What then are we afraid of? Can we have too much of God? … Is it a misfortune to be freed from the heavy yoke of the world, and to bear the light burden of Jesus Christ? Do we fear to be too happy, too much delivered from ourselves, from the caprices of our pride, the violence of our passions, and the tyranny of a deceitful world?
- Franois Fnelon (1651-1715), Pious Reflections for Every Day in the Month
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EX 40:16-21, 34-38; PS 84:3, 4, 5-6A AND 8A, 11
MT 13:47-53
Jesus said to the disciples:
"The Kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea,
which collects fish of every kind.
When it is full they haul it ashore
and sit down to put what is good into buckets.
What is bad they throw away.
Thus it will be at the end of the age.
The angels will go out and separate the wicked from the righteous
and throw them into the fiery furnace,
where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth."
"Do you understand all these things?"
They answered, "Yes."
And he replied,
"Then every scribe who has been instructed in the Kingdom of heaven
is like the head of a household who brings from his storeroom
both the new and the old."
When Jesus finished these parables, he went away from there.
Reflection on the Scriptures |
Jesus describes the kingdom of heaven as a dwelling place for the good…...for the righteous. In the kingdom of heaven, that which we consider old, and that which we consider new, shall be gathered together as the same; and what is necessary will be kept, while what is not necessary for the vitality of the soul shall be thrown away. The kingdom of heaven is here; let us be conscious
of the cloud we unknowingly allow to settle down upon it, because when clouds take up space, we are unable to move forward in our life journey; it is difficult to see; it is treacherous for movement. This is the case with any dwelling place, we must clear out the clutter, remove the cloud, sort what is needed from what is wanted, take stock of the content, and make it sacred space where the glory of God can be experienced. We are living temples, a dwelling place for God; let us clear out the
clutter and make room for love, for peace, and for God.
by Vivian Amu
Revelations of Divine Love
- by Julian of Norwich
Fourteenth Revelation, Chapter 61
“By the assay of this falling we shall have an high marvellous knowing of Love in God, without end. For strong and marvellous is that love which may not, nor will not, be broken for trespass”
And after this He suffereth some of us to fall more hard and more grievously than ever we did afore, as us thinketh. And then ween we (who be not all wise) that all were nought that we have begun. But this is not so. For it needeth us to fall, and it needeth us to see it. For if we never fell, we should not know how feeble and how wretched we are of our self, and also we should not fully know that marvellous
love of our Maker. For we shall see verily in heaven, without end, that we have grievously sinned in this life, and notwithstanding this, we shall see that we were never hurt in His love, we were never the less of price in His sight. And by the assay of this falling we shall have an high, marvellous knowing of love in God, without end. For strong and marvellous is that love which may not, nor will not, be broken for trespass. And this is one understanding of [our] profit. Another is the lowness
and meekness that we shall get by the sight of our falling: for thereby we shall highly be raised in heaven; to which raising we might never have come without that meekness. And therefore it needeth us to see it; and if we see it not, though we fell it should not profit us. And commonly, first we fall and later we see it: and both of the Mercy of God.
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