“That God should have clothed himself with our nature is a fact that should not seem strange or extravagant to minds that do not form too paltry an idea of
reality. Who, looking at the universe, would be so feeble-minded as not to believe that God is all in all; that he clothes himself with the universe, and at the same time contains it and dwells in it? What exists depends on Him who exists, and nothing can exist except in the bosom of Him who is.”
- Gregory of Nyssa, Catechetical Orations, 25 -
(Repeat that last sentence, applying its message to your own life. Let its words move
you to prayer of gratitude for the gift of existence.) |
GN 46:1-7, 28-30; PS 37:3-4, 18-19, 27-28, 39-40
MT 10:16-23
Jesus said
to his Apostles:
"Behold, I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves;
so be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves.
But beware of men,
for they will hand you over to courts
and scourge you in their synagogues,
and you will be led before governors and kings for my sake
as a witness before them and the pagans.
When they hand you over,
do not worry about how you are to speak
or what you are to say.
You will be given at that moment what you are to
say.
For it will not be you who speak
but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.
Brother will hand over brother to death,
and the father his child;
children will rise up against parents and have them put to death.
You will be hated by all because of my name,
but whoever endures to the end will be saved.
When they persecute you in one town, flee to another.
Amen, I say to you, you will not finish the towns of Israel
before the Son of Man
comes."
Reflection on the
Scriptures |
It is the theme of trust that resonates with me from the readings today.
God tells Israel “Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt.” The psalmist sings, “Trust in the Lord and do good.” Jesus says to the disciples, “Do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say. You will be given at that moment what you are to say. For it will not be you who speak(s) but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.” Walking into the unknown, whether it be Egypt or the villages of Israel, a new place to live, a new job, a new relationship, can be scary. In today’s
readings (and every day) we are invited to choose heartfelt trust in God anyway.
- by Molly Mattingly Revelations of Divine
Love - by Julian of Norwich
Thirteenth Revelation, Chapter 40
“True love teacheth us that we
should hate sin only for love.”
“To me was shewed no harder hell than sin.”
“God willeth that we endlessly hate the sin and endlessly love the soul, as God loveth it”
But now if any man or woman because of all this spiritual comfort that is aforesaid, be stirred by folly to say or to think: If this be true, then were it good to sin [so as] to have the more meed,—or else to charge the
less [guilt] to sin,—beware of this stirring: for verily if it come it is untrue, and of the enemy of the same true love that teacheth us that we should hate sin only for love. I am sure by mine own feeling, the more that any kind soul seeth this in the courteous love of our Lord God, the lother he is to sin and the more he is ashamed. For if afore us were laid [together] all the pains in Hell and in Purgatory and in Earth—death and other—, and [by itself] sin, we should rather choose all
that pain than sin. For sin is so vile and so greatly to be hated that it may be likened to no pain which is not sin. And to me was shewed no harder hell than sin. For a kind soul hath no hell but sin. |
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