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Let us give ourselves to God without any reserve, and let us fear nothing. He will love us, and we shall love Him. His love, increasing every day, will take the place of everything else to us. He will fill our whole hearts; He will deprive us only of those things that make us unhappy. He will cause us to do in general, what we have been doing already, but which we have done in an unsatisfactory manner;
whereas, hereafter, we shall do them well, because they will be done for His sake. Even the smallest actions of a simple and common life will be turned to consolation and recompense. We shall meet the approach of death in peace; it will be changed for us into the beginning of the immortal life.
- Francois Fenelon, A Guide to True Peace
(A good description of some of the fruits of surrender to God. Which of these can you relate to?)
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1 JN 5:5-13; PS 147:12-13, 14-15, 19-20
LK 5:12-16
It happened that there was a man full of leprosy in one of the towns where Jesus was;
and when he saw Jesus,
he fell prostrate, pleaded with him, and said,
“Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean.”
Jesus stretched out his hand, touched him, and said,
“I do will it. Be made clean.”
And the leprosy left him immediately.
Then he ordered him not to tell anyone, but
“Go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing
what Moses prescribed; that will be proof for them.”
The report about him spread all the more,
and great crowds assembled to listen to him
and to be cured of their ailments,
but he would withdraw to deserted places to pray.
USCCB lectionary
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Reflection on the Scripture
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"The testimony is this: God gave us eternal life, and this life is in His Son." —1 John 5:11
The purpose of life is to believe that Jesus is the Son of God and thereby receive eternal life (see Jn 20:31). The Holy Trinity has testified that Jesus is the Son of God. When Jesus emerged from the waters of His Baptism, God the Father testified that Jesus is His beloved Son (Mt 3:17). When Jesus shed His blood on the cross, the centurion testified: "Clearly this Man was the Son of God!" (Mk 15:39) "Jesus Christ it is Who came through water and blood — not in water only, but in water and in
blood. It is the Spirit Who testifies to this, and the Spirit is Truth. Thus there are three that testify" (1 Jn 5:6-7).
The Lord expects us to take the events of His life literally and the Scriptures seriously as valid testimony that Jesus is the Son of God. "Whoever does not believe God has made God a liar by refusing to believe in the testimony He has given on His own Son's behalf" (1 Jn 5:10). "I have written this to you to make you realize that you possess eternal life — you who believe in the name of the Son of God" (1 Jn
5:13).
On this third last day of Christmas, let us not only deepen our faith in the Trinitarian testimony that Jesus is the Son of God. Let us also cry out to the Holy Spirit to give us the power to testify for Jesus to the maximum (see 2 Tm 1:6-8). This year, may we not miss any opportunities to help others receive eternal life by coming to faith in Jesus as the Son of God. May this be the year of eternal life, faith, and
evangelization.
Prayer: Father, give me the great Christmas gift: zeal to evangelize.
Promise: "Jesus stretched out His hand to touch him and said, 'I do will it. Be cured.' Immediately the leprosy left him." —Lk 5:13
Presentation Ministries
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Correction from yesterday's quote from Julian of Norwich, which read:
"He said not: "Thou shalt not be tempested, thou shalt not be travailed, thou shalt not be afflicted, thou shalt not be overcome."
- - -
This is a mistranslation. It should be:
He said: "Thou shalt not be tempested, thou shalt not be travailed, thou shalt not be afflicted, thou shalt not be overcome."
(Thanks to subscriber, Margaret, for catching this.)
Abandonment to Divine Providence
- by Jean-Pierre de Caussade
BOOK II,
CHAPTER II. THE DUTIES OF THOSE SOULS CALLED BY GOD TO THE STATE OF ABANDONMENT
SECTION I. Sacrifice, the Foundation of Sanctity. The first great duty of souls called by God to this state is the absolute and entire surrender of themselves to Him.
________________
On, my soul, through despondency, illness, aridity, uncertain tempers, weakness of disposition, snares of the devil and of men; through suspicions, jealousies, evil imaginations and prejudices. Let us soar like the eagle above all these clouds with eyes always fixed on the sun, and on its ways, which represent our obligations. All this we must needs feel, but we must, at the same time, remember that ours is not
a life of mere sentiment, and that it does not depend upon us either to feel, or to be callous. Let us live in the higher regions of the soul in which God and His will form an eternity ever equal, ever the same, ever unchanging. In this dwelling entirely spiritual, wherein the uncreated, immeasurable and ineffable holds the soul at an infinite distance from all that is specific in shadows and created atoms, it remains calm, even when the senses are tossed about by tempests. It has become
independent of the senses; their troubles and agitations and innumerable vicissitudes no more affect it, than the clouds that obscure the sky for a moment and then fade away, affect the sun.
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