“Often -- actually very often -- God allows his greatest servants to make the most humiliating mistakes. This humbles them in their own eyes and
in the eyes of their fellow men. It prevents them from seeing and taking pride in the graces God bestows on them.” - St. Louis Marie de Montfort (Even the worst of failings can be an opportunity for growth. How has this proven true in your life?) _____ -tonight! Christianity and Spirituality monthly forum February 1, 2024, 7:30 - 8:30 p.m. CST
Topic: "Theosis, Spiritual Transformation" More info via the link below Free sign up for Zoom link
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1 Kgs 2:1-4, 10-12; 1 Chronicles 29:10, 11ab, 11d-12a, 12bcd
Mk 6:7-13
Jesus summoned the Twelve and
began to send them out two by two
and gave them authority over unclean spirits.
He instructed them to take nothing for the journey but a walking stick
–no food, no sack, no money in their belts.
They were, however, to wear sandals but not a second tunic.
He said to them,
"Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave from there.
Whatever place does not welcome you or listen to you,
leave there and shake the dust off your feet
in testimony against them."
So they went off and preached repentance.
The Twelve drove out many demons,
and they anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.
Reflection on the Scriptures
Mark 6: 7-13 (The Twelve sent out) It is important to note that Jesus sends the apostles out in pairs. From the beginning, the importance of support in ministry has been emphasized, as well as traveling light, free from unnecessary burdens. Simplicity of lifestyle and fellowship in community remain important values for Christians. • Do you have a simple lifestyle? What adjustments do you feel are necessary so that you might experience the freedom that the simple life offers? • Do you have the support you need to minister in
your daily life? Pray for the grace to experience support from friends -from Praying the Daily Gospels
St. John of the Cross and the Beginning of Contemplation
by James Arraj From St. John of the Cross and Dr. C. J. Jung, Part II, Chapter 4. Inner Growth Books, 1986.
Activity and Passivity
Often these phrases describing contemplation are directly linked to the cessation of the active working of the faculties. "For, the farther the soul progresses in spirituality, the more it
ceases from the operation of the faculties in particular acts, since it becomes more and more occupied in one act that is general and pure ... the faculties... cease to work."(26) "...their soul, which was taking pleasure in being in that quietness and ease, instead of working with its faculties."(27) "...the way of illumination or of infused contemplation, wherein God Himself feeds and refreshes the soul, without meditation, or the soul's active help."(28) "For God secretly and quietly infuses
into the soul loving knowledge and wisdom without any intervention of specific acts".(29) "Divine love and knowledge in one -that is, a loving knowledge, wherein the soul has not to use its natural acts and meditations."(30) "...no necessity for distinct knowledge nor for the soul to perform any acts, for God, in one act, is communicating to the soul loving knowledge. "(31) It follows if this contemplation does not depend on the natural work of the faculties and is an infused gift of God, then these faculties are passive in regard to it ... the faculties are at rest, and are working, not actively, but passively, by receiving that which God works in them."(32) This passage goes on to say, "and, if they work at times, it is not with violence or with carefully elaborated meditation, but with sweetness of
love, moved less by the ability of the soul itself than by God."(33)
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