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Message of the Day
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“As we open ourselves to spiritual growth, there is simply no part of our life that can be left out. Nothing is too dirty or smudged. Nothing is too ecstatic or passionate. Nothing is too mundane or ordinary. ALL of life is the food of our spiritual growth. We can grow closer and deeper in our relationship with God through every situation, depending on our attitude, our openness, and our awareness.
Be aware of God teaching you through your life today.”
- Joyce Rupp, The Cup of Our Life
(Yes, "Be aware of God teaching you through your life today.")
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Readings of the Day
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1 Sm 3:1-10, 19-20; Psalm 40:2 and
5, 7-8a, 8b-9, 10 Mk 1:29-39 On leaving the synagogue
Jesus entered the house of Simon and Andrew with James and John.
Simon’s mother-in-law
lay sick with a fever.
They immediately told him about her.
He approached, grasped her hand, and helped her up.
Then the fever left her and she waited on them.
When it was
evening, after sunset,
they brought to him all who were ill or possessed by demons.
The whole town was gathered at the door.
He cured many who were sick with various diseases,
and
he drove out many demons,
not permitting them to speak because they knew him.
Rising very early before dawn,
he left and went off to a deserted place, where he prayed.
Simon and those who were with him pursued him
and on finding him said, “Everyone is looking for you.”
He told them, “Let us go on to the nearby villages
that I may preach there also.
For this purpose have I come.”
So he went into their synagogues, preaching and driving out demons
throughout the whole of
Galilee.
USCCB lectionary
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Reflection on the Scripture
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“One day Eli was asleep in his usual place.” —1 Samuel 3:2
The aged priest Eli
was sleeping on the job. “Under Eli, a revelation of the Lord was uncommon and vision infrequent” (1 Sm 3:1). However, the infrequent direction from the Lord was not because God had stopped speaking to His people; indeed, the Lord was busy calling out to the youth Samuel (1 Sm 3:4ff).
Parents are priests of their home, the “domestic Church” (see Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1655, 1657). In
addition, all baptized people are priests, prophets, and kings (Catechism, 1268). Therefore, we all are called to stay awake and alert, to listen for the Lord’s voice (see Lk 12:37). Is a revelation of the Lord uncommon in our lives and our families because we have been sleeping instead of listening for God’s voice? Jesus rose early to pray (Mk 1:35). He also prayed long into the night (see Mt
26:36-45), while His apostles “could not keep their eyes open” (Mt 26:43). Are we asleep on the watch, like the apostles in the garden of Gethsemane? “It is now the hour for you to wake from sleep” (Rm 13:11). “Awake, O sleeper, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light” (Eph 5:14). Prayer:
“Speak, Lord, for Your servant is listening” (1 Sm 3:9). Promise: “Those whom He cured, who were variously afflicted, were many, and so were the demons He expelled.” —Mk 1:34 Presentation Ministries
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Spiritual Reading
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-Readings from Jesus Alive in Our Lives, by Philip St. Romain. Ave Maria Press, 1985. Contemplative Ministries, Inc. 2011. Part Three, Gift of the Spirit Chapter 1: Overview - Selected quotes It’s pretty clear from the witness of the New Testament that the gift of the Holy Spirit is what makes it possible to live a Christian life. The Christian “way” is never presented as a matter of learning Christ’s teaching and using one’s mind and will to conform to his values.
Without the Holy Spirit, living the life that Christ taught through word and example is not considered possible.
Amazingly, it seems that the Christian life is often presented today as a kind of philosophy or system of values that Jesus modeled perfectly. Little mention is made of the Holy Spirit, or if it is, this is only understood symbolically—as in some kind of “spirit” of Christian
love. A case in point, here, would be a conversation I had recently with a priest from a religious community. We were talking about the meaning of the life of Christ and he said that, for him, the primary meaning was to reveal to us God’s loving nature. That’s true, of course, but when I asked if that was the main thing, to him, he said that it was. “What more do we need than to know that God is love?” he stated, rhetorically.
The answer to this question is what we need is spiritual power. It’s not enough for us to know that Jesus was the incarnate Son of God who died for our sins and revealed to us the values that really matter. We need the power to live the kind of life he revealed and taught, and that’s what the Spirit makes possible. In fact, it’s not stretching things at all to say that one of the main reasons Jesus came was to bless us with the
gift of the Holy Spirit. It’s true that he also came to break the hold of evil and sin, but without the gift of the Holy Spirit, the human race would have fallen right back into its old ways. That is why Jesus said, “it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you” (Jn.16:7). Certainly, it was good that Jesus came, but even Jesus says that it is better that he go so that he could send the
Spirit. Somehow, his death, resurrection and ascension opened the way for the Spirit to be showered on the whole human race in a way that did not exist before his coming. (We will reflect more deeply on this mystery during a future chapter.)
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