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Consciousness, Conversion and Grace
A 5-week webinar series presented by Carla Mae Streeter, OP
- Feb. 21, 28; March 7, 14, 21. 6:30 - 8:00 p.m. Central
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Free-will donation
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Without expectation, do something for love itself, not for what you may receive. Love in action is what gives us grace. We have been created for greater things - - to love and to be loved. Love is love - - to love a person without any conditions, without any expectations. Small things, done in great love, bring
joy and peace. To love, it is necessary to give. To give, it is necessary to be free from selfishness.
- St. Teresa of Calcutta
(Call to mind the word, “love,” all through this day and see what difference it
makes.)
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SIR 1:1-10; PS 93:1AB, 1CD-2, 5
MK 9:14-29
As Jesus came down from the mountain with Peter, James, John
and approached the other disciples,
they saw a large crowd around them and scribes
arguing with them.
Immediately on seeing him,
the whole crowd was utterly amazed.
They ran up to him and greeted him.
He asked them, "What are you arguing about with them?"
Someone from the crowd answered him,
"Teacher, I have brought to you my son possessed by a mute spirit.
Wherever it seizes him, it throws him down;
he foams at the mouth, grinds his teeth, and becomes rigid.
I asked your disciples to drive it out, but they were unable to do so."
He said to
them in reply,
"O faithless generation, how long will I be with you?
How long will I endure you? Bring him to me."
They brought the boy to him.
And when he saw him,
the spirit immediately threw the boy into convulsions.
As he fell to the ground, he began to roll around
and foam at the mouth.
Then he questioned his father,
"How long has this been happening to him?"
He replied, "Since childhood.
It has often thrown him into fire and into
water to kill him.
But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us."
Jesus said to him,
"'If you can!' Everything is possible to one who has faith."
Then the boy's father cried out, "I do believe, help my unbelief!"
Jesus, on seeing a crowd rapidly gathering,
rebuked the unclean spirit and said to it,
"Mute and deaf spirit, I command you:
come out of him and never enter him again!"
Shouting and throwing the boy into convulsions, it came out.
He became
like a corpse, which caused many to say, "He is dead!"
But Jesus took him by the hand, raised him, and he stood up.
When he entered the house, his disciples asked him in private,
"Why could we not drive the spirit out?"
He said to them, "This kind can only come out through prayer."
USCCB lectionary
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Reflection on the Scripture |
Jesus said "to the crowd, 'What an unbelieving lot you are! How long must I remain with you? How long can I endure you?' " –Mark 9:19
A lack of faith distresses Jesus (Mk 6:6). Jesus came into the midst of a crowd which lacked
faith and expressed His exasperation quite openly (Mk 9:19, 23). Many of us are surrounded by crowds of people who lack faith.
After Jesus expressed His exasperation in today's Gospel reading, He challenged the father's faith (Mk 9:23), raised the father's level of faith (Mk 9:24), and then taught His
disciples to expel demons by prayer and fasting (Mk 9:29; Mt 17:21, NAB).
Are you distressed by a lack of faith enough to pray, fast, and speak as Jesus did? "Your attitude must be that of Christ" (Phil 2:5).
PRAYER: Father, give me the mind of Christ (1 Cor 2:16).
PROMISE: "Fear of the Lord warms the heart." –Sir 1:10 mycatholic.com
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Theological Gems from Emile Merch's Theology of the Mystical Body - selected by Jim and Tyra Arraj
Book III: Christ
Chapter 13: Revelation and the Trinity
400. God’s plan for the diffusion of light as well as for the communication of life is magnificent in its simplicity and unity; it unfolds wholly in Christ, that is, in the whole Christ.
Christ has an
intuition of the Trinity.
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