While sitting on the bank of a river one day, I picked up a solid round stone
from the water and broke it open. It was perfectly dry in spite of the fact that it had been immersed in water for centuries. The same is true of many people in the Western world. For centuries they have been surrounded by Christianity; they live immersed in the waters of its benefits. And yet it has not penetrated their hearts; they do not love it. The fault is not in Christianity, but in human hearts, which have been hardened by materialism and intellectualism.
... Sadhu
Sundar Singh (1889-1929) Is your heart for God more like a rock or a sponge? What helps to keep your heart open?
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Isaiah 7:10-14;
8:10
Psalm 40:7-8a, 8b-9, 10, 11
Hebrews 10:4-10 Luke 1:26-38 The angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the House of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. He went in and said to her,
‘Rejoice, so highly favoured! The Lord is with you.’ She was deeply disturbed by these words and asked herself what this greeting could mean, but the angel said to her, ‘Mary, do not be afraid; you have won God’s favour. Listen! You are to conceive and bear a son, and you must name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David; he will rule over the House of Jacob for ever and his reign will have no end.’ Mary
said to the angel, ‘But how can this come about, since I am a virgin?’ ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you’ the angel answered ‘and the power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow. And so the child will be holy and will be called Son of God. Know this too: your kinswoman Elizabeth has, in her old age, herself conceived a son, and she whom people called barren is now in her sixth month, for nothing is impossible to God.’ ‘I am the handmaid of the Lord,’ said Mary ‘let what you have said
be done to me.’ And the angel left her.
Reflection on the Scriptures
Today we watch the acceptance in faith of the invitation to do God’s will by a questioning young woman of Nazareth. She has good questions and excuses, as do all those who have been called to surrender to God’s ways. She is not married
and yet she is asked to be a mother. To complicate matters, she is to be the mother of God, the God Who is with us, “Immanuel.” Mary responds with a profound, but simple, “I am the maid-servant of the Lord, let it be done to me as you say.” Let it be done, such a prayer of surrender. Soon, we will watch Mary at the foot of the cross as she listens to her surrender again,
“Let it be done, let it all be done.” Mary received the announcement, her confusion, her invitation, her instrumentality and the dignity of being a maid-servant all as a way of being relational with God. She lived it all out in receptivity and faith. Here, as the end of Lent nears, we are confronted with God’s invitations to us to do, what we believe is doing the “will of God.”
We do not have angels announcing that will to us, but we do believe we have God’s grace to sense, and respond to, the invitations to give Grace a space and a face. To do God’s will is to make human choices which reflect our belief that what we are doing is God’s Will. As with Mary, we trust that what we are doing is what God wills. Trusting then is God’s will, trusting that God will be freed. -by Larry Gillick, S.J.
The Imitation of Christ, Thomas A. Kempis https://amzn.to/40FrikB Paperback and Kindle versions available BOOK
ONE: Thoughts Helpful in the Life of a Soul
The Eighteenth Chapter: The Examples Set For Us By The Holy Ancestors Consider the lively examples set us by the saints, who possessed the light of true perfection and religion, and you will see how little, how nearly nothing, we do. What, alas, is our life, compared with theirs? The saints and friends of Christ served the Lord in hunger and thirst, in cold and nakedness, in work and fatigue, in vigils and fasts, in prayers and holy meditations, in persecutions and many afflictions. How many and severe were the trials they suffered -- the
Apostles, martyrs, confessors, virgins, and all the rest who willed to follow in the footsteps of Christ! They hated their lives on earth that they might have life in eternity. How strict and detached were the lives the holy hermits led in the desert! What long and grave temptations they suffered! How often were they beset by the enemy! What frequent and ardent prayers they
offered to God! What rigorous fasts they observed! How great their zeal and their love for spiritual perfection! How brave the fight they waged to master their evil habits! What pure and straightforward purpose they showed toward God! By day they labored and by night they spent themselves in long prayers. Even at work they did not cease from mental prayer. They used all their time profitably; every hour seemed too short for serving God, and in the great sweetness of contemplation, they forgot
even their bodily needs.
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