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Keep alive within you and bring under wise control that courage which makes you long to undertake great works, which others might consider it folly to attempt.
- Mary Euphrasia Pelletier, Embrace the
World What great works do you aspire to undertake? Pray that you might dream the dreams God has for you.
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Exodus 11:10—12:14
Psalm 116:12-13, 15 and 16bc, 17-18 Matthew 12:1-8 Jesus took a walk one sabbath day through the cornfields. His disciples were hungry and began to pick ears of corn and eat them. The Pharisees noticed it and said to him, ‘Look, your disciples are doing something that is forbidden on the sabbath.’
But he said to them, ‘Have you not read what David did when he and his followers were hungry – how he went into the house of God and how they ate the loaves of offering which neither he nor his followers were allowed to eat, but which were for the priests alone? Or again, have you not read in the Law that on the sabbath day the Temple priests break the sabbath without being blamed for it? Now here, I tell you, is something greater than the Temple. And if you had understood the meaning of the
words: What I want is mercy, not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the blameless. For the Son of Man is master of the
sabbath.’
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Reflection on the Scriptures
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Jesus' disciples are scolded by the scribes and Pharisees, not for plucking and eating corn from the fields, but for doing so on the Sabbath. In defending his disciples, Jesus argues from the Scriptures that human need has precedence over ritual custom. In their hunger, David and his men ate of the holy bread offered in the Temple. Jesus also quoted of the Sabbath work involved in worship in the Temple. This kind of
work was usually double the work of worship on weekdays. Jesus then quotes from the prophet Hosea (6:6): I desire mercy, and not sacrifice. While the claims of ritual sacrifice are important to God, mercy and kindness in response to human need are even more important. Do you honor the Lord in the way you treat your neighbor and celebrate the Lord's Day? Lord, make us to walk in your way: Where there is love and wisdom, there is neither
fear nor ignorance; where there is patience and humility, there is neither anger nor annoyance; where there is poverty and joy, there is neither greed nor avarice; where there is peace and contemplation, there is neither care nor restlessness; where there is the fear of God to guard the dwelling, there no enemy can enter; where there is mercy and prudence, there is neither excess nor harshness; this we know through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. (Prayer of Francis of Assisi,
1182-1226)
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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 FOURTH MANSIONS Chapter One CHow
sweetness and tenderness in prayer differ from consolations. Explains how advantageous is was for Sr. Teresa to comprehen that the imagination and understanding are not the same thing. This chapter is useful for those whose thoughts wander much during prayer 1. Now that I commence writing about the fourth mansions, it is requisite, as I said, [107] to commend myself to the Holy Ghost and to beg Him henceforth to speak for me, that I may be enabled to treat
these matters intelligibly. Henceforth they begin to be supernatural and it will be most difficult to speak clearly about them, [108] unless His Majesty undertakes it for me, as He did when I explained the subject (as far as I understood it) somewhat about fourteen years ago. [109] I believe I now possess more light about the favours God grants some souls, but that is different from being able to elucidate them. [110] May His Majesty enable me to do so if it would be useful, but
not otherwise. 2. As these mansions are nearer the King's dwelling they are very beautiful, and so subtle are the things seen and heard in them, that, as those tell us who have tried to do so, the mind cannot give a lucid idea of them to those inexperienced in the matter. People who have enjoyed these favours, especially if it was to any great extent, will easily comprehend me. 3. Apparently a person must have dwelt for a long time in the former
mansions before entering these; although in ordinary cases the soul must have been in the last one spoken of, yet, as you must often have heard, there is no fixed rule, for God gives when, how, and to whom He wills [111] --the goods are His own, and His choice wrongs no one. [112] The poisonous reptiles rarely come into these rooms, and, if they enter, do more good than harm. I think it is far better for them to get in and make war on the soul in this state of prayer; were it not tempted,
the devil might sometimes deceive it about divine consolations, thus injuring it far more. Besides, the soul would benefit less, because all occasions of gaining merit would be withdrawn, were it left continually absorbed in God. I am not confident that this absorption is genuine when it always remains in the same state, nor does it appear to me possible for the Holy Ghost to dwell constantly within us, to the same extent, during our earthly exile.
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