Those who rule must above all be able to rule themselves.
- St. Catherine of Sienna
Rulers who prefer popular opinions to trust have as much power as robbers in the desert.
- St. Justin Martyr
(Leadership responsibilities at home, the workplace, church or other areas can be profoundly formative. What have they taught you? How have they challenged you to grow?)
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JAS 2:1-9; Ps 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7
MK 8:27-33
Jesus and his disciples set out
for the villages of Caesarea Philippi.
Along the way he asked his disciples,
“Who do people say that I am?”
They said in reply,
“John the Baptist, others Elijah,
still others one of the prophets.”
And he asked them,
“But who do you say that I am?”
Peter said to him in reply,
“You are the Christ.”
Then he warned them not to tell anyone about him.
He began to teach them
that the Son of Man must suffer greatly
and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,
and be killed, and rise after three days.
He spoke this openly.
Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
At this he turned around and, looking at his disciples,
rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan.
You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.”
Reflection on the Scriptures |
God calls us to follow his example and to form our conclusions about people based not on appearances, but on how they live their lives. He gave this very advice to Samuel when he said “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the
heart.”
As we go about our busy lives, let us practice looking beyond outward appearances and to try and discern if the Holy Spirit is dwelling within the people we meet, whether they be dressed in fine or shabby clothes. Let us look to their hearts and how they conduct themselves, just as God does. Trust me when I say it will require more time and attention on our part to make this sort of
informed decision, but there might be an added benefit. In the process of looking more deeply at those we meet; we might also look more deeply at how we conduct our own lives and what fills our hearts. Hopefully, in the words of James we will be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that he promised to those who love him.
- by Steve Sholer
Revelations of Divine Love
- by Julian of Norwich
Sixteenth Revelation, Chapter 70
"Above the Faith is no goodness kept in this life, as to my sight, and beneath the Faith is no help of soul; but in the Faith, there willeth the Lord that we keep us"
Thus I am bounden to keep it in my faith. For on the same day that it was shewed, what time that the Sight was passed, as a wretch I forsook it, and openly I said that I had raved. Then our Lord Jesus of His mercy would not let it perish, but He showed it all again within in my soul with more fulness, with the blessed light of His precious love: saying these words full mightily and full meekly:
Wit it now well: it was no raving that thou sawest this day. As if He had said: For that the Sight was passed from thee, thou losedst it and hadst not skill to keep it. But wit it now; that is to say, now that thou seest it. This was said not only for that same time, but also to set thereupon the ground of my faith when He saith anon following: But take it, believe it, and keep thee therein and comfort thee therewith and trust thou thereto; and thou
shalt not be overcome.
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