We will lie down for such a long time after death that it is worthwhile to keep standing while we are alive. Let us work now; one day we shall rest.
- Agostina Pietrantoni
(Remember the gift of time given you this day. How will you use it in the service of the reign of God?)
|
GAL 5:1-6; PS 119:41, 43, 44, 45, 47, 48 LK 11:37-41 After Jesus had spoken,
a Pharisee invited him to dine at his home.
He entered and reclined at table to eat.
The Pharisee was amazed to see
that he did not observe the prescribed washing before the meal.
The Lord said to him, “Oh you Pharisees!
Although you cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish,
inside you are filled with plunder and evil.
You fools!
Did not the maker of the outside also make the inside?
But as to what is within, give alms,
and behold, everything will be clean for you.” Reflection on the Scriptures
There is so much talk these days about political freedom and how sacred it is to
peoples everywhere. And it is. But I don’t think we focus enough on our spiritual freedom and how sacred that is to all of humanity. That is more critical to our hopes and survival. When Paul says to the Galatians, “Brothers and sisters: For freedom Christ set us free; so, stand firm and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery,” rousing as it sounds, he is not making a political statement. Nor is he trying to rally the masses around a set of legal certainties and
social mandates. In fact, he is doing something quite the contrary. Paul tells us that we fall from grace when we seek justification by law. We separate ourselves from Christ when we bind ourselves to the law, which will become a yoke of slavery. Seems to me, that is what we are all trying to avoid these days.
Nowhere in his writings, however, does Paul say we don’t need laws and social mandates. It is a matter of priorities. Laws and social mandates are created to serve us, not for us to serve them. We have been set free for a greater purpose than just following the rules and norms of our societies. More significantly, we are called to the hope of righteousness, which we can obtain by faith working through love. That poses quite a problem for
many of us. It is much easier to hold others accountable to the law than to love them. Yet, Jesus is straightforward about this. We can’t judge others and ourselves by what we do on the outside. It is more about how our hearts reflect faith working through love. I pray today that we can let Christ remove our yoke of slavery from seeking justification through the law so that we can more fully live in freedom through love.
- Barbara Dilly
The Existence of God by Francois Fenelon SECTION XXV.
On sleep The natural attendant of food is sleep; in which the animal forbears not only all his outward motions, but also all the principal inward operations which might too much stir and dissipate the spirits. He only retains respiration, and
digestion; so that all motions that might wear out his strength are suspended, and all such as are proper to recruit and renew it go on freely of themselves. This repose, which is a kind of enchantment, returns every night, while darkness interrupts and hinders labour. Now, who is it that contrived such a suspension? Who is it that so well chose the operations that ought to continue; and, with so just discernment, excluded all such as ought to be interrupted? The next day all
past fatigue is gone and vanished. The animal works on, as if he had never worked before; and this reviving gives him a vivacity and vigour that invites him to new labour. Thus the nerves are still full of spirits, the flesh smooth, the skin whole, though one would think it should waste and tear; the living body of the animal soon wears out inanimate bodies, even the most solid that are about it; and yet does not wear out itself. The skin of a horse, for instance, wears out
several saddles; and the flesh of a child, though very delicate and tender, wears out many clothes, whilst it daily grows stronger. If this renewing of spirits were perfect, it would be real immortality, and the gift of eternal youth. But the same being imperfect, the animal insensibly loses his strength, decays and grows old, because everything that is created ought to bear a mark of nothingness from which it was drawn; and have an
end.
|
|
