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The Lord is coming, always coming. When you have ears to hear and eyes to see, you will recognize him at any moment
of your life. Life is Advent; life is recognizing the coming of the Lord.
- Henri Nouwen (Be alert for God's invitations to more fully lead and guide you this
day.)
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IS 11:1-10; PS 72:1-2, 7-8, 12-13, 17 LK 10:21-24 Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said,
“I give you praise, Father, Lord of heaven and
earth,
for although you have hidden these things
from the wise and the learned
you have revealed them to the childlike.
Yes, Father, such has been your gracious
will.
All things have been handed over to me by my Father.
No one knows who the Son is except the Father,
and who the Father is except the Son
and anyone to whom the
Son wishes to reveal him.” Turning to the disciples in private he said,
“Blessed are the eyes that see what you see.
For I say to you,
many prophets and kings
desired to see what you see,
but did not see it,
and to hear what you hear, but did not hear
it.”
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Reflection on the Scriptures
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Jesus makes a claim which no one would have dared to make: He is the perfect revelation of God. Our knowledge of God is not simply limited to knowing something about God - who he is and what he is like. We can know God personally and be united with him in a relationship of love, trust, and friendship. Jesus makes it possible for each of us to personally know God as our
Father. To see Jesus is to see what God is like. In Jesus we see the perfect love of God - a God who cares intensely and who yearns over men and women, loving them to the point of laying down his life for them upon the cross. Do you pray to your Father in heaven with joy and confidence in his love and care for you? Lord Jesus, give me the child-like simplicity and purity of faith to
gaze upon your face with joy and confidence in your all-merciful love. Remove every doubt, fear, and proud thought which would hinder me from receiving your word with trust and humble submission.
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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.
8. But there are certain types of understanding so quick and subtle that, when they become recollected during some meditation, they invent conceptions, and begin naturally, and with great facility, to form these conceptions into the most lifelike words and arguments, which they think,
without any doubt, come from God. Yet all the time they come only from the understanding, which, with its natural illumination, being to some extent freed from the operation of the senses, is able to effect all this, and more, without any supernatural aid. This happens very commonly, and many persons are greatly deceived by it, thinking that they have attained to a high degree of prayer and are receiving communications from God, wherefore they either write this down or cause it to be written.
And it turns out to be nothing, and to have the substance of no virtue, and it serves only to encourage them in vanity.
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