Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you. — Psalm 33:22

Mass Readings: Genesis 41:55-57;42:5-7,17-24 / Matthew 10:1-7 

God’s Plan 

Today’s psalm tells us, “The Lord . . . foils the designs of peoples. But the plan of the Lord stands forever.” Try though we might, we can’t control all that happens in our lives. In his Imitation of Christ, Thomas à Kempis writes, “for men propose, but God disposes; neither is the way of man in his own hands.” Even Shakespeare’s Hamlet includes a similar statement: “There is a divinity that shapes our ends, rough-hew them how we will.” 

Despite all that . . . I’m a list-maker. Give me any project or holiday and I have at least one list to detail my steps. That’s all right, but I need to remember that the ultimate plan isn’t mine to make. Sometimes the detours and derailments along the way are part of the greater plan I don’t see. 

Prayer: Dear Lord, grant me faith to look for Your plan, not my own.