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Thanks to all who responded to the annual appeal launched last week. We will continue to provide a support
link at the bottom of each eNewsletter if you'd like to contribute sometime in the future. Please remember this ministry in your prayers as well.
Peace, Phil
One can believe in the divinity of Jesus Christ and feel no personal loyalty to Him at all-indeed, pay no attention
whatever to His commandments and His will for one's life. One can believe intellectually in the efficacy of prayer and never do any praying.
- Catherine Marshall (1914-1983), Beyond Our Selves (What helps you to move from "beliefs" to
actions?)
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RV 1:1-4; 2:1-5; PS 1:1-2, 3, 4 AND 6 LK 18:35-43 As Jesus approached Jericho
a blind man was
sitting by the roadside begging,
and hearing a crowd going by, he inquired what was happening.
They told him,
“Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.”
He shouted, “Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me!”
The people walking in front rebuked him,
telling him to be silent,
but he kept calling out all the more,
“Son of David, have pity on me!”
Then Jesus stopped and ordered that he be brought to him;
and when he came near, Jesus asked him,
“What do
you want me to do for you?”
He replied, “Lord, please let me see.”
Jesus told him, “Have sight; your faith has saved you.”
He immediately received his sight
and followed him, giving glory to God.
When they saw this, all the people gave praise to
God.
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Reflection on the Scriptures
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A great speaker can command attention and respect, but a man or woman with a helping hand and a big heart is loved more. Jesus commends Bartimaeus for recognizing who he is with the eyes of faith and grants him physical sight as well. Do you recognize your need for God's healing grace and do you seek Jesus out, like Bartimaeus, with persistent faith and trust in his goodness and
me rcy? Bartimaeus was not only grateful for the gift of faith and the gift of physical sight, but for the opportunity to now follow Jesus as one of his disciples. Luke tells us us that he immediately followed Jesus and gave glory to God. The crowd also gave praise to God when they saw this double miracle of spiritual
and physical vision. Cyril of Alexandria, a 5th century church father, comments on this double vision: Now that he was delivered from his blindness, did he neglect the duty of loving Christ? He certainly did not. It says, "He followed him, offering him glory like to God." He was set free from double blindness. Not only did he escape from the blindness of the body but also from that of
the mind and heart. He would not have glorified him as God, had he not possessed spiritual vision. He became the means of others giving Christ glory, for it says that all the people gave glory to God.
(Commentary on Luke, Homily 126) Do you give glory to God for giving you the "eyes of faith" to recognize him
as your Lord and Healer? Lord Jesus, open the eyes of my heart and mind that I may see and understand the truth and goodness of your word. May I never fail to recognize your presence with me and to call upon your saving grace in my time of need and healing.
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The Ascent of Mount Carmel, by St. John of the Cross E. Allison Peers Translation. Paperback, Kindle, Audio Book.
Click here to purchase on Amazon.com BOOK THE SECOND Wherein is described the nature of dark night and how necessary it is to pass through it to Divine union; and in particular this book describes the dark night of sense, and desire, and the evils which these work in the soul. Of the Ascent of Mount Carmel Wherein is treated the proximate means of ascending to union with God, which is faith; and wherein therefore is described the second part of this night, which, as we said, belongs to the spirit, and is contained in the second stanza, which is as follows. __________________________________________________________________ Second Stanza Chapter 29 Which treats of the first kind of words that the recollected spirit sometimes
forms within itself. Describes the cause of these and the profit and the harm which there may be in them.
6. And if you ask me why the understanding must be deprived of these truths, since through them it is illumined by the Spirit of God, and thus they cannot be evil, I reply that the Holy Spirit illumines the understanding which is recollected, and illumines it according to the manner of
its recollection, and that the understanding cannot find any other and greater recollection than in faith; and thus the Holy Spirit will illumine it in naught more than in faith. For the purer and the more refined in faith is the soul, the more it has of the infused charity of God; and the more charity it has, the more is it illumined and the more gifts of the Holy Spirit are communicated to it, for charity is the cause and the means whereby they are communicated to it. And although it is true
that, in this illumination of truths, the Holy Spirit communicates a certain light to the soul, this is nevertheless as different in quality from that which is in faith, wherein is no clear understanding, as is the most precious gold from the basest metal; and, with regard to its quantity, the one is as much greater than the other as the sea is greater than a drop of water. For in the one manner there is communicated to the soul wisdom concerning one or two or three truths, etc., but in the
other there is communicated to it all the wisdom of God in general, which is the Son of God, Who communicates Himself to the soul in faith.
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