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“Sufficient for today are the problems thereof!” Mt. 6:34
It has been well said that no one ever sank under the burden of the day. It is when tomorrow’s burden is added to the burden of today that the weight is more than a person can bear. Never
load yourselves so, my friends. If you find yourselves so loaded, at least remember this: it is your own doing, not God’s. He begs you to leave the future to Him and mind the present. - George MacDonald (1824-1905), “Annals of a Quiet Neighbourhood,” v. I
What needs doing today? Make a list and strive to carry that out, leaving other matters for another
time.
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2 Samuel 6:12b-15,
17-19
Psalm 24:7, 8, 9, 10 Mark 3:31-35 The mother and brothers of Jesus arrived and, standing outside, sent in a message asking for him. A crowd was sitting round him at the time the message was passed to him, ‘Your mother and brothers and sisters are outside asking for you.’ He replied, ‘Who are my mother and my brothers?’ And looking round at those sitting in a circle about him, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers. Anyone who does the
will of God, that person is my brother and sister and
mother.’
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Reflection on the Scriptures
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An early Christian martyr once said that "a Christian's only relatives are the saints" - namely those who have been redeemed by the blood of Christ and adopted as sons and daughters of God. Those who have been baptized into Jesus Christ and who live as his disciples enter into a new family, a family of "saints" here on earth and in heaven. Jesus changes the order of relationships and shows that true kinship is not just a matter of flesh and
blood. Our adoption as sons and daughters of God transforms all of our relationships and requires a new order of loyalty to God first and to his kingdom of righteousness and peace. Do you want to grow in love and friendship? Allow God's Holy Spirit to transform your heart, mind, and will to enable you to love freely and generously as he loves. Heavenly Father, you are the source of all true friendship and love. In all my relationships, may your love be my constant guide for
choosing what is good and for rejecting what is contrary to your will.
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The Interior Castle (or, The Mansions), by St. Teresa of Avila Benedictines of Stanbrook translation. 1921.. Paperback, Hardcover Kindle, Audio Book.
https://amzn.to/41RmJFb THE FIFTH MANSIONS Chapter Two Continues the same subject and speaks of another kind of union which the soul can obtain with the help of God. The importance of love of our neighbour in this matter. This is very useful to read. 11. When I see people very anxious to know what sort of prayer they practise, covering their faces and afraid to move or think lest they should lose any slight tenderness and devotion they feel, I know how
little they understand how to attain union with God since they think it consists in such things as these. No, sisters, no; our Lord expects works from us. If you see a sick sister whom you can relieve, [197] never fear losing your devotion; compassionate her; if she is in pain, feel for it as if it were your own and, when there is need, fast so that she may eat, not so much for her sake as because you know your Lord asks it of you. This is the true union of our will with the will of God. If some
one else is well spoken of, be more pleased than if it were yourself; this is easy enough, for if you were really humble it would vex you to be praised. It is a great good to rejoice at your sister's virtues being known and to feel as sorry for the fault you see in her as if it were yours, hiding it from the sight of others. 12. I have often spoken on this subject elsewhere, [198] because, my sisters, if we fail in this I know that all is lost: please God this may never
be our case. If you possess fraternal charity, I assure you that you will certainly obtain the union I have described. If you are conscious that you are wanting in this charity, although you may feel devotion and sweetness and a short absorption in the prayer of quiet (which makes you think you have attained to union with God), believe me you have not yet reached it. Beg our Lord to grant you perfect love for your neighbour, and leave the rest to Him. He will give you more than you know how to
desire if you constrain yourselves and strive with all your power to gain it, forcing your will as far as possible to comply in all things with your sisters' wishes although you may sometimes forfeit your own rights by so doing. Forget your self-interests for theirs, how ever much nature may rebel; when opportunity occurs take some burden upon yourself to ease your neighbour of it. Do not fancy it will cost you nothing and that you will find it all done for you: think what the love He bore for
us cost our Spouse, Who to free us from death, Himself suffered the most painful death of all--the death of the Cross.
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