If the thought which comes to you (or which you invite) is full of human conceit regarding your honor, your intelligence, your gifts of grace, your
status, talents, or beauty, and you willingly rest in it with delight, it is the sin of Pride.
- Anonymous, The Cloud of Unknowing (emphasis added)
(Note this distinction between having a temptation and willingly resting in it. See if you can tell when you do this.) |
DT 4:32-40; PS 77:12-13, 14-15, 16 AND 21
MT 16:24-28
Jesus said to his disciples,
"Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself,
take up his cross, and follow me.
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world
and forfeit his life?
Or what can one give in exchange for his life?
For the Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father's
glory,
and then he will repay each according to his conduct.
Amen, I say to you, there are some standing here
who will not taste death
until they see the Son of Man coming in his Kingdom."
Reflection on the
Scriptures |
Jesus tells us that we must deny ourselves in order to follow him. We are invited to embrace a mystery that
involves denying and losing in order to grasp something greater. The meaning of this mystery – and the nature of this denying, losing, and gaining – unfolds over time. The relationship involves other exchanges, too. Sometimes they come through reason, experiences in prayer, worship or the sacraments, or through inner confirmations that arise for circumstances and people we encounter. Eventually we are willing to go “all in” for this relationship, because we know it is as
real as the rest of the natural world around us.
I do not fully understand the genesis of faith or why some do not have faith. I can accept that it is a gift, but since it entails a relationship, I can also accept that the gift needs to be nurtured and cared for. The sacraments, the prayers of the faithful, and the imitation of other saints can help us to keep the weeds at bay, add compost to our rocky ground, and help us bear fruit. When we witness or taste this
fruit for ourselves, isn’t that a kind of miracle, too?
Lord, grant us the courage to nurture our faith. Help us to see the miracles you are sending to us every day. May our brothers and sisters who struggle to find faith find rest, peace, and fulfillment in you. Amen.
- by Ed Morse Revelations of Divine
Love - by Julian of Norwich
Fourteenth Revelation, Chapter 41
I am the Ground of thy
beseeching.
And thus in the first reason, with the three that follow, our good Lord sheweth a mighty comfort, as it may be seen in the same words. And in the first reason,—where He saith: And thou beseechest it, there He sheweth [His] full great pleasance, and endless meed that He will give us for
our beseeching. And in the second reason, where He saith: How should it then be? etc., this was said for an impossible [thing]. For it is most impossible that we should beseech mercy and grace, and not have it. For everything that our good Lord maketh us to beseech, Himself hath ordained it to us from without beginning. Here may we see that our beseeching is not cause of God’s goodness; and that shewed He soothfastly in all these sweet words when He saith: I am [the] Ground.—And our good Lord
willeth that this be known of His lovers in earth; and the more that we know [it] the more should we beseech, if it be wisely taken; and so is our Lord’s meaning.
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