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Lord, I renounce my desire for human praise, for the approval of my peers, the need for public recognition. I deliberately put these aside today, content to hear you whisper, "Well done, my faithful servant." Amen
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Anonymous
(To be free of the attachment to approval from others . . . let us pray. )
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Daily Readings
Ezra 6:7-8, 12b, 14-20
Psalm
122:1-2, 3-4ab, 4cd-5 Luke 9:1-6 Jesus called the Twelve together and gave them power and authority over all devils and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal. He said to them, ‘Take nothing for the journey: neither staff, nor haversack, nor bread, nor money; and let none of you take a spare tunic. Whatever house you enter, stay there;
and when you leave, let it be from there. As for those who do not welcome you, when you leave their town shake the dust from your feet as a sign to them.’ So they set out and went from village to village proclaiming the Good News and healing everywhere.
Praying the Daily Gospels: A Guide to Meditation, by Philip St. Romain, 2018 (3rd ed.) Luke 9:1-6 (The twelve emissaries) To insure that the Twelve apostles not be judged as having a hidden agenda and ulterior motives, Jesus sends them among the people as poor, unassuming messengers. They are to extend God’s gifts of healing and teaching in return for food and shelter. If rejected, they are to move along. This model of ministry is profound in its simplicity. - Make a list of ulterior motives that seem to hamper the efforts of Christian ministers.
Do any of these motives interfere with your own efforts at spreading the Good News?
- What does the virtue of simplicity mean to you?
Treatise on the Love of God, by St. Francis de Sales (1567-1622) ____________ BOOK VI: OF THE EXERCISES OF LOVE IN PRAYER Chapter 7: Of the loving recollection of the soul in contemplation.
O God! says then the soul in imitation of S.
Augustine, whither was I wandering to seek thee! O most infinite beauty! I sought thee without, and thou wast in the midst of my heart. All Magdalen's affections, and all her thoughts, were scattered about the sepulchre of her Saviour, whom she went seeking hither and thither, and though she had found him, and he spoke to her, yet leaves she them dispersed, because she does not perceive his presence; but as soon as he had called her by her name, see how she gathers herself together and entirely
attaches herself to his feet: one only word puts her into recollection.
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