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We are going to meet unmerciful good people
and unmerciful bad people,
unmerciful institutions,
unmerciful organizations,
and we shall have to go through the discipline of
being merciful to the merciless.
- Oswald Chambers
(Not easy, for sure, but what an opportunity to practice unconditional love! How are you being invited to do so lately?)
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GN 46:1-7, 28-30; PS 37:3-4, 18-19, 27-28, 39-40
MT 10:16-23
Jesus said to his Apostles:
"Behold, I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves;
so be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves.
But beware of men,
for they will hand you over to courts
and scourge you in their synagogues,
and you will be led before governors and kings for my sake
as a witness before them and the pagans.
When they hand you over,
do not worry about how you are to speak
or what you are to say.
You will be given at that moment what you are to say.
For it will not be you who speak
but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.
Brother will hand over brother to death,
and the father his child;
children will rise up against parents and have them put to death.
You will be hated by all because of my name,
but whoever endures to the end will be saved.
When they persecute you in one town, flee to another.
Amen, I say to you, you will not finish the towns of Israel
before the Son of Man comes."
USCCB lectionary
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Reflection on the Scripture |
"You will be hated by all on account of Me. But whoever holds out till the end will escape death." —Matthew 10:22
"Anyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus can expect to be persecuted" (2 Tm 3:12). The Lord has clearly revealed that we will be persecuted if we are trying to live the Christian life (see Mt 5:11). For us, being persecuted is not a possibility but a certainty. The Lord has sent us as sheep among wolves (Mt 10:16), and, no matter how clever and innocent we may be, we will be persecuted. We do not know
whether we will be persecuted by religious groups, governments, our families, or all of the above (see Mt 10:17ff), but we will definitely be given the privilege of being persecuted if we faithfully follow Jesus.
Although persecution is certain, our faithfulness is uncertain. At the end of the world, the apostasy will become so bad (2 Thes 2:3) that we would all deny Christ if the Lord had not shortened the final days (Mk 13:20). We do not know whether we will stand up to persecution or fold under the pressure. All we know is that, if we are living for the Lord with all our hearts right now, we are doing the best we can
to strengthen ourselves for even the most difficult future. Live in utter abandonment to God's will now. The future persecution will take care of itself (Mt 6:34).
Prayer: Father, may I love You so much that I desire to be martyred.
Promise: "Trust in the Lord and do good, that you may dwell in the land and enjoy security. Take delight in the Lord, and He will grant you your heart's requests." —Ps 37:3-4
Presentation Ministries
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Abandonment to Divine Providence
- by Jean-Pierre de Caussade
CHAPTER II. THE DIVINE ACTION WORKS UNCEASINGLY FOR THE SANCTIFICATION OF SOULS.
SECTION XII. The Divine Word, Our Model
The divine action alone can sanctify us, for that alone can make us imitate the divine Example of our perfection.
In course of time the idea formed by the Eternal Wisdom of all things is carried out by divine action. All things have, in God, their likeness, and are recognised and known by the divine Wisdom. Should you know all those things that are not for you, such knowledge would be no guide to you in any way. The divine action beholds in the Word the idea after which you ought to be formed and this example is always
before it. It sees in the Word all that is necessary for the sanctification of every soul. The holy Scriptures contain one part, and the workings of the divine action in the interior of the soul, after the example set forth by the Word, complete the work. We must understand that the only way of receiving the impression of this eternal idea is to remain quietly amenable to it; and that neither efforts, nor mental speculations can do anything to that end. It is obvious that a work such as this
cannot be effected by cleverness, intelligence, nor subtlety of mind, but only by the passive way of abandonment to, its reception, and by yielding to it like metal in a mould, or canvas under the pencil, or stone in the hands of the sculptor.
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