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"All of us who are human beings are in the image of God. But to be in his likeness belongs only to those who by great love have
attached their freedom to God."
- Diadochus of Photike
(From image to likeness . . . the spiritual journey . . . what steps today?) |
Heb 9:15, 24-28; Ps 98:1, 2-3ab, 3cd-4, 5-6
Mk 3:22-30 The scribes who had come from Jerusalem said of Jesus,
"He is possessed by Beelzebul," and
"By the prince
of demons he drives out demons."
Summoning them, he began to speak to them in parables,
"How can Satan drive out Satan?
If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.
And if a house is divided against itself,
that house will not be able to stand.
And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided,
he
cannot stand;
that is the end of him.
But no one can enter a strong man's house to plunder his property
unless he first ties up the strong man.
Then he can plunder his house.
Amen, I say to you, all sins and all blasphemies
that people utter will be forgiven them.
But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit
will never have forgiveness,
but is guilty of an everlasting sin."
For they had said, "He has an unclean
spirit."
Praying the Daily Gospels: A Guide to Meditation, by Philip St. Romain, 2018 (3rd ed.) Mark 3: 22-30 (Sin against the
Spirit) Today's gospel shows Jesus confronting the scribes and their criticism of his exorcisms. Never one to back down from an opportunity to clarify God's truth, Jesus exposes the illogic of their arguments and issues that terrible warning about sinning against the Spirit -- about refusing to let the Spirit work in us. * What would you like the Holy Spirit to help you to do and be? Ask God to help you to claim this grace. * Jesus never backed away from a chance to teach. Are there times in your life when you could speak out more boldly for the sake of the kingdom?
Treatise on the Love of God, by St. Francis de Sales (1567-1622) ____________ BOOK III: OF THE PROGRESS AND PERFECTION OF LOVE Chapter 6: That we cannot attain perfect union with God in this mortal life
It is true, Theotimus, that while we await this great kiss of indissoluble union which we shall receive from the spouse there above in glory, he gives us some kisses by a thousand feelings of his delightful presence: for unless the soul were kissed she would not be drawn, nor would she run in the odour of the beloved's perfumes. Whence, according to the original Hebrew text and the Seventy interpreters, she desires
many kisses. Let him kiss me, says she, with the kisses of his mouth. But because these little kisses of this present life all refer to the eternal kiss of the life to come, the sacred Vulgate edition has holily reduced the kisses of grace to that of glory, expressing the desires of the spouse in this manner: Let him kiss me with the kiss of his mouth, as though she said: of all the kisses, of all the favours that the friend of my heart, or the heart of my soul has provided for me, ah! I only
breathe after and aspire to this great and solemn marriage-kiss which remains for ever, and in comparison of which the other kisses deserve not the name of kisses, being rather signs of the future union between my beloved and me than union itself.
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