|
|
A pilgrim came to Ars and remarked, "I have done too many bad things! God could not forgive me."
To this, Fr. Vianney replied, "To speak in this manner is blasphemy. It is putting a road block on God's mercy, and there are none: God's mercy is infinite!"
- From, John Vianney, Cure' of Ars
(This doubting God's mercy and goodness is partly what is meant by the "sin
against the Holy Spirit." How are you in need of God's mercy these day?)
|
EPH 1:1-10; PS 98:1, 2-3AB, 3CD-4, 5-6 LK 11:47-54 The Lord said:
“Woe to you who build the memorials of the prophets
whom your fathers killed.
Consequently, you
bear witness and give consent
to the deeds of your ancestors,
for they killed them and you do the building.
Therefore, the wisdom of God said,
‘I will send to them prophets and
Apostles;
some of them they will kill and persecute’
in order that this generation might be charged
with the blood of all the prophets
shed since the foundation of the
world,
from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah
who died between the altar and the temple building.
Yes, I tell you, this generation will be charged with their blood!
Woe
to you, scholars of the law!
You have taken away the key of knowledge.
You yourselves did not enter and you stopped those trying to enter.”
When Jesus left, the scribes and Pharisees
began to act with hostility toward him
and to interrogate him about many things,
for they were plotting to catch him at something he might
say.
Praying the Daily Gospels: A Guide to Meditation, by Philip St. Romain, 2018 (3rd ed.) Luke 11: 47-54 (More woes) How easy it is to honor a holy person after they've died, but how difficult to tolerate the words and deeds of a living saint. When Jesus confronts the scribes and Pharisees for precisely this hypocrisy, he arouses only their animosity. They are too proud to change. * Of what practices in our society are you most
critical? What are you doing to counter these practices? * Do you avoid arguments when it is obvious that the others are not open to changing? Why? Why not?
Treatise on the Love of God, by St. Francis de Sales (1567-1622) ____________ BOOK III: OF THE PROGRESS AND PERFECTION OF LOVE Chapter 3: How a soul in charity makes progress in it Our Saviour revealed to S. Catharine of Sienna that he was in the midst of her heart in a cruel temptation she had, as a captain in the midst of a fort to hold it; and that without his succour she would have been lost in that battle. It is the same in all the great assaults which our enemy makes against us: and we may well say with Jacob that it is the angel that delivereth us from all evil, and may sing with the great King David: The Lord ruleth me: and I
shall want nothing. He hath set me in a place of pasture. He hath brought me up, on the water of refreshment: he hath converted my soul. So that we ought often to repeat this exclamation and prayer: And thy mercy will follow me all the days of my life. |
|
|
