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If, as I can’t help suspecting, the dead also feel the pains of separation (and this may be one of their purgatorial sufferings), then
for both lovers, and for all pairs of lovers without exception, bereavement is a universal and integral part of our experience of love.
- C. S. Lewis (Be grateful for those who have passed away, and have touched your life with
love.)
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Dn 2:31-45; Dn 3:57, 58, 59, 60, 61 Lk 21:5-11 While some people were speaking about
how the temple was adorned with costly stones and votive
offerings,
Jesus said, "All that you see here–
the days will come when there will not be left
a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down." Then they
asked him,
"Teacher, when will this happen?
And what sign will there be when all these things are about to happen?"
He answered,
"See that you not be deceived,
for many will come in my name, saying,
'I am he,' and 'The time has come.'
Do not follow them!
When you hear of wars and insurrections,
do not be terrified; for such things must happen first,
but it will not immediately be the end."
Then he said to them,
"Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.
There will be powerful earthquakes, famines, and plagues
from place to place;
and awesome sights and mighty signs will come from the
sky."
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Christianity and Spirituality monthly forum December 7 is canceled
January 4 is on: 7:30 - 8:30 p.m. CST
Open Forum: sharing on books that have made a difference in your
life.
Reflection on the Scriptures
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Sometimes we don't recognize the moral crisis and spiritual conflict of the age in which we live, until something "shakes us up" to the reality of this present condition. God reminds us that a future judgment and outcome awaits every individual who has lived on this earth. The reward for doing what is right and pleasing to God and the penalty for sinful rebellion and rejection
of God are not always experienced in this present life - but they are sure to come in the day of final judgment. The Lord Jesus tells us that there will be trials, suffering, and persecution in this present age until he comes again at the end of the world. God intends our anticipation of his final judgment to be a powerful deterrent to unfaithfulness and wrongdoing. God extends grace and mercy to all
who will heed his call and his warning. Do not pass up, even for one day, God's invitation of grace and mercy to seek first his kingdom of righteousness and peace. This day may be your only chance before that final day comes. Lord Jesus, your grace and mercy abounds even in the midst of trials and difficulties. Help me to seek your kingdom first and to reject whatever would hinder me from pursuing
your way of peace, righteousness, and holiness. Fill me with the joy and hope of your everlasting kingdom.
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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 18 (skipped a few chapters on purgation of memory) Which treats of joy with respect to temporal blessings.
Describes how joy in them must be directed to God. 5. Wherefore, though all things smile upon a man and all that he does-turns out prosperously, he ought to have misgivings rather than to-rejoice; for these things increase the occasion and peril of his-forgetting God. For this cause Solomon says, in Ecclesiastes, that he-was cautious: Laughter I counted error and to rejoicing I said,
"Why-art thou vainly deceived?"' Which is as though he had said: When-things smiled upon me I counted it error and deception to rejoice in-them; for without doubt it is a great error and folly on the part of a-man if he rejoice when things are bright and pleasant for him, knowing-not of a certainty that there will come to him thence some eternal-good. The heart of the fool, says the Wise Man, is where there is-mirth, but that of the wise man is where there is sorrow. For-mirth blinds the
heart and allows it not to consider things and ponder-them; but sadness makes a man open his eyes and look at the profit and-the harm of them. And hence it is that, as he himself says, anger is-better than laughter. Wherefore it is better to go to the house-of mourning than to the house of feasting; for in the former is figured-the end of all men, as the Wise Man says likewise.
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