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If you want to learn something that will really help you, learn to see yourself as God sees you and not as you see yourself in the distorted mirror of your own self-importance.
- Thomas a Kempis (There are many ways to get in touch with this, including prayer, community feedback, dreams, spiritual direction, etc. What works for you?)
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Daily Readings
RV 14:14-19; Psalm 96:10, 11-12,
13 LK 21:5-11 "When some were talking about the Temple, remarking how it was adorned with fine stonework and votive offerings, Jesus said, ‘All these things you are staring at now – the time will come when not a single stone will be left on another: everything will be destroyed.’ And they put to him this question: ‘Master,’ they said ‘when will this happen, then, and what sign
will there be that this is about to take place?’
"‘Take care not to be deceived,’ he said ‘because many will come using my name and saying, “I am he” and, “The time is near at hand.” Refuse to join them. And when you hear of wars and revolutions, do not be frightened, for this is something that must happen but the end is not so soon.’ Then he said to them, ‘Nation will fight against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great
earthquakes and plagues and famines here and there; there will be fearful sights and great signs from heaven.’"
Praying the Daily Gospels: A Guide to Meditation, by Philip St. Romain, 2018 (3rd ed.) Luke 21:5-11 (The destruction of the Temple) The Temple
which existed in Jerusalem at the time of Jesus had taken decades to rebuild. Many believe it rivaled the Temple built by Solomon in beauty and size. It was destroyed, however, by Vespasius’ troops as they decisively repressed Jewish insurrections in A.D. 70. In today’s reading Jesus warns us that the coming of God’s kingdom will be accompanied by wars, destruction, and suffering. • Some philosophers maintain
that either God can prevent evil but chooses not to, or he cannot prevent evil even though he might want to do so. What is your response to this statement? • We live today in a world of economic insecurity and political unrest. How does the peace of Jesus sustain you in the midst of these situations?
Treatise on the Love of God, by St. Francis de Sales (1567-1622) ____________ Chapter 8: How benevolence produces the praise of the divine well-beloved.
Honour, my dear Theotimus, is not
in him who is honoured, but in him who honours: for how often it happens that he whom we honour knows nothing of it, nor has so much as thought about it. How often we praise such as know us not, or who are sleeping; and yet according to the common estimation of men, and their ordinary manner of conceiving, it seems that we do one some good when we do him honour, and that we give him much when we give him titles and praises, and we find no difficulty in saying that a person is rich in honour,
glory, reputation, praise, though indeed we know that all this is outside the person who is honoured. He oftentimes receives no manner of profit therefrom, according to a saying ascribed to the great S. Augustine: O poor Aristotle, thou art being praised where thou art not, and where thou art, thou art being burned. What fruit, I pray you, do Cæsar and Alexander the Great reap from so many vain words which some vain souls employ in their
praise?
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