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“The branch of the vine does not worry, and toil, and rush here to seek for sunshine, and there to find rain. No; it rests in union and communion with the vine; and at the right time, and in the right way, is the right fruit found on it. Let us so abide in the Lord Jesus.”
- Hudson Taylor
Rest in your union with the Vine. Let the sap of God’s Spirit run through all the levels of your being, energizing you
with God’s very Life.
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2 Corinthians 11:18, 21-30
Psalm 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7 Matthew 6:19-23 Jesus said to his disciples: ‘Do not store up treasures for yourselves on earth, where moths and woodworms destroy them and thieves can break in and steal. But store up treasures for yourselves in heaven, where neither moth nor woodworms destroy them
and thieves cannot break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
‘The lamp of the body is the eye. It follows that if your eye is sound, your whole body will be filled with light. But if your eye is diseased, your whole body will be all darkness. If then, the light inside you is darkness, what darkness that will
be!’
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Reflection on the Scriptures
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What can blind or distort our "vision" of what is true, good, lovely, pure, and eternal (Philippians 4:8)? Certainly prejudice, jealousy, and self-conceit can distort true and clear judgment of ourselves and others and lead to moral blindness. Prejudice and self-conceit also destroys good judgment and blinds us to the facts and to their significance for us. Jealousy and envy make us despise others and mistrust them
as enemies rather than friends. We need to fearlessly examine ourselves to see if we are living according to right judgment and sound principles or if we might be misguided by blind prejudice or some other conceit. Love is not jealous ...but rejoices with the truth (1 Corinthians 13:4-6). Do you live your life in the light of God's truth? Lord Jesus, you have the words of everlasting life. May the light of your truth free me from the
error of sin and deception. Take my heart and fill it with your love that I may desire you alone as my Treasure and my All.
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The Interior Castle (or, The Mansions), by St. Teresa of Avila Benedictines of Stanbrook translation. 1921.. Paperback, Hardcover Kindle, Audio Book.
https://amzn.to/41RmJFb THE THIRD MANSIONS Chapter TWO Continues the same subject and speaks of aridities in prayer and their results: of the necessity of trying ourselves and how our Lord proves those who are in these mansions. 4. A rich man, without son or heir, loses part of his property, [99] but still has more than enough to keep himself and his household. If this misfortune grieves and disquiets him as though he were left to
beg his bread, how can our Lord ask him to give up all things for His sake? This man will tell you he regrets losing his money because he wished to bestow it on the poor. 5. I believe His Majesty would prefer me to conform to His will, and keep peace of soul while attending to my interests, to such charity as this. If this person cannot resign himself because God has not raised him so high in virtue, well and good: let him know that
he is wanting in liberty of spirit; let him beg our Lord to grant it him, and be rightly disposed to receive it. Another person has more than sufficient means to live on, when an opportunity occurs for acquiring more property: if it is offered him, by all means let him accept it; but if he must go out of his way to obtain it and then continues working to gain more and more--however good his intention may be (and it must be good, for I am speaking of people who lead prayerful and good lives), he
cannot possibly enter the mansions near the King. 6. Something of the same sort happens if such people meet with contempt or want of due respect. God often gives them grace to bear it well, as He loves to see virtue upheld in public, and will not have it condemned in those who practise it, or else because these persons have served Him faithfully, and He, our supreme Good, is exceedingly good to us all; nevertheless, these persons are
disturbed, and cannot overcome or get rid of the feeling for some time. [100] Alas! have they not long meditated on the pains our Lord endured and how well it is for us to suffer, and have even longed to do so? They wish every one were as virtuous as they are; and God grant they do not consider other people to blame for their troubles and attribute merit to themselves! 7. You may think, my daughters, that I have wandered from
the subject, for all this does not concern you: nothing of the sort occurs to us here, where we neither own nor wish for any property, nor endeavour to gain it, and no one does us any wrong. The instances I have mentioned do not coincide exactly, yet conclusions applicable to us may be drawn from them, which it would be neither well nor necessary to state. These will teach you whether you are really detached from all you have left; trifling occasions often occur, although perhaps not quite of
the same kind, by which you can prove to yourselves whether you have obtained the mastery over your passions.
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