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Message of the Day
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"Instead of hating the people you think are war-makers, hate the appetites and the disorder in your own soul, which are the causes of war. If you love peace, then hate injustice, hate tyranny, hate greed — but hate these things in yourself, not in another.”
- Thomas Merton Take a look into your own heart . . .
gently, honestly, lovingly.
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Readings of the Day
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Acts 20:17-27
Psalm 68:10-11,
20-21 John 17:1-11a Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and said: ‘Father, the hour has come:
glorify your Son
so that your Son may glorify you;
and, through the power over all mankind that you have given
him,
let him give eternal life to all those you have entrusted to him.
And eternal life is this:
to know you,
the only true God,
and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
I have glorified you on earth
and finished the work
that you gave me to do.
Now, Father, it is time for you to glorify me
with that glory I had with you
before ever the world was.
I have made your name known
to the men you took from the world to give me.
They were yours and you gave them to me,
and they have kept your word.
Now at last they know
that all you have given me comes indeed from you;
for I have given them the teaching you gave to me,
and they have truly accepted this, that I came from you,
and have believed that it was you who sent me.
I pray for them;
I am not praying for the world
but for those you have given me,
because they belong to you:
all I have is yours
and all you have is mine,
and in them I am glorified.
I am not in
the world any longer,
but they are in the world,
and I am coming to
you.’ USCCB lectionary
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Reflection on the Scripture
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“The Holy Spirit has been warning me from city to city that chains and hardships await me. I put no value on my life if only I can finish my race.” —Acts 20:23-24
The Holy Spirit, being God, is paradoxical. The Holy Spirit gives us light to see what we’ve never seen before. We can receive insights about the past and recognize in the present great opportunities which we have never noticed before. At the same time, our life in the Holy Spirit often puts us in the position where we have no idea what will happen to us (see Acts 20:22). We see so much more, but we also see that our “so much more” is nothing compared to the blinding
light of the mystery of God. In the Holy Spirit, we receive not only light but life — abundant life (see Jn 10:10). The Spirit makes us more alive than ever before. Paradoxically, however, we receive this full life by dying to self. “Continually we carry about in our bodies the dying of Jesus, so that in our bodies the life of Jesus may also be revealed” (2 Cor 4:10). We have life in the Spirit only because we have death in the
Spirit. Human beings naturally fear paradoxes. Therefore, we fear mystery and the Holy Spirit. Yet the Lord repeatedly commands us not to fear, and He graces us accordingly. Jesus said: “Fear is useless. What is needed is trust” (Mk 5:36). Come, Holy Spirit! Prayer: Father, on this fifth day of the Pentecost novena, I accept the grace to trust the Holy
Spirit. Promise: “Eternal life is this: to know You, the only true God, and Him Whom You have sent, Jesus Christ.” —Jn 17:3 Presentation Ministries
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Spiritual Reading
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The Practice of the Presence of God: The Best Rule of Holy Life, by Brother Lawrence (1611 - 1691). Christian Classics Ethereal Library.
https://ccel.org/ccel/lawrence/practice/practice Seventh Letter At the age of nearly fourscore exhorts his correspondent, who is sixty-four, to live and die with God and promises and asks for
prayer. It is not necessary for being with GOD to be always at church; we may make an oratory of our heart, wherein to retire from time to time, to converse with Him in meekness, humility, and love. Every one is capable of such familiar conversation with GOD, some more, some less: He knows what we can do. Let us begin then; perhaps He expects but one generous resolution on our part. Have
courage. We have but little time to live; you are near sixty-four, and I am almost eighty. Let us live and die with GOD: sufferings will be sweet and pleasant to us, while we are with Him: and the greatest pleasures will be, without Him, a cruel pun- ishment to us. May He be blessed for all. Amen. Use yourself then by degrees thus to worship Him, to beg His grace, to offer Him your heart from time to time, in the midst of
your business, even every moment if you can. Do not always scrupulously confine yourself to certain rules, or particular forms of devotion; but act with a general confidence in GOD, with love and humility. You may assure - of my poor prayers, and that I am their servant, and yours
particularly.
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