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A study of the effects of God's work inevitably directs our attention to God Himself--the mysterious elements in God can be more readily grasped once the world, God's creation, is understood. The contemplative life, then, has a second component: the investigation of nature, the world and whatever derives from God. Another way to come to know God!
- Dorothy Day, in The Dorothy Day Book
(Some mystics have called creation God's dance. See if you can spot the Dancer amidst the dance today.)
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Hg 2:1-9; Psalm 43:1, 2, 3, 4
Lk 9:18-22
Once when Jesus was praying in solitude,
and the disciples were with him,
he asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?”
They said in reply, “John the Baptist; others, Elijah;
still others, ‘One of the ancient prophets has arisen.’”
Then he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
Peter said in reply, “The Christ of God.”
He rebuked them and directed them not to tell this to anyone.
He said, “The Son of Man must suffer greatly
and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,
and be killed and on the third day be raised.”
USCCB lectionary
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Reflection on the Scripture
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“Greater will be the future glory of this house than the former, says the Lord of hosts.” —Haggai 2:9
After the temple had been destroyed for sixty-seven years, the Israelites returned from exile. Following seventeen more years of seeing the temple lie in ruins, the Lord raised up the prophets Haggai and Zechariah (see Zec 6:11-12) to command Zerubbabel the governor, Joshua the high priest, and the remnant of the people to get to work (Hg 2:1-2, 4).
Four groups of people were necessary for the rebuilding of the Temple. If we are to rebuild the Church, we will need these same four groups of workers. First, we need prophets to tell us what God is saying. Without them, we don’t know what work to do or when to do it. “Without prophecy the people become demoralized” (Prv 29:18). After the prophets tell us what God wants, we need civil officials who do not play party politics,
but who come under the lordship of Jesus. Next, we need priests who will rebuild the Church by fearlessly proclaiming our need for repentance and salvation. Finally, we need the “remnant of the people” to do the work of rebuilding the Church. The remnant is not just the “leftovers,” the few remaining people in a time of eroded faith. They are prophetic, called by God, uncompromised with the world, and totally committed to the Lord.
With two prophets, several righteous politicians and priests, and members of the remnant, we have the workers needed to rebuild the Church.
Prayer: Father, make me another St. Francis of Assisi.
Promise: “Send forth Your light and Your fidelity; they shall lead me on and bring me to Your holy mountain, to Your dwelling-place.” —Ps 43:3
Presentation Ministries
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Growing in Inner Freedom: A Guide for Today
- by Philip St. Romain. Liguori Publ., 1986.
8. Know Your Worst Enemy
“Fear is useless. What is needed is trust” (Mark 5:36).
Most of us would agree that selfishness is one human quality that should be eliminated from our lives. In order to do this, however, we would also have to eliminate fear, for fear is the fountainhead of all selfishness.
What are we afraid of? Put simply, we are afraid of life and death. As self-conscious beings, we know that one day we shall die, and this is frightening. We also fear sickness, suffering, destitution, rejection, failure, economic collapse, nuclear holocaust, and a whole lot more. If we do not experience these fears, it is either because we are very great saints or just plain out of touch with our feelings.
The problem with fear is that it quickly leads to self-concern. Self- concern then causes us to become willful and controlling—always trying to manipulate life in behalf of our own fearful interests. Fear moves us to grasp and cling to people, places, and things that provide us with fleeting experiences of pleasure, security, esteem, and power. Because of fear we tend to express our individuality in terms of an autonomy or state of independence that has no roots in God’s
love. Fear, along with its rebellious children—self-concern, self-will, and manipulative control—leads to separateness, which is the essence of sin. The surest sign of Original Sin in our lives is the presence of fear.
But how do we get rid of fear? What is the solution to this poison?
Aldous Huxley best describes the process of letting go of fear in “The Perennial Philosophy:”
Fear cannot be got rid of by personal effort, but only by the ego’s absorption in a cause greater than its own interests. Absorption in any cause will rid the mind of some of its fears; but only absorption in the loving and knowing of the divine Ground can rid it of all fear. For when the cause is less than the highest, the sense of fear and anxiety is transferred from the
self to the cause. . . Whereas if the sacrifice is made for God, and for others for God’s sake, there can be no fear or abiding anxiety, since nothing can be a menace to the divine Ground, and even failure and disaster are to be accepted as being in accord with the divine will.
And Saint John writes, “Love has no room for fear, rather, perfect love casts out fear. And since fear has to do with punishment, love is not yet perfect in one who is afraid” (1 John 4:18).
To be rid of fear in our lives, we must become more rooted in God’s love for us—a simple message, to be sure, but so very difficult to realize.
Suggested Practices
- Make a list of the things that cause you the most fear. Surrender them one-by-one to God, praying for the grace to love God above all (even if you must experience what you fear).
- Surrender your fears to God when you experience worry or self concern. Pray the Serenity Prayer, or make up one of your own.
- Surrender yourself to God completely at the beginning of each day. Pray for the grace to prefer God’s will above anything else.
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