Message of 9-28-2022

Published: Wed, 09/28/22

A Daily Spiritual Seed
Wednesday: September 28, 2022

Message of the Day

"If you have really handed yourself over to Him it must follow that you are trying to obey Him. But trying in a new way, a less worried way. Not doing these things in order to be saved, but because He has begun to save you already. Not hoping to get Heaven as a reward for your actions, but inevitably wanting to act in a certain way because a first faint gleam of Heaven is already inside you.
--- C.S. Lewis, Christian Behavior

(". . . a first faint gleam of Heaven is already inside you" Prayerfully relax into this awareness.)

Readings of the Day

Jb 9:1-12, 14-16; Ps 88:10bc-11, 12-13, 14-15

Lk 9:57-62

As Jesus and his disciples were proceeding
on their journey, someone said to him,
"I will follow you wherever you go."
Jesus answered him,
"Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests,
but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head."
And to another he said, "Follow me."
But he replied, "Lord, let me go first and bury my father."
But he answered him, "Let the dead bury their dead.
But you, go and proclaim the Kingdom of God."
And another said, "I will follow you, Lord,
but first let me say farewell to my family at home."
Jesus answered him, "No one who sets a hand to the plow
and looks to what was left behind is fit for the Kingdom of God."

USCCB lectionary

Reflection on the Scripture

“Come away and proclaim the kingdom of God.” —Luke 9:60

Job says of God that we could not respond to His majesty even once in a thousand encounters (Jb 9:3, 15). God is so mighty that we would be amazed that He would even listen to our prayer (Jb 9:16). If the omnipotent Creator of the Universe would even ask one thing of us, we should jump for joy to do whatever He asked.

In today’s Gospel, two people responded to the call of Jesus by saying “Maybe, but not now” (see Lk 9:59, 61). The two potential disciples had good excuses. However, the first disciples Jesus called answered Him by immediately dropping everything to follow Him (see Mk 1:17-20; Mt 1:18-24; 9:9; Lk 5:10-11, 27-28; Jn 1:35ff). The first disciples were just as busy as the people who gave excuses in today’s Gospel passage. Yet they put their hands to the plow and did not look back to their former life (Lk 9:62).

Jesus demands all our attention, all our life in response to His call. This seems excessive, but consider the calling from God’s viewpoint. God gave us everything when He gave us His Son, Jesus. God’s calling is urgent and His timing is always best. We always are busy with urgent tasks that compete for our attention (see Mt 22:5; Lk 14:18-20). We also have an enemy constantly distracting us from God’s priorities. To say “Yes” to God, there is always something else to which we must say “No.”

How will you respond to Jesus’ call in your life?

Prayer: Father, I give You permission to re-order everything in my life so that You always take first place.

Promise: “Whoever puts his hand to the plow but keeps looking back is unfit for the reign of God.” —Lk 9:62

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Spiritual Reading

From Meditation to Contemplation

Reprinted with permission from St. John of the Cross and Dr. C. G. Jung

Introduction

As long as consolation and sweetness remain, the beginner is satisﬁed that God is approving of his life of prayer. However, for those called to contemplation this state cannot last. It is here, after the soul has become accustomed to the feelings and consolations of beginners, that St. John introduces the night of sense. Consolation and sweetness begin to diminish and aridity seizes the soul. The sense of value and accomplishment in praying evaporates. The night of sense is the beginning of contemplation; St. John calls it arid, purgative contemplation or dark ﬁre. It is the herald of the more perceptible contemplation to come, and its purpose is to detach the soul from sensible knowledge and prepare it for this higher way of knowing.

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