and
gain strength to do
what they have seen.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
with heavenly care, O Lord,
we pray, that they may see
what must be done and
gain strength to do
what they have seen.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Glory to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen
