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Souls are not made sweet by taking [ill tempers] out, but by putting something in—a great Love, a new Spirit, the Spirit of Christ. Christ, the Spirit of Christ, interpenetrating ours, sweetens, purifies, transforms all. This can only eradicate what is wrong, renovate and regenerate, and rehabilitate the inner person. Will-power does not change people. Time does not change us. Christ does. Therefore “Let that
mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.”
... Henry Drummond (1851-1897), “The Greatest Thing in the World” [1892]
(How will you open yourself to this transformative power today?)
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Sir 44:1, 9-13; Psalm 149:1b-2, 3-4, 5-6a and 9b
Mk 11:11-26
Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple area.
He looked around at everything and, since it was already late,
went out to Bethany with the Twelve.
The next day as they were leaving Bethany he was hungry.
Seeing from a distance a fig tree in leaf,
he went over to see if he could find anything on it.
When he reached it he found nothing but leaves;
it was not the time for figs.
And he said to it in reply, “May no one ever eat of your fruit again!”
And his disciples heard it.
They came to Jerusalem,
and on entering the temple area
he began to drive out those selling and buying there.
He overturned the tables of the money changers
and the seats of those who were selling doves.
He did not permit anyone to carry anything through the temple area.
Then he taught them saying, “Is it not written:
My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples?
But you have made it a den of thieves.”
The chief priests and the scribes came to hear of it
and were seeking a way to put him to death,
yet they feared him
because the whole crowd was astonished at his teaching.
When evening came, they went out of the city.
Early in the morning, as they were walking along,
they saw the fig tree withered to its roots.
Peter remembered and said to him, “Rabbi, look!
The fig tree that you cursed has withered.”
Jesus said to them in reply, “Have faith in God.
Amen, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain,
‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’
and does not doubt in his heart
but believes that what he says will happen,
it shall be done for him.
Therefore I tell you, all that you ask for in prayer,
believe that you will receive it and it shall be yours.
When you stand to pray,
forgive anyone against whom you have a grievance,
so that your heavenly Father may in turn
forgive you your transgressions.”
USCCB lectionary
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Reflection on the Scripture
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“...one at Your right and the other at Your left, when You come into Your glory.” —Mark 10:37
Sts. James and John asked Jesus if they could be intimate sharers in His glory. They wanted to sit at Jesus’ right and left when He mounted His throne as He came into His glorious reign. James and John didn’t understand that Jesus’ kingly throne was His cross. When Jesus came into His glory on the cross of crucifixion, His inaugural banner read: “Jesus the Nazorean the King of the Jews” (Jn 19:19). Who received the honor of
being at Jesus’ right and left when He entered into His kingly glory? Two crucified criminals were His courtiers, “one at His right and one at His left” (Mk 15:27).
Like the two crucified next to Jesus, we also are sinners. Yet Jesus likewise invites us to be intimate sharers of His kingly glory. He calls us to pick up our cross each day, be crucified to the world (Gal 6:14), and die to ourselves (Lk 9:23). We are crucified with Christ, and the life we live is not our own; King Jesus is living in us and sharing His glory with us (Gal 2:19-20). His glory so consumes us that we know
nothing but King Jesus crucified (1 Cor 2:2, RNAB).
The daily cross is excruciating, but always remember what Jesus promised the one who was crucified next to Him: When you share My crucified glory for love of Me, “this day you will be with Me in paradise” (see Lk 23:43).
Prayer: King Jesus, as I share Your crucifixion each day, I pray: “remember me when You enter upon Your reign” (Lk 23:42).
Promise: “The Son of Man has not come to be served but to serve — to give His life in ransom for the many.” —Mk 10:45
Presentation Ministries
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Abandonment to Divine Providence
- by Jean-Pierre de Caussade
BOOK II,
CHAPTER IV. CONCERNING THE ASSISTANCE RENDERED BY THE FATHERLY PROVIDENCE OF GOD TO THOSE SOULS WHO HAVE ABANDONED THEMSELVES TO HIM
SECTION 10. We must see God in all creatures!
In the state of abandonment the soul finds more light and strength, through submission to the divine action, than all those possess who resist it through pride.
We must not be cowardly, but generous. This is the only disposition suitable to the instruments of God.
All the works of God are sublime and marvellous; while one’s own actions, when they war against God, cannot resist the divine action in one who is united to it by sweetness and humility.
Who is Lucifer? He is a pure spirit, and was the most enlightened of all pure spirits, but is now at war with God and with His rule. The mystery of sin is merely the result of this conflict, which manifests itself in every possible way. Lucifer, as much as in him lies, will leave no stone upturned to destroy what God has made and ordered. Wherever he enters, there is the work of God defaced. The more light, science,
and capacity a person has, the more he is to be feared if he does not possess a foundation of piety, which consists in being satisfied with God and His will. It is by a well-regulated heart that one is united to the divine action; without this everything is purely natural, and generally, in direct opposition to the divine order. God makes use only of the humble as His instruments. Always contradicted by the proud, He yet makes use of them, like slaves, for the accomplishment of His
designs.
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