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Pray with your intelligence. Bring things to God that you have thought out and think them out again with Him. That is the secret of good judgment. Repeatedly place your pet opinions and prejudices before God. He will surprise you by showing you that the best of them need refining and some the purification of destruction.
... Charles H. Brent (1862-1929), Adventures
in Prayer [1932]
(This is one way the Spirit blesses us with Knowledge and Wisdom.) |
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1 COR 2:1-5; PS 119:97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102
LK 4:16-30
Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had grown up,
and went according to his custom
into the synagogue on the sabbath day.
He stood up to read and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah.
He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written:
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has
anointed me
to bring glad tidings to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.
Rolling up the scroll,
he handed it back to the attendant and sat down,
and the eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently
at him.
He said to them,
"Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing."
And all spoke highly of him
and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth.
They also asked, "Is this not the son of Joseph?"
He said to them, "Surely you will quote me this proverb,
'Physician, cure yourself,' and say, 'Do here in your native place
the things that we heard were done in Capernaum.'"
And he said,
"Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own
native place.
Indeed, I tell you,
there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah
when the sky was closed for three and a half years
and a severe famine spread over the entire land.
It was to none of these that Elijah was sent,
but only to a widow in Zarephath in the land of Sidon.
Again, there were many lepers in Israel
during the time of Elisha the prophet;
yet not one of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian."
When the people in the synagogue heard
this,
they were all filled with fury.
They rose up, drove him out of the town,
and led him to the brow of the hill
on which their town had been built, to hurl him down headlong.
But he passed through the midst of them and went away.
USCCB lectionary
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Reflection on the Scripture |
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me; therefore He has anointed Me. He has sent Me..." —Luke 4:18
As Jesus began His public ministry, His culminating work of our salvation, He taught us how to work. Jesus worked:
in the synagogue (Lk 4:16). Begin your work at church.
reading the Bible (Lk 4:16). Base your work on the Bible.
anointed by the Holy Spirit (Lk 4:18).
to bring the gospel to the poor (Lk 4:18).
proclaiming "liberty to captives, recovery of sight to the blind and release to prisoners, to announce a year of favor from the Lord" (Lk 4:18-19). Jesus focused on freedom. So we should work for freedom.
prophesying
(Lk 4:24). Seek this gift of the Spirit above all others (1 Cor 14:1).
while being persecuted (Lk 4:29-30). "Blest are those persecuted for holiness' sake; the reign of God is theirs" (Mt 5:10).
As disciples of Jesus, we imitate Him and work as He worked. We work through, with, in, and for Him. We are God's work, "created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them" (Eph 2:10, RSV-CE). Accept Jesus as Lord of your
work.
Prayer: Father, may I work not "for perishable food but for food that remains unto life eternal" (Jn 6:27).
Promise: "I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified."
—1 Cor 2:2, RSV-CE
Presentation Ministries
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Abandonment to Divine Providence - by Jean-Pierre de Caussade Section
VII: On the attainment of peace
There is no solid peace except in submission to the divine action. ___________
The soul that does not attach itself solely to the will of God will find no
satisfaction in any other means however excellent by which it may attempt to gain them. If that which God Himself chooses for you does not content you, from whom do you expect to obtain what you desire? If you are disgusted with the meat prepared for you by the divine will itself, what food would not be insipid to so depraved a taste? No soul can be really nourished, fortified, purified, enriched, and sanctified except in fulfilling the duties of the present moment. What more would you have? As
in this you can find all good, why seek it elsewhere? Do you know better than God? As he ordains it thus why do you desire it differently? Can His wisdom and goodness be deceived? When you find something to be in accordance with this divine wisdom and goodness ought you not to conclude that it must needs be excellent? Do you imagine you will find peace in resisting the Almighty? Is it not, on the contrary, this resistance which we too often continue without owning it even to ourselves which is
the cause of all our troubles? It is only just, therefore, that the soul that is dissatisfied with the divine action for each present moment should be punished by being unable to find happiness in anything else. If books, the example of the saints, and spiritual conversations deprive the soul of peace; if they fill the mind without satisfying it; it is a sign that one has strayed from the path of pure abandonment to the divine action, and that one is only seeking to please oneself. To be
employed in this way is to prevent God from finding an entrance. All this must be got rid of because of being an obstacle to grace. But if the divine will ordains the use of these things the soul may receive them like the rest -- that is to say as the means ordained by God which it accepts simply to use, and leaves afterwards when their moment has passed for the duties of the moment that follows. There is, in fact, nothing really good that does not emanate from the ordinance of God, and
nothing, however good in itself, can be better adapted for the sanctification of the soul and the attainment of peace.
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