I hear no one boast that he hath a knowledge of the Scriptures, but that he owneth a Bible written in golden characters. And tell me then, what profit is this? The Holy Scriptures were not given to us that we should enclose them in books, but that we should engrave them upon our hearts.
- St. John Chrysostom (345?-407)
(What role does Scripture play in your ongoing spiritual formation?)
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ACTS 22:30; 23:6-11; PS 16:1-2A AND 5, 7-8, 9-10, 11
JN 17:20-26
Lifting up his eyes to heaven, Jesus prayed saying:
"I pray not only for these,
but also for those who will believe in me through their word,
so that they may all be one,
as you, Father, are in me and I in you,
that they also may be in us,
that the world may believe that you sent me.
And I have given them the glory you gave me,
so that they may be one, as we are one,
I in them and you in me,
that they may be brought to perfection as one,
that the world may know that you sent me,
and that you loved them even as you loved me.
Father, they are your gift to me.
I wish that where I am they also may be with me,
that they may see my glory that you gave me,
because you loved me before the foundation of the world.
Righteous Father, the world also does not know you,
but I know you, and they know that you sent me.
I made known to them your name and I will make it known,
that the love with which you loved me
may be in them and I in them."
Reflection on the Scriptures |
The readings for today had me thinking about how we know that the Lord is with us and how does God help us to get through our tribulations and stay steadfast in our faith? In other words, how does faith sustain us on a day to day basis? Thinking about Paul’s difficulties with the Sadducces and the Pharisees is a good start. Paul was in big trouble. He just
about got killed. But “the Lord stood by him and said, ‘Take courage.’” How did he hear that? Did an angel appear to Paul? What ever it was, it gave Paul great courage as he pressed on in the faith to bear witness to the Lord.
The readings in Psalms 16 were surely on Paul’s mind as he continued to risk his life to preach the Gospel. Paul believed that the Lord would hold fast to him and keep him safe, that the Lord would counsel him, and that he would not be disturbed if he stayed at the right hand of the Lord. His faith gave him confidence that the Lord would show him the path to life. It
gave him hope. We too are called to this faith, to this confidence, and to this hope. And, we too can know that the Lord is with us.
Barbara Dilly
Revelations of Divine Love
- by Julian of Norwich
Fourteenth Revelation, Chapter 59
“Jesus Christ that doeth Good against evil is our Very Mother: we have our Being of Him where the Ground of Motherhood beginneth,—with all the sweet Keeping by Love, that endlessly followeth.”
AND all this bliss we have by Mercy and Grace: which manner of bliss we might never have had nor known but if that property of Goodness which is God had been contraried: whereby we have this bliss. For wickedness hath been suffered to rise contrary to the Goodness, and the Goodness of Mercy and Grace contraried against the wickedness and turned all to goodness and to worship, to all these that shall be saved.
For it is the property in God which doeth good against evil. Thus Jesus Christ that doeth good against evil is our Very Mother: we have our Being of Him,—where the Ground of Motherhood beginneth,—with all the sweet Keeping of Love that endlessly followeth. As verily as God is our Father, so verily God is our Mother; and that shewed He in all, and especially in these sweet words where He saith: I it am. That is to say, I it am, the Might and the Goodness of the Fatherhood; I it am, the Wisdom of
the Motherhood; I it am, the Light and the Grace that is all blessed Love: I it am, the Trinity, I it am, the Unity: I am the sovereign Goodness of all manner of things. I am that maketh thee to love: I am that maketh thee to long: I it am, the endless fulfilling of all true desires. For there the soul is highest, noblest, and worthiest, where it is lowest, meekest, and mildest: and [out] of this Substantial Ground we have all our virtues in our Sense-part by gift of Nature, by helping and
speeding of Mercy and Grace: without the which we may not profit.
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