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Doubts are the messengers of the Living One to rouse the honest. They are the first knock at our door of things that are not yet, but have to be, understood... Doubt must precede every deeper assurance; for uncertainties are what we first see when we look into a region hitherto unknown, unexplored, unannexed.
- George MacDonald (1824-1905), "The Voice of Job", in Unspoken Sermons, Second Series
(How have your doubts stirred you to deeper faith and understanding? What doubts are prodding you these days?) |
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Wis 3:1-9; Psalm 23:1-3a,
3b-4, 5, 6; Rom 6:3-9
Jn 6:37-40
Jesus said to the crowds:
“Everything that the Father gives me will come to me,
and I will not reject anyone who comes to me,
because I came down from heaven not to do my own will
but the will of the one who sent me.
And this is the will of the one who sent
me,
that I should not lose anything of what he gave me,
but that I should raise it on the last day.
For this is the will of my Father,
that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him
may have eternal life,
and I shall raise him on the last
day.”
USCCB lectionary
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Reflection on the Scripture
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“Chastised a little, they shall be greatly blessed, because
God tried them and found them worthy of Himself. As gold in the furnace, He proved them, and as sacrificial offerings He took them to Himself.” —Wisdom 3:5-6
The Lord has made it clear through various Jewish traditions (see 2 Mc 12:43-44), the early Church (see Mt 12:32), and the Church Fathers that we should pray for those who have died. Because the Church prays for the dead at Mass each
day, it is safe to say that the Holy Spirit leads us to pray daily for the dead. However, we need to ask the Holy Spirit how often each day we should pray for the dead. It is important to serve the dead as much as the Lord wills because they depend on us greatly and our prayers make a great difference for them.
St. Augustine preached: “There is no sort of doubt that the dead are helped
by the prayers of Holy Church and the sacrifice of salvation, and by alms” (Sermon 172). St. Augustine exhorted us to show “solicitude and care and zeal in offering up for them those things which help the spirits of the departed — alms, and prayers, and supplication” (ibid). Pray for the dead daily and as frequently as the Lord wills. “Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let
perpetual light shine upon them. May their souls and the souls of all the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace. Amen.” Prayer: Holy Spirit, help me in my weakness for I do not know how to pray for the dead as I ought (see Rm 8:26). Promise: “This
corruptible body must be clothed with incorruptibility; this mortal body with immortality.” —1 Cor 15:53 Presentation Ministries
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From Meditation to Contemplation by James Arraj (all rights reserved) The Three Signs of the Onset of Contemplation Therefore, though many enter
this night of sense which heralds the beginning of contemplation, few successfully emerge. Since contemplation is an essentially new experience, it is difficult to get used to. St. John, therefore, sets down three signs by which the beginner can make a judgment of whether he is really being led into the contemplative state. The first sign is that he cannot meditate any longer or find that sweetness which used to come through the exercise of his faculties. The second sign is that he does not have
a desire to fix his attention and thoughts on other things besides the spiritual. “The third and surest sign is that a person likes to remain alone in loving awareness of God, without particular considerations, in interior peace and quiet and repose, and without the acts and exercises (at least discursive, those in which one progresses from point to point) of the intellect, memory and will; and that he prefers to remain only in the general, loving awareness and knowledge we mentioned, without any
particular knowledge or understanding.”(“Ascent of Mt. Carmel,” 2, 13, 4) Online book
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