God is the friend of silence.
Trees, flowers, grass grow in silence.
See the stars, moon, and sun,
how they move in silence.
St. Teresa of Calcutta
(Find ways to make more time for prayerful silence this Advent season. How will you do so today?)
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IS 26:1-6; PS 118:1 AND 8-9, 19-21, 25-27A
MT 7:21, 24-27
Jesus said to his disciples:
"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,'
will enter the Kingdom of heaven,
but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.
"Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them
will be like a wise man who built his house on rock.
The rain fell, the floods came,
and the winds blew and buffeted the house.
But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock.
And everyone who listens to these words of mine
but does not act on them
will be like a fool who built his house on sand.
The rain fell, the floods came,
and the winds blew and buffeted the house.
And it collapsed and was completely ruined."
Reflection on the Scriptures |
Jesus reminds us that we must listen and then act on His words. By prayerfully contemplating His words, we better understand God’s call to us. By acting on His words, we strengthen our foundation by deepening our personal commitment to His message of creating the kingdom of God on earth. By regularly examining our personal and organizational and other foundations, we can find those areas where we must
make changes so our life-structures are stronger and more clearly focused on God’s call.
And so my prayer today is for the grace to honestly examine my personal foundation and those of the organizations in which I am a stakeholder, and for the strength to make the changes necessary to repair structural flaws that impede me, and those organizations, from generously responding to God’s call.
- by Tom Purcell
Revelations of Divine Love
- by Julian of Norwich
Fourteenth Revelation, Chapter 53
“In every soul that shall be saved is a Godly Will that never assented to sin, nor ever shall.” “Ere that He made us He loved us, and when we were made we loved Him”
For ere that He made us He loved us, and when we were made we loved Him. And this is a Love that is made, [to our Kindly Substance], [by virtue] of the Kindly Substantial Goodness of the Holy Ghost; Mighty, in Reason, [by virtue] of the Might of the Father; and Wise, in Mind, [by virtue] of the Wisdom of the Son. And thus is Man’s Soul made by God and in the same point knit to God.
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