(On striving for the highest good . . .) "Why this reluctance to have to make an effort, to toil, to fight, to become the artificer of your own salvation? 'My Father is working still,' it is written, 'and I am working' (John 5: 17). Are you then reluctant to work, you who were created in order to create positively?"
- Origen, First Homily on Ezekiel - (What is the "work" you must do at this time in life to cooperate with God's saving grace? Resolve to "make an effort" in this direction today.) |
1 Jn 3:11-21; PS 100:1b-2, 3, 4, 5 Jn 1:43-51 Jesus decided to go to Galilee, and he found Philip.
And Jesus said to him, "Follow me."
Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the town of Andrew and Peter.
Philip found Nathanael and told him,
"We have found the one about whom Moses wrote in the law,
and also the prophets, Jesus, son of
Joseph, from Nazareth."
But Nathanael said to him,
"Can anything good come from Nazareth?"
Philip said to him, "Come and see."
Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of
him,
"Here is a true child of Israel.
There is no duplicity in him."
Nathanael said to him, "How do you know me?"
Jesus answered and said to him,
"Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree."
Nathanael answered him,
"Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel."
Jesus answered and said to him,
"Do you believe
because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree?
You will see greater things than this."
And he said to him, "Amen, amen, I say to you,
you will see the sky opened and the angels of God
ascending and descending on the Son of Man." Reflection on the Scriptures
When my wife and I married in 1973, one of the songs we chose for the ceremony was
“Follow Me” by John Denver. The initial refrain says: “Follow me where I go, what I do, who I know
Make it part of you to be a part of
me.
Follow me up and down,
All the way and all around,
Take my hand and say you’ll follow me.” In the final refrain the last line is changed to “Take my hand and I will follow you.” I don’t
think the gospels refer to Jesus singing, but I can imagine Jesus singing the refrain from this song to invite me to follow Him and to live my life as He teaches. The last line of the final refrain is on me – asking me to actually make the commitment. Making a commitment, and living the commitment, is difficult. Where does Jesus go, what does He do, who does He know? Isn’t He asking me to step outside my comfort zone? How do we, who profess to be His followers, follow Him “up and down, all the way and all around?” How do we welcome immigrants and asylum seekers? Do we provide food and shelter and clothing to people who find themselves hungry or homeless or without warm winter coats?
How do we comfort those of our sisters and brothers who are struggling with their gender identity? Do we seek first to understand, before we clamor to be understood, when women are confronted with difficult decisions about their bodies and pregnancies? How do we respond to our fellow citizens who break the law and need to be incarcerated? How do we lessen the persistent levels of poverty and starvation and disease in our neighborhoods and villages and cities and around
the world? How do we use this beautiful gift of creation and steward it for future generations? It is easy to get caught up in a crowd professing allegiance to a charismatic leader. It is much more difficult to order
our individual lives to follow the inspiring message. And so, my prayer today is for the grace to have the strength to say to Jesus: “Take my hand and I will follow you,” in my intentions and actions and deeds. by Tom
Purcell
The Existence of God by Francois Fenelon SECTION XXXI
- Of the structure of the human body
The body is made of clay; but let us admire the Hand that framed and polished it. The Artificer's Seal is stamped upon His work. He seems to have delighted in
making a masterpiece with so vile a matter. Let us cast our eyes upon that body, in which the bones sustain the flesh that covers them. The nerves that are extended in it make up all its strength; and the muscles with which the sinews weave themselves, either by swelling or extending themselves, perform the most exact and regular motions. The bones are divided at certain distances, but they have joints, whereby they are set one within another, and are tied by nerves and
tendons. Cicero admires, with reason, the excellent art with which the bones are knit together. For what is more supple for all various motions? And, on the other hand, what is more firm and durable? Even after a body is dead, and its parts are separated by corruption, we find that these joints and ligaments can hardly be destroyed. Thus this human machine or frame is either straight or crooked, stiff or supple, as we please. From the brain, which is the
source of all the nerves, spring the spirits, which are so subtle that they escape the sight; and nevertheless so real, and of so great activity and force, that they perform all the motions of the machine, and make up all in strength. These spirits are in an instant conveyed to the very extremities of the members. Sometimes they flow gently and regularly, sometimes they move with impetuosity, as occasion requires; and they vary ad infinitum the postures, gestures, and other actions
of the body.
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