Day 28 · The Nativity Fast
The Stone Cut Without Hands
“You saw until a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet that were of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were broken in pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors. The wind carried them away, so that no place was found for them. The stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.”Daniel 2:34-35
Reflection
King Nebuchadnezzar dreamed of a great statue of gold, silver, bronze, iron, and clay, the empires of the world, struck down by a stone “cut out without hands” that became a mountain filling the whole earth. Daniel said it meant a kingdom the God of heaven would set up that would never be destroyed (Daniel 2:44). The Church reads this at Vespers on Christmas Eve, and her hymns see in the stone cut without hands Christ, born of the Virgin without a human father. Empires rise and fall; his Kingdom remains.
A prayer
Lord Jesus, Stone cut without hands, your Kingdom outlasts every empire. When the powers of this world seem overwhelming, remind me that they are clay. Build your Kingdom in me, and in your Church. Amen.
Carry this with you
What worldly power or worry looms large for you? Hold it before the Kingdom that cannot be shaken.