When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. They cried out with a loud voice, "O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?" Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been. When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?"

Even as Nebuchadnezzar was used as an instrument of Your justice and correction for the people of Judah, is the current administration and its supporting culture being used by You to bring Your Church into a state of obedience? But even as Nebuchadnezzar fell from power and was given a lesson in Your Awesomeness, will those who currently persecute the Church here and abroad be brought into submission to You?

Today's readings in the Psalms:

Morning: Psalm 51    Mid-day: 119:121-128    Evening: Psalm 127

Voices Together is available as an annual daily devotional and can be purchased at the Fellowship Of Ailbe bookstore.