Reading is the careful study of the Scriptures, concentrating all one's powers on it. Meditation is the busy application of the mind to seek with the help of one's own reason for knowledge of hidden truth. Prayer is the heart's devoted turning to God to drive away evil and obtain what is good. Contemplation is when the mind
is in some sort lifted up to God and held above itself, so that it tastes the joys of everlasting sweetness.
- Guigo II, The Ladder of Monks, 12th C
(Each of these ways of praying is appropriate at certain times. Be open to all of them and alert to how the Spirit is calling you to pray.).
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Is 49:1-6; Psalm 71:1-2, 3-4a, 5ab-6ab, 15 and 17
Jn 13:21-33, 36-38
Reclining at table with his disciples, Jesus was deeply troubled and testified,
“Amen, amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me.”
The disciples looked at one another, at a loss as to whom he meant.
One of his disciples, the one whom Jesus loved,
was reclining at Jesus’ side.
So Simon Peter nodded to him to find out whom he meant.
He leaned back against Jesus’ chest and said to him,
“Master, who is it?”
Jesus answered,
“It is the one to whom I hand the morsel after I have dipped it.”
So he dipped the morsel and took it and handed it to Judas,
son of Simon the Iscariot.
After Judas took the morsel, Satan entered him.
So Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.”
Now none of those reclining at table realized why he said this to him.
Some thought that since Judas kept the money bag, Jesus had told him,
“Buy what we need for the feast,”
or to give something to the poor.
So Judas took the morsel and left at once. And it was night.
When he had left, Jesus said,
“Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him.
If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself,
and he will glorify him at once.
My children, I will be with you only a little while longer.
You will look for me, and as I told the Jews,
‘Where I go you cannot come,’ so now I say it to you.”
Simon Peter said to him, “Master, where are you going?”
Jesus answered him,
“Where I am going, you cannot follow me now,
though you will follow later.”
Peter said to him,
“Master, why can I not follow you now?
I will lay down my life for you.”
Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me?
Amen, amen, I say to you, the cock will not crow
before you deny me three times.”
Reflection on the Scriptures
The gospel today tells the story of two disciples who betray Jesus, but each in their own way and each resulting in a much different ending. Judas’ betrayal ends with him taking his own life. Peter’s, however, ends with him realizing his actions, but moving on with even greater conviction than before. Maybe an important message from today’s
story is about recognizing and accepting our fears, wrong-doings, and betrayals and at the same time choosing not to give up on our path forward. Judas succumbed to his fears and the social pressures of the situation that surrounded him which caused him to make a bad decision (admittedly a really bad decision). But, maybe worse still was his decision to give up on himself and his path forward in faith with God. I have read this gospel story many times. But, today the message I heard was, “Don’t
give up on your journey because God will always be there to love you, forgive you, and encourage you to continue your path forward in faith.”
- by Tom Lenz
The Existence of God
by Francois Fenelon
SECTION XI. Of the Earth
There is scarce any spot of ground absolutely barren if a man do not grow weary of digging, and turning it to the enlivening sun, and if he require no more from it than it is proper to bear, amidst stones and rocks there is sometimes excellent pasture; and their cavities have veins, which, being penetrated by the piercing rays of the sun, furnish plants
with most savoury juices for the feeding of herds and flocks. Even sea-coasts that seem to be the most sterile and wild yield sometimes either delicious fruits or most wholesome medicines that are wanting in the most fertile countries. Besides, it is the effect of a wise over-ruling providence that no land yields all that is useful to human life. For want invites men to commerce, in order to supply one another's necessities. It is therefore that want that is the natural tie of
society between nations: otherwise all the people of the earth would be reduced to one sort of food and clothing; and nothing would invite them to know and visit one another.
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