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Message of the Day
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I cannot live in mediocrity, content with merely knowing that there is more of God to experience and explore — and then do nothing about it. Truths that are not experienced are, in effect, more like theories than truths. Whenever God reveals truth to us He is inviting us into a divine encounter.
- Bill Johnson,
Face to Face with God (This is a good attitude with which to prayerfully approach the Scriptures — to view them as “invitations to an encounter with the divine.”)
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Readings of the Day
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2 Mc 7:1, 20-31; Ps 17:1bcd, 5-6,
8b and 15
-Lk 19:11-28
While people were listening to Jesus speak,
he proceeded to tell a parable because he was near Jerusalem
and they thought that
the Kingdom of God
would appear there immediately.
So he said,
"A nobleman went off to a distant country
to obtain the kingship for himself and then to return.
He called ten of his servants and gave them ten gold coins
and told them, 'Engage in trade with these until I return.'
His fellow citizens, however, despised him
and sent a delegation after him to
announce,
'We do not want this man to be our king.'
But when he returned after obtaining the kingship,
he had the servants called, to whom he had given the money,
to learn what
they had gained by trading.
The first came forward and said,
'Sir, your gold coin has earned ten additional ones.'
He replied, 'Well done, good servant!
You have been faithful in
this very small matter;
take charge of ten cities.'
Then the second came and reported,
'Your gold coin, sir, has earned five more.'
And to this servant too he said,
'You, take charge of five cities.'
Then the other servant came and said,
'Sir, here is your gold coin;
I kept it stored away in a handkerchief,
for I was afraid of you, because you are a demanding man;
you take up what you did not lay down
and you harvest what you did not plant.'
He said to him,
'With your own words I shall condemn you,
you wicked servant.
You knew I was a demanding man,
taking up what I did not lay down
and harvesting what I
did not plant;
why did you not put my money in a bank?
Then on my return I would have collected it with interest.'
And to those standing by he said,
'Take the gold coin from
him
and give it to the servant who has ten.'
But they said to him,
'Sir, he has ten gold coins.'
He replied, 'I tell you,
to everyone who has, more will be given,
but from the one who has not,
even what he has will be taken away.
Now as for those enemies of mine who did not want me as their king,
bring them here and slay them before me.'" After he had said this,
he proceeded on his journey up to
Jerusalem. USCCB lectionary
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Reflection on the Scripture
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“The mother...saw her seven sons perish in a single day, yet bore it courageously because of her hope in the Lord.” —2 Maccabees 7:20
The Seleucids who persecuted the Jewish people at the time of the Maccabean revolt were terrorists. They did not just kill their enemies but did it in such a way as to try to intimidate them. For example, they did not just kill seven Jewish brothers but scalped, dismembered, and fried them one by one, while forcing the remaining brothers and their mother to watch every brutal act. The Seleucids planned that the mother’s anguish
would be used to manipulate her sons into becoming traitors to their faith or that they would at least break the spirit of the mother and the Jewish nation by their terrorism. However, the terrorists’ psychological warfare backfired on them. The mother’s relationship with the Lord and with her sons was so strong that she did not crack under pressure. She strengthened her sons to die heroic deaths, and
she followed them in martyrdom. Her faith and her family’s faith was so strong that it defeated the terrorists. Contrary to what many believe, terrorism is not defeated by military might. Because terrorism is demonic, it cannot be defeated by merely human means. It can be defeated only by faith in Jesus, especially by holy families of faith (Mt 17:20-21). Therefore, we must become holy faith-filled disciples of Jesus, or we will be helpless, intimidated, manipulated victims of
terrorists. Prayer: Father, I reject the spirit of fear and accept the Holy Spirit (see 2 Tm 1:6-7; Rm 8:15). Promise: “He, in His mercy, will give you back both breath and life.” —2 Mc 7:23 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 Two, Encountering the Risen Christ Chapter 7: The Cosmic Christ, part
II - Selected quotes In our previous chapters, we have emphasized the importance of formation in Christ through the Word, and sacramentally in the Christian community. The Church, in this sense, is like a spiritual womb in which our spiritual life germinates, takes root, and is
nourished and grown. This formation enables us to recognize the Christic dimension of nature and human culture—that the ministry of Christ is not restricted to religious endeavors, but literally touches and informs all aspects of creation. For in him were created all things in heaven and on earth:
everything visible and everything invisible . . .
all things were created through him and for him.
Before anything was created, he existed,
and he holds all things in unity.
Now the Church is his body,
he is its head. (Col. 1:16-18). We note in this poem by Paul the relationship between the Church and the creation. Although Paul recognizes that Christ’s influence extends to the whole of creation, he nonetheless affirms that “the
Church is his body, he is its head.” We might think of the whole of creation as being Christ’s cosmic body, with the Church as his Mystical Body—the “place,” as it were, where through the faith and service of the Christian community, he most intensely extends his influence to the rest of creation. Where human beings were initially intended to be co-creators with God, we Christians are now entrusted with the mission to reconcile the world to God in Christ (2 Cor. 5:20). This is
not to deny the reality of Christ’s influence outside the Church, only to acknowledge that that’s where he is most intensely present and active in this world.
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