Restoration

     There is a commercial chain out there called "Restoration Hardware".  It features quality, high end products for the home that seek to bring grandeur and beauty to homes as they were once experienced.  I love to wander through such stores.

     RESTORATION is a key word not only to their business philosophy but also a key word to today's reading from the Hebrew Scriptures (Zec.8: 1-8).  The Lord of hosts speaks of his intense jealousy for Zion, for his people.  Dispersed and in exile, down and out in everywhere but Beverly Hills, he expresses his desire to dwell with them, to set up shop in Jerusalem and on his holy mountain, to bring them home, to return things to normal, to restore the glory days.  He says that "even if this should seem impossible in the eyes of the remnant of this people", it shall not be so in his eyes.  The Covenant will be restored.  "They will be my people, and I will be their God, with faithfulness and justice."

       In the Messiah, Jesus, we have ultimately been restored to grace and favor, to holiness and glory.  After 2,000 years, though, that grace has been forgotten by many and that favor taken for granted, the holiness has been diminished and the glory has gotten dusty.  We are approaching the "October Count" once again, to tell us how dismal is our Mass attendance. Survey after survey remind us of how marginal people of faith have become and faith and religion in fact really are.  It is time for a renewed RESTORATION of the church.  Even though this may seem "impossible" in the eyes of the remnant of God's people, know that in his eyes ... and heart ... it is desired and that all things are possible.