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[Christ] is the breathing forth of the heart, life, and Spirit of God, into all the dead race of Adam. He is the seeker, the finder, the restorer, of all that was lost and dead to the life of God. He is the love, that, from Cain to the end of time, prays for all its murderers; the love that willingly suffers and dies among thieves, that thieves may have a life with him in paradise. The love that visits
publicans, harlots, and sinners, and wants and seeks to forgive, where most is to be forgiven.
- William Law (1686-1761), The Spirit of Prayer
(Open your mind and heart to be guided by this great Love today.)
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COL 1:15-20; PS 100:1B-2, 3, 4, 5
LK 5:33-39
The scribes and Pharisees said to Jesus,
"The disciples of John the Baptist fast often and offer prayers,
and the disciples of the Pharisees do the same;
but yours eat and drink."
Jesus answered them, "Can you make the wedding guests fast
while the bridegroom is with them?
But the days will come, and when the bridegroom is taken away from them,
then they will fast in those days."
And he also told them a parable.
"No one tears a piece from a new cloak to patch an old one.
Otherwise, he will tear the new
and the piece from it will not match the old cloak.
Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins.
Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins,
and it will be spilled, and the skins will be ruined.
Rather, new wine must be poured into fresh wineskins.
And no one who has been drinking old wine desires new,
for he says, 'The old is good.'"
USCCB lectionary
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Reflection on the Scripture
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Jesus "is..." —Colossians 1:15
Many of you have talked and listened to Jesus for many years. You are baptized, that is, immersed in Him. You have even gone so far as to receive Jesus' Body and Blood, soul and divinity. Considering all this, you should know Jesus very well and very deeply.
If you lived when St. Paul lived, if you lived before the New Testament was written and collected, if you lived before the Church had a creed or a catechism — could you have experienced and expressed many deep things about Jesus? Even now, can you say from your heart and your personal experience that Jesus is "the Image of the invisible God, the First-born of all creatures"? (Col 1:15) Knowing Jesus as you do,
can you say of Jesus: "It is He Who is Head of the Body, the Church; He Who is the Beginning, the First-born of the dead, so that primacy may be His in everything. It pleased God to make absolute fullness reside in Him and, by means of Him, to reconcile everything in His person, both on earth and in the heavens, making peace through the blood of His cross"? (Col 1:18-20)
Paul and the early Church did not have many resources from which to copy. They had to speak from experience, which later became tradition. Do you know Jesus as they did? How well do you know Jesus? "Eternal life is this: to know You, the only true God, and Him Whom You have sent, Jesus Christ" (Jn 17:3).
Prayer: Father, free me from my preoccupation with myself so that I can know You deeply as quickly as possible.
Promise: "When the days come that the Groom is removed from their midst, they will surely fast in those days." —Lk 5:35
Presentation Ministries
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Abandonment to Divine Providence
- by Jean-Pierre de Caussade
BOOK II,
CHAPTER I. ON THE NATURE AND EXCELLENCE OF THE STATE OF ABANDONMENT
SECTION III. The state of abandonment contains in itself pure faith, hope, and charity.
There can be nothing more secure than this state in the things that are of God; nothing more disinterested than the character of the heart. On the side of God is the absolute certitude of faith, and on that of the heart is the same certitude tempered with fear and hope. O most desirable unity of the trinity of these holy virtues! Believe then, hope and love, but by a simple feeling which the Holy Spirit who is
given you by God will produce in your soul. It is there that the unction of the name of God is diffused by the Holy Spirit in the centre of the heart. This is the word, this is the mystical revelation, and a pledge of predestination with all its happy results. “Quam bonus Israel Deus his qui recto sunt corde” (Psalm 72, i). This impress of the Holy Spirit in souls inflamed with His love, is called pure love on account of the torrent of delight overflowing every faculty, accompanied by a fulness of
confidence and light; but in souls that are plunged in bitterness it is called pure faith because the darkness and obscurity of night are without alleviation. Pure love sees, feels, and believes. Pure faith believes without either seeing or feeling. In this is shown the difference between these two states, but this difference is only apparent, not real. The appearances are dissimilar, but in reality as the state of pure faith is not lacking in charity, neither is the state of pure love lacking
in faith nor in abandonment; the terms being applied according to which virtue prevails. The different gradations of these virtues under the touch of the Holy Spirit form the variety of all supernatural and lofty states. And since God can rearrange them in an endless variety there is not a single soul that does not receive this priceless impress in a character suitable to it. The difference is nothing, there are the same faith, hope, and charity in all. Abandonment is a general means of
receiving special virtues in every variety of different impresses. Souls cannot all lay claim to the same sort, nor to a similar state but all can be united to God, all can be abandoned to His action, all can receive the impress that is best suited to them, all in fact can live under the reign of God and enjoy a share in His justice with all its advantages.
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