|
|
(What the Incarnation has accomplished.)
“Christ in his love unites created reality with uncreated reality—How wonderful is God’s loving-kindness towards us!—and he shows that through grace the two are become one. The whole world enters wholly into the whole of God and by becoming all that God is, except in identity of nature, it receives in place of itself the whole God.” - Maximus the Confessor, Ambigua
(Rest in the awareness of your belonging to
God.)
|
|
Is 42:1-4, 6-7; Ps 29:1-2, 3-4, 3, 9-10
Mk 1:7-11
This is what John the Baptist proclaimed:
“One mightier than I is coming after me.
I am not worthy to stoop and loosen the thongs of his sandals.
I have baptized you with water;
he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
It happened in those days that Jesus
came from Nazareth of Galilee
and was baptized in the Jordan by John.
On coming up out of the water he saw the heavens being torn open
and the Spirit, like a dove, descending upon him.
And a voice came from the heavens,
“You are my beloved Son; with you I am well
pleased.”
|
|
|
Please help grow this newsletter by forwarding it to others, encouraging them to sign up.
Christianity and Spirituality monthly forum February 1 is on: 7:30 - 8:30 p.m. CST
See link below for more info
Reflection on the Scriptures
|
How can we enter into the mystery of Jesus' humble self-abasement and baptism? Gregory of Nazianzus (329-390 AD), an early church father tells us:
"Let us be buried with Christ by Baptism to rise with him; let us go down with him to be raised with him; and let us rise with him to be glorified
with him."
Do you want to see your life transformed by the love and power of Jesus Christ? And do you want to become a more effective instrument of the Gospel of peace, mercy, and righteousness? Examine Jesus' humility and ask the Holy Spirit to forge this same attitude in your heart. As you do, heaven will open for you as well. The Lord Jesus is ever ready to renew us in his Holy Spirit and to anoint us
for mission. We are called to be "light" and "salt" to those around us. The Lord wants his love and truth to shine through us that others may see the goodness and truth of God's message of salvation. Ask the Lord Jesus to fill you with his Holy Spirit that you may radiate the joy of the Gospel to those around you.
Lord Jesus, fill me with your Holy Spirit and inflame my heart with the joy of the
Gospel. May I find joy in seeking to please you just as you found joy in seeking to please your Father.
|
|
|
|
|
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 THIRD Which treats of the purgation of the active night of the
memory and will. Gives instruction how the soul is to behave with respect to the apprehensions of these two faculties, that it may come to union with God, according to the two faculties aforementioned, in perfect hope and charity.
Chapter 20 Of the benefits that come to the soul from its withdrawal of joy from temporal things. 4. There is another very great
and important benefit in this detachment of the rejoicing from creatures -- namely, that it leaves the heart free for God. This is the dispositive foundation of all the favours which God will grant to the soul, and without this disposition He grants them not. And they are such that, even from the temporal standpoint, for one joy which the soul renounces for love of Him and for the perfection of the Gospel, He will give him a hundred in this life, as His Majesty promises in the same Gospel. But,
even were there not so high a rate of interest, the spiritual person should quench these creature joys in his soul because of the displeasure which they give to God. For we see in the Gospel that, simply because that rich man rejoiced at having laid up for many years, God was so greatly angered that He told him that his soul would be brought to account on that same night. Therefore, we must believe that, whensoever we rejoice vainly, God is beholding us and preparing some punishment and bitter
draught according to our deserts, so that the pain which results from the joy may sometimes be a hundred times greater than the joy. For, although it is true, as Saint John says on this matter, in the Apocalypse, concerning Babylon, that as much as she had rejoiced and lived in delights, so much torment and sorrow should be given her, yet this is not to say that the pain will not be greater than the joy, which indeed it will be, since for brief pleasures are given eternal torments. The
words mean that there shall be nothing without its particular punishment, for He Who will punish the idle word will not pardon vain rejoicing.
|
|
|
|
