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"...to surrender to too many demands, to commit oneself to too many projects, to want to help everyone in everything is to succumb to violence." - C. S. Lewis, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander
Disencumber - extricate: release from entanglement of difficulty. What would this mean for
you?
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Daily Readings
Romans 6:12-18
Psalm 124:1b-3,
4-6, 7-8 Luke 12:39-48 Jesus said to his disciples:
‘You may be quite sure of this, that if the householder had known at what hour the burglar would come, he would not have let anyone break through the wall of his house. You too must stand ready, because the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.’
Peter said, ‘Lord, do you mean this parable for us, or for everyone?’ The Lord replied, ‘What sort of steward, then, is faithful and wise enough for the master to place him over his household to give them their allowance of food at the proper time? Happy that servant if his master’s arrival finds him at this employment. I tell you truly, he will place him over everything he owns. But as for the servant who says to himself, “My master is taking his time coming,” and
sets about beating the menservants and the maids, and eating and drinking and getting drunk, his master will come on a day he does not expect and at an hour he does not know. The master will cut him off and send him to the same fate as the unfaithful.
The servant who knows what his master wants, but has not even started to carry out those wishes, will receive very many strokes of the lash. The one who did not know, but deserves to be beaten for what
he has done, will receive fewer strokes. When a man has had a great deal given him, a great deal will be demanded of him; when a man has had a great deal given him on trust, even more will be expected of him.’
Praying the Daily Gospels: A Guide to Meditation, by Philip St. Romain, 2018 (3rd ed.) Luke 12: 39-48 (Honesty and
fidelity) The world is a much better place because of the Judeo-Christian doctrine of an eventual call to judgment. But fear of punishment is, at best, only a minimal reason to remain faithful to God. Fidelity to Christ’s values is strongest in people who recognize in these principles a way to live life to the fullest. Those who never achieve this understanding will not be judged as harshly as will those who do know the truth but
choose selfishness anyway. • What are some of the reasons why you faithfully follow Jesus? • “When you know the right thing to do but do not do it, you sin,” James wrote. Spend some time reflecting on how lately you have fallen short of the goodness to which Jesus calls you. Ask God for forgiveness.
Treatise on the Love of God, by St. Francis de Sales (1567-1622) ____________ BOOK VI: OF THE EXERCISES OF LOVE IN PRAYER Chapter 8: Of the repose of a soul recollected in her well-beloved. Now this repose sometimes goes so deep
in its tranquillity, that the whole soul and all its powers fall as it were asleep, and make no movement nor action whatever, except the will alone, and even this does no more than receive the delight and satisfaction which the presence of the well-beloved affords. And what is yet more admirable is, that the will does not even perceive the delight and contentment which she receives, enjoying it insensibly, being not mindful of herself but of him whose presence gives her this pleasure, as happens
frequently when, surprised by a light slumber, we only hear indistinctly what our friends are saying around us, or feel their caresses almost imperceptibly, not feeling that we feel.
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