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Hence, before every endeavour, more especially if the subject be Divinity, must we begin with prayer: not as though we would pull down to ourselves that Power which is nigh both everywhere and nowhere, but that, by these remembrances and invocations of God, we may commend and unite ourselves thereunto."
- Dionysius the Areopagite {around 500 a.d.}, The Divine Names
(This simple practice of remembering to pray before undertaking something can help one be mindful of God all throughout the day. Practice this remembrance today and see the difference it makes.)
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Early-bird sign-up for these Lenten offerings
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Heb 12:4-7, 11-15; Psalm 103:1-2, 13-14, 17-18a
Mk 6:1-6
Jesus departed from there and came to his native place, accompanied by his disciples.
When the sabbath came he began to teach in the synagogue,
and many who heard him were astonished.
They said, “Where did this man get all this?
What kind of wisdom has been given him?
What mighty deeds are wrought by his hands!
Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary,
and the brother of James and Joseph and Judas and Simon?
And are not his sisters here with us?”
And they took offense at him.
Jesus said to them,
“A prophet is not without honor except in his native place
and among his own kin and in his own house.”
So he was not able to perform any mighty deed there,
apart from curing a few sick people by laying his hands on them.
He was amazed at their lack of faith.
USCCB Lectionary
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Praying the Daily Gospels: A Guide to Meditation, by Philip St. Romain,
2018 (3rd ed.)
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Mark 6: 1-6 (Jesus rejected by his own)
The response of the people of Nazareth to Jesus teaches us an important lesson. They think they know him and they try to make him conform to their own ideas. Consequently, they fail to recognize him for who he is, and he is unable to touch them. We, too, need to be cautious about thinking we know and understand Jesus completely.
• Louis Evely once wrote, As soon as we think we know someone, we have ceased to love them.” How does this relate to the people of Nazareth? How does it relate to your relationship with Jesus? With your family and friends?
• Pray for the grace to discover newness in God, in yourself, and in others.
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Treatise on the Love of God, by St. Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
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BOOK II: THE HISTORY OF THE GENERATION AND HEAVENLY BIRTH OF DIVINE LOVE
Chapter 5: That heavenly providence has provided us with a most abundant redemption
Thus were all things made for that divine man, who for this cause is called the first-born of every creature: possessed by the divine majesty in the beginning of his ways, before he made anything from the beginning. For in him were all things created in heaven, and on earth, visible, and invisible, whether thrones, or dominations, or principalities, or powers:
all things were created by him and in him: And he is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the first-born from among the dead: that in all things he may hold the primacy. The principal reason of planting the vine is the fruit, and therefore the fruit is the first thing desired and aimed at, though the leaves and the buds are first produced. So our great Saviour was the first in the divine intention, and in that eternal project which the divine providence made of the
production of creatures, and in view of this desired fruit the vine of the universe was planted, and the succession of many generations established, which as leaves or blossoms proceed from it as forerunners and fit preparatives for the production of that grape which the sacred spouse so much praises in the Canticles, and the juice of which rejoices God and men.
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