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To do what He bids is to obey Him, and to obey Him is to approach Him. Every act of obedience is an approach—an approach to Him who is not far off, though He seems so, but close behind this visible screen of things hiding Him from us.
... John Henry Newman (1801-1890)
(Obedience is the use of freedom to align oneself with God's good intentions and purposes. How are you being called to obedience these days?)
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JER 13:1-11; DEUTERONOMY 32:18-19, 20, 21
MT 13:31-35
Jesus proposed a parable to the crowds.
"The Kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed
that a person took and sowed in a field.
It is the smallest of all the seeds,
yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants.
It becomes a large bush,
and the 'birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches.'"
He spoke to them another parable.
"The Kingdom of heaven is like yeast
that a woman took and
mixed with three measures of wheat flour
until the whole batch was leavened."
All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables.
He spoke to them only in parables,
to fulfill what had been said through the prophet:
I will open my mouth in parables,
I will announce what has lain hidden from the foundation
of the
world.
USCCB lectionary
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Reflection on the Scripture |
"I will announce what has lain hidden since the creation of the world."
—Matthew 13:35 In Jesus' parables, we learn things that were hidden for many thousands of years before Christ (Mt 13:35). In the Scriptures, the Lord tells us "things great beyond reach of [our] knowledge" (Jer 33:3). The Holy Spirit works through the Scriptures to reveal "even the deep things of God" (1 Cor 2:10). " 'Eye
has not seen, ear has not heard, nor has it so much as dawned on man what God has prepared for those who love Him.' Yet God has revealed this wisdom to us through the Spirit" (1 Cor 2:9-10). In the Scriptures, we receive "a mysterious, a hidden wisdom" (1 Cor 2:7).
Because of the uniquely powerful light we receive from the Scriptures, we should:
- accept the privilege of reading the Scriptures daily,
- take the responsibility of sharing the Scriptures daily,
- use the Bible daily as our prayer book,
- devote ourselves to the
Word of God more than to TV, other forms of media, and other areas of education, and
- abide in God's Word (Jn 8:31).
Prayer: Father, may I always live in the light of Your Word (Ps 119:105).
Promise: "I made the whole house of
Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to Me, says the Lord; to be My people, My renown, My praise, My beauty." —Jer 13:11
Presentation Ministries
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Abandonment to Divine Providence - by Jean-Pierre de Caussade Section V: The Divine Influence Alone Can Sanctify Us
No reading, nor any other exercise can sanctify us except in so far as they are the channels of the divine influence. ___________
Whatever ideas may fill the mind, whatever feelings afflict the body; even if the mind should be tormented with distractions and troubles, and the body with sickness and pain, nevertheless the divine will is ever for the present moment the life of the soul and of the body; in fact, neither the one nor the other, no matter in what condition it may be, can be sustained by any other power. The divine influence alone can sanctify us. Without it bread may be poison, and poison a
salutary remedy. Without it reading only darkens the mind; with it darkness is made light. It is everything that is good and true in all things, and in all things it unites us to God, who, being infinite in all perfections, leaves nothing to be desired by the soul that possesses Him.
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