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The question, you see, is not to prepare (for something specific) but to live in a state of ongoing preparedness so that, when someone who is drowning in the world comes into your world, you are ready to reach out and help . . . to let them be part of your life in God —
that’s ministering. - Henri J. M. Nouwen (Be ready . . . for whatever . . . God is with you.)
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Daily Readings
Isaiah 49:8-15; Psalm 145:8-9, 13cd-14,
17-18 John 5:17-30 Jesus said to the Jews, ‘My Father goes on working, and so do I.’ But that only made them even more intent on killing him, because, not content with breaking the sabbath, he spoke of God as his own Father, and so made himself God’s equal. To this accusation Jesus replied: ‘I tell you most solemnly, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees the Father doing: and whatever the Father does the Son does too. For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he does himself, and he
will show him even greater things than these, works that will astonish you. Thus, as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so the Son gives life to anyone he chooses; for the Father judges no one; he has entrusted all judgement to the Son, so that
all may honour the Son as they honour the Father. Whoever refuses honour to the Son refuses honour to the Father who sent him. I tell you most solemnly, whoever listens to my words, and believes in the one who sent me, has eternal life; without being brought to judgement he has passed from death to life. I tell you most solemnly, the hour will come – in fact it is here already – when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and all who hear it
will live. For the Father, who is the source of life, has made the Son the source of life; and, because he is the Son of Man, has appointed him supreme judge. Do not be surprised at this, for the hour is coming when the dead will leave their
graves at the sound of his voice: those who did good will rise again to life; and those who did evil, to condemnation. I can do nothing by myself; I can only judge as I am told to judge, and my judging is just, because
my aim is to do not my own will, but the will of him who sent me.’
Praying the Daily Gospels: A Guide to Meditation, by Philip St. Romain, 2018 (3rd ed.) John 5: 17-30 (Jesus’
credentials) When the Jews criticize Jesus for healing on the Sabbath, he replies that his Father, who goes on working always, is not bound by Sabbath restrictions. He then invites the Jews to recognize the power at work in him as essential for life and death. • Read this passage slowly, spending time with whatever verse catches your
attention. Do not try to reflect on every phrase. • Spend some time with the words “I do not seek my own will but the will of the one who sent me.” Repeat them again and again as you allow your will to merge with God’s.
Treatise on the Love of God, by St. Francis de Sales (1567-1622) ____________ BOOK V: OF THE TWO PRINCIPAL EXERCISES OF HOLY LOVE WHICH CONSIST IN COMPLACENCY AND BENEVOLENCE
Complacency for St. Francis de Sales means contentment to simply be with God, to rest in God. Chapter 12: Of the sovereign praise which God gives unto Himself, and how we exercise benevolence in it. The human heart is never so much disquieted as when the motion by which it continually opens and shuts itself is hindered, never so quiet as when its motions are free; so that the heart's quiet consists in its motion. Now it is the same with the love of the Seraphim and seraphical men; for this
has its repose in its continual movement of complacency, by which it draws God into itself, as if shutting itself, and of benevolence, by which it opens itself and throws itself entirely into God. This love then desires to behold the infinite wonders of God's goodness, yet it spreads its wings over its face, confessing that it cannot succeed in this: it would also present some worthy service, but it folds this desire over its feet, confessing that it has not power to perform it, nor does
anything remain save the two wings of complacency and benevolence, by which it flies and darts towards God.
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