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If we try to contemplate God without having turned the face of our inner self entirely in His direction, we will end up inevitably by contemplating ourselves, and we will perhaps plunge into the abyss of warm darkness which is our own sensible nature. That is not a darkness in which one can safely remain passive.
- Thomas Merton
(Not all experiences of inner silence are of the divine. How do you discern which ones really are?) |
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GN 3:9-15, 20; PS 87:1-2, 3 AND 5, 6-7
JN 19:25-34
Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother
and his
mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas,
and Mary of Magdala.
When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved,
he said to his mother, "Woman, behold, your son."
Then he said to the disciple,
"Behold, your mother."
And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.
After this, aware that everything was now finished,
in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled,
Jesus said, "I thirst."
There was a vessel filled with common wine.
So they put a
sponge soaked in wine on a sprig of hyssop
and put it up to his mouth.
When Jesus had taken the wine, he said,
"It is finished."
And bowing his head, he handed over the spirit.
Now since it was preparation day,
in order that the bodies might not remain on the cross on the sabbath,
for the sabbath day of that week was a solemn one,
the Jews asked Pilate that their legs be broken
and they be taken
down.
So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first
and then of the other one who was crucified with Jesus.
But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead,
they did not break his legs,
but one soldier thrust his lance into his side,
and immediately Blood and water flowed out.
USCCB lectionary
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Reflection on the Scripture |
What is the key that unlocks the power of God’s kingdom and his
abundant life in our personal lives? Faith is the free gift of God for all who accept his Son as Lord and Redeemer. Our faith and trust in the Lord Jesus opens the door to all the promises of God who find their fulfillment in Christ. God gives us all the grace and strength we need and he expects us to respond with the same willing obedience and heart-felt trust as Mary did. When God commands he also gives the strength, and means to respond. We can either yield to his grace or resist and go our
own way. Do you believe in God's promises and do you yield to his grace?
"Heavenly Father, you offer us abundant grace, mercy, and forgiveness through your Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ. Help me to live a grace-filled life as Mary did by believing in your promises and by giving you my unqualified "yes" to your will and your plan for my life."
- dailyscripture.net Presentation Ministries
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Abandonment to Divine Providence - by Jean-Pierre de Caussade Section
III: The Work of Our Sanctification
It is true then that He requires on our part only simple and easy things since it is only necessary to employ this simple method to attain to an eminent degree of sanctity. If, over and above the Commandments, He shows us the counsels as a more perfect aim, He always takes care to suit the practice of them to our position and character. He bestows on
us, as the principal sign of our vocation to follow them, the attractions of grace which make them easy. He never impels anyone beyond his strength, nor in any way beyond his aptitude. Again, what could be more just?
All you who strive after perfection and who are tempted to discouragement at the remembrance of
what you have read in the lives of the saints, and of what certain pious books prescribe; O you who are appalled by the terrible ideas of perfection that you have formed for yourselves; it is for your consolation that God has willed me to write this. Learn that of which you seem to be ignorant. This God of all goodness has made those things easy which are common and necessary in the order of nature, such as breathing, eating, and sleeping. No less necessary in the supernatural order are love and
fidelity, therefore it must needs be that the difficulty of acquiring them is by no means so great as is generally represented.
Review your life. Is it not composed of innumerable actions of very little importance? Well, God is quite satisfied with these. They are the share that the soul must take in the work of
its perfection. This is so clearly explained in Holy Scripture that there can be no doubt about it: “Fear God and keep the commandments, this is the whole duty of man” (Ecclesiastes xii, 13), that is to say this is all that is required on the part of man, and it is in this that active fidelity consists.
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