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When through one person a little more love and goodness, a little more light and truth come into the world, then that person's life has had meaning.
- Alfred Delp
(Pray that this may be said about you this day, then the next, then the next . . .)
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1 Tm 6:2c-12; Psalm 49:6-7, 8-10, 17-18, 19-20
Lk 8:1-3
Jesus journeyed from one town and village to another,
preaching and proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom of God.
Accompanying him were the Twelve
and some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities,
Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out,
Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza,
Susanna, and many others
who provided for them out of their resources.
USCCB lectionary
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Reflection on the Scripture
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“If we have food and clothing we have all that we need.” —1 Timothy 6:8
The Bible says all we need is food to eat and clothes to wear (1 Tm 6:8). Very few Christians agree with this. Most feel they at least need a house for shelter, insurance for security, a car for transportation, a phone for communication, and Wifi for entertainment. What Americans consider a simple life is extravagant by biblical standards.
The Bible considers the typical American lifestyle a “temptation and a trap” (1 Tm 6:9). By our lifestyle, we let ourselves “be captured by foolish and harmful desires which drag men down to ruin and destruction” (1 Tm 6:9).
When Jesus talked like this to “the Pharisees, who were avaricious men” (Lk 16:14), they “began to deride Him. He said to them: ‘You justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God reads your hearts. What man thinks important, God holds in contempt’ ” (Lk 16:14-15).
We must let Jesus be Lord of our lifestyle. Otherwise, He’s not Lord of our lives.
Prayer: Father, may they know we are Christians by our lifestyle, lived in love for You and for others.
Promise: Jesus “journeyed through towns and villages preaching and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God.” —Lk 8:1
Presentation Ministries
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Growing in Inner Freedom: A Guide for Today
- by Philip St. Romain. Liguori Publ., 1986.
7. Live by Faith, Not Feelings
The just person shall live by faith (Romans 1:17)
Once a non-Christian friend said to me, “Faith, faith, faith! That’s all you Christians talk about! Why don’t you talk about knowledge and reality instead?”
The implication in such statements is, of course, that a person of religious faith must somehow sacrifice intelligence and common sense in favor of a batch of supernatural mumbo-jumbo. No doubt the devil loves this misunderstanding.
The truth is that it would be impossible for us to live without faith. We have faith that the people who prepare our food will not poison us, that motorists will stay on their side of the road, and that dentists know what they are doing when they pull our teeth. These kinds of faith are very much like trust, which is different from the knowledge and certainty of scientific convictions.
Thus we see that life would be impossible without faith. As Aldous Huxley put it, ‘Faith is a precondition of all systematic knowing.
Societies are held together. . . by a widespread faith in the other fellow’s decency.” When such a faith breaks down, societies crumble.
Religious faith is by far the most important kind, for without it our natural human faiths are difficult to sustain. Living by faith means that we trust that life is meaningful—that God makes all things work together for the good of those who love him (Rm. 8, 28). Faith also means that we live as though we are loved and desired by God, even when our life experiences seem to fly in the face of this conviction. No matter what anyone says, we hold fast to our conviction that
nothing can separate us from the love of God (see Romans 8:35-39).
Faith as conviction and life-stance means that we do not always have to feel the confirmation of our beliefs. There are those beautiful times when God does let us feel something of joy and bliss, but we should not evaluate our closeness to God in terms of feelings. God is as close to us when we are dry and cranky as when we are filled with charitable exuberance. The surest sign of God’s presence in our lives is our willingness to love everyone and everything. Exuberance
is often as great a hindrance to loving as desolation.
So we should probably worry less about how we’re doing spiritually; that’s God’s business. God wants our salvation far more than we do. Our task is to surrender ourselves to God completely; then we must strive to love and learn every moment of every day. We will not succeed completely, of course, but he will never desert us. Simply persisting in the struggle is our most authentic expression of faith.
Suggested Practices
- Whenever you begin to feel as though God is not with you, tell yourself that God is as present within you now as when you felt this most intensely in the past.
- Do you live your life as though God is real? If you had more faith, how would your life be different? Resolve to start living this new life today.
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