On the example of Patriarch Noah,
let us bring everyone onto the Ark
that leads to Salvation
November 18th
(Draft)
Dear brothers, today is the feast of Patriarch Noah, the great Patriarch who is remembered in the Book of Genesis and who obeyed God’s commands in order to build the Ark and thus be able to help the Father to give a new course to humanity that had become corrupt.
The Book of Genesis describes the life of Noah, in particular the time when the Father commands Noah to build His Ark because humankind had become corrupt.
In chapter 6, from verse 5 onwards, is written: “The Lord saw how great the wickedness of human beings was on earth, and how every desire that their heart conceived was always nothing but evil. And the Lord regretted having made human beings on the earth, and His Heart was grieved. So the Lord said: «I will wipe out from the earth the human beings I have created, and not only the human beings, but also the animals and the crawling things and the birds of the air, for I regret that I made them». But Noah found favour with the Lord. This is the story of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, an upright man among his contemporaries, and he walked with God. Noah fathered three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. God saw that the earth was corrupt and full of lawlessness.
God saw how corrupt the earth had become, since all mortals had corrupted their ways on earth. So God said to Noah: «I have decided that the end has come for all living things, for the earth is full of lawlessness because of human beings. So I am now about to destroy them and the earth. Make yourself an ark of cypress wood, equip the ark with various compartments, and cover it inside and out with pitch. This is how you shall build it: the length of the ark will be three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. Make a roof to the ark, building it up to a cubit higher. Put the entrance in the side of the ark, which is to be made with lower, second and third decks. For my part I am going to send the flood, the waters, on earth, to destroy all living things having the breath of life under heaven; everything on earth shall perish. But with you I shall establish my covenant and you will go aboard the ark, yourself, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives along with you. From all living creatures, from all living things, you must take two of each kind aboard the ark, to save their lives with yours; they must be a male and a female. Of every species of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that creeps along the ground, two must go with you so that their lives may be saved. For your part, provide yourself with eatables of all kinds, and lay in a store of them, to serve as food for yourself and them». Noah did this; exactly as God commanded him, he did.
Today, we meditate on the obedience and faithfulness of Noah, of this man who wanted to remain faithful to the Lord and carried out everything He commanded him, confident that the Father would never abandon him. On the example of this Patriarch, today we want to renew our ‘yes’ to all what God has commanded us, so as to remain faithful to Him, in everything and for everything, living these hard and difficult times in prayer and brotherhood as the core of our daily life; invoking the maternal intercession of Mary Most Holy so that the Father may grant our prayer and bring all His sons and all men of good will to Salvation, which is and always will be in this Land of Love, the New Jerusalem.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.