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The Word did not become a philosophy, a theory, or a concept to be discussed, debated, or pondered. But the Word became a person to be followed, enjoyed, and loved! - Anonymous
(Keep it simple.)
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Daily Readings
1 COR 2:10B-16; PS 145:8-9, 10-11, 12-13AB,
13CD-14 Lk 4:31-37 Jesus went down to Capernaum, a town of Galilee.
He taught them on the sabbath,
and they were astonished at his teaching
because he spoke with authority.
In the synagogue there was a man with the spirit
of an unclean demon,
and he cried out in a loud voice,
"What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?
Have you come to destroy us?
I know who you are–the Holy One of God!"
Jesus rebuked him and said, "Be quiet! Come out of him!"
Then the demon threw the man
down in front of them
and came out of him without doing him any harm.
They were all amazed and said to one another,
"What is there about his word?
For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits,
and they come out."
And news of him spread
everywhere in the surrounding region.
Praying the Daily Gospels: A Guide to Meditation, by Philip St. Romain, 2018 (3rd ed.) Luke 4: 31-37 (Jesus cures a demoniac) Outside his hometown
Jesus finds people more open to his message and his healing. In today’s reading we learn that he teaches with authority, quite a novelty compared to the carefully measured words of the Jewish authorities. The Holy Spirit, the source of Jesus’ power and authority, silences other spirits of fragmentation, leaving the people amazed. • Picture the scene described in today’s reading from the viewpoint of a member of the crowd,
Observe Jesus’ encounter with the demoniac; hear the demon object to Jesus; see Jesus’ face as he touches the man. Listen to the people as they say, “What is there about him?” Let your spirit be buoyed by his Spirit. • Pray for the grace to be more self-confident.
Treatise on the Love of God, by St. Francis de Sales (1567-1622) ____________ Chapter 3: That holy complacency gives our heart to God, and makes us feel a perpetual desire in fruition.
Finally,
Theotimus, the soul which is in the exercise of the love of complacency cries continually in her sacred silence: It suffices me that God is God, that his goodness is infinite, that his perfection is immense; whether I die or whether I live matters little to me since my dear well-beloved lives eternally an all-triumphant life. Death itself cannot trouble a heart which knows that its sovereign love lives. It is sufficient for a heart that loves that he whom it loves more than itself is replenished
with eternal happiness, seeing that it lives more in him whom it loves than in him whom it animates; yea, that it lives not itself, but its well-beloved lives in it.
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