Poor creature though I be, I am the hand and foot of Christ. I move my hand and my hand is wholly Christ’s hand, for deity is become inseparably
one with me. I move my good and it is aglow with God.
- St. Simeon the New Theologian
(An amazing insight into what it means to be a member of Christ’s mystical body! Recall your identity in Christ throughout the day today. Remember that wherever you are, Christ is present in/through
you.) Help to grow this newsletter by forwarding it to someone.
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GN 13:2, 5-18; PS 15:2-3A, 3BC-4AB, 5
MT 7:6, 12-14
Jesus said to his disciples:
"Do not give what is holy to dogs, or throw your pearls
before swine,
lest they trample them underfoot, and turn and tear you to pieces.
"Do to others whatever you would have them do to you.
This is the Law and the Prophets.
"Enter through the narrow gate;
for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction,
and those who enter through it are many.
How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life.
And those who find it are few."
UCCB Lectionary
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Reflection on the Scriptures |
The Lord Jesus gives us freedom to choose which way we will go. Ask him for the wisdom to know which way will lead to life rather than to harm and destruction. See, I have set before you this day life and good, death and evil... Therefore choose life that you and your descendants may live (Deuteronomy 3:15-20). Choose this day whom you will serve (Joshua 24:15). Behold I set before you the way of
life and the way of death (Jeremiah 21:8). If we allow God's love and wisdom to rule our hearts, then we can trust in his guidance and help to follow his path of love, truth, and holiness.
"Let me love you, my Lord and my God, and see myself as I really am - a pilgrim in this world, a Christian called to respect and love all whose lives I touch, those in authority over me or those under my authority, my friends and my enemies. Help me to conquer anger with
gentleness, greed by generosity, apathy by fervor. Help me to forget myself and reach out towards others." (Prayer attributed to Clement XI of Rome)
DailyScripture.net
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The Ascent of Mount Carmel, by St. John of the Cross E. Allison Peers Translation. Paperback, Kindle, Audio Book.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1935785982/?tag=christianspiritu
BOOK THE FIRST Wherein is described the nature of dark night and how necessary it is to pass through it to Divine union; and in particular this book describes the dark night of sense, and desire, and the evils which these work in the soul.
CHAPTER VII
Wherein is shown how the desires darken and blind the soul.
5. And thus David, realizing how blind are these souls, and how completely impeded from beholding the light of truth, and how wroth is God with them, speaks to
them, saying: Priusquam intelligerent spinae vestrae rhamnum: sicut viventes, sic in ira absorber eos. And this is as though He had said: Before your thorns (that is, your desires) harden and grow, changing from tender thorns into a thick hedge and shutting out the sight of God even as oft-times the living find their thread of life broken in the midst of its course, even so will God swallow them up in His wrath. For the desires that are living in the soul, so that it cannot understand
Him, will be swallowed up by God by means of chastisement and correction, either in this life or in the next, and this will come to pass through purgation. And He says that He will swallow them up in wrath, because that which is suffered in the mortification of the desires is punishment for the ruin which they have wrought in the soul. |
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