Forum on Christianity and Spirituality
November 6, 2025, 7:30 p.m. CDT Topic: What is Christian Nationalism? by Jerry Truex, Ph.D. See https://shalomplace.com/inetmin/forum.html for more information and registration.
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Message of the Day
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But forgiveness is not an emotion... Forgiveness is an act of will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart.
- Corrie Ten Boom Where do you need to practice forgiveness in your life at this time?
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Readings of the Day
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Ephesians 2:19-22
Psalm 19:2-3,
4-5 Luke 6:12-16 Jesus went out into the hills to pray; and he spent the whole night in prayer to God. When day came he summoned his disciples and picked out twelve of them; he called them ‘apostles’: Simon whom he called Peter, and his brother Andrew; James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Simon called the Zealot, Judas son of James, and Judas
Iscariot who became a traitor.
He then came down with them and stopped at a piece of level ground where there was a large gathering of his disciples with a great crowd of people from all parts of Judaea and from Jerusalem and from the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon who had come to hear him and to be cured of their diseases. People tormented by unclean spirits were also cured, and everyone in the crowd was trying to touch him because power came out
of him that cured them all. Podcast reflection on Jesus at the home of Martha and
Mary. USCCB lectionary
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Reflection on the Scripture
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Jesus “selected twelve of them to be His apostles:...Simon called the Zealot, Judas son of James…” —Luke 6:13, 15-16 Today’s saints are
the apostles Sts. Simon and Jude. Each had the same name as a more widely known apostle. Simon the Zealot shared a name with Simon Peter, the leader of the apostles. Judas Thaddeus (also called Lebbaeus in Mt 10:3, KJV) shared a name with Judas Iscariot, “who betrayed” Jesus (Mk 3:19). Jude is a nickname given to Judas Thaddeus for fear of otherwise having to say “St. Judas” rather than “St. Jude.” One might call Simon and Jude the patrons of mistaken identity. Yet they are part of the
foundation of the Church (Eph 2:20; Rv 21:14). These two were leaders chosen by Jesus (Mt 10:1-4; Mk 3:13-19; Lk 6:12-16). We all benefit from their blessed leadership. We Christians often have mistaken identities (see 1 Cor 4:9-13). We are called hypocrites, intolerant, haters and fanatics. Our parents, family, friends, and children who do not believe in Christ think we are something other than who we are in Jesus. They cannot see our true
identity in Christ (1 Cor 2:14). They can’t overlook our history or our past sins. They identify us with a stereotype rather than giving us a chance to be who we are in Christ. Sts. Simon and Jude understood this well. In Jesus, we are no longer strangers (Eph 2:19). Our identity is in Him (see Acts 17:28). God knows and loves us completely (see Ps 139:1-3). That was enough for Simon and Jude to be glorious saints, adopted children of God,
powerhouses in the kingdom of God. Let your identity always be securely rooted in your relationship with Jesus. Prayer: Lord, grant that my identity would always be in You alone. Promise: “In [Jesus] you are being built into this temple, to become a dwelling place for God in the Spirit.” —Eph
2:22 Presentation Ministries
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Spiritual Reading
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Dilexi Te: On the Human and Divine Love of the Heart of Jesus Christ, by Pope Francis (completed by Pope Leo XIII), 2025.
https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/20241024-enciclica-dilexit-nos.html
CHAPTER ONE
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE HEART
6. This interior reality of each person is frequently concealed behind a great deal of “foliage”, which makes it difficult for us not only to understand ourselves, but even more to know others: “The heart is devious above all else; it is perverse, who
can understand it?” (Jer 17:9). We can understand, then, the advice of the Book of Proverbs: “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life; put away from you crooked speech” (4:23-24). Mere appearances, dishonesty and deception harm and pervert the heart. Despite our every attempt to appear as something we are not, our heart is the ultimate judge, not of what we show or hide from others, but of who we truly are. It is the basis for any sound life project;
nothing worthwhile can be undertaken apart from the heart. False appearances and untruths ultimately leave us empty-handed.
7. As an illustration of this, I would repeat a story I have already told on another occasion. “For the carnival, when we were children, my grandmother would make a pastry using a very thin batter. When she dropped the strips of batter into the oil, they would expand, but then, when we bit into them,
they were empty inside. In the dialect we spoke, those cookies were called ‘lies’... My grandmother explained why: ‘Like lies, they look big, but are empty inside; they are false, unreal’”. [5] 8. Instead of running after superficial satisfactions and playing a role for the benefit of others, we would do better to think about the really important questions in life. Who am I, really? What am I looking for? What direction do I want to give to
my life, my decisions and my actions? Why and for what purpose am I in this world? How do I want to look back on my life once it ends? What meaning do I want to give to all my experiences? Who do I want to be for others? Who am I for God? All these questions lead us back to the heart. |
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