The holiness of God is like a white light: pure, simple, complete. But when that light shines, as it were, through the prisms of individual human lives, it breaks into an infinite variety of colors... each one reveals a unique dimension of the divine holiness.
- Bishop Robert Barron
(That includes you! Let your light shine this day, and look for the radiance of God manifesting through the creation.)
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Rom 5:12, 15, 17-19, 20-21; Psalm 40:7-8a, 8b-9, 10, 17
Lk 12:35-38
Jesus said to his disciples:
“Gird your loins and light your lamps
and be like servants who await their master’s return from a wedding,
ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks.
Blessed are those servants
whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival.
Amen, I say to you, he will gird himself,
have them recline at table, and proceed to wait on them.
And should he come in the second or third watch
and find them prepared in this way,
blessed are those servants.”
Reflection on the Scriptures
This story illustrates the amazing generous spirit, servant-hearted love, and profound humility of God who is the exalted Lord and Master over all he has created. The Father sent his only begotten Son to become a man for our sake who shed his blood for us on the cross to save us from slavery to sin and Satan and victory over death through his resurrection power that gives us new abundant life in his Spirit.
Paul the Apostle tells us that Jesus who was equal with the Father, nonetheless, humbled himself and became a servant for our sake (Philippians 2:5-8).
Do you listen for the voice of the Lord calling to you? And are you ready to receive him today so that you may be nourished with his life-giving word that has power to transform you into his likeness and way of steadfast love and merciful goodness? The Lord Jesus offers us rich food and provision for our daily lives. But we can miss his daily provision if we allow our hearts, minds, and ears to be distracted
with other things - even good things that crowd out his voice and invitation to let him enter and feast with us.
The Lord loves faithfulness
Jesus' parable also has an important lesson for each one of us as well. Just as Jesus was faithful and ready to obey his Father in everything - even to the point of laying down his life for us on the cross, we, too are called to be faithful and ready to do whatever our heavenly Father commands us. How can we serve as Jesus served and be faithful to the end of our days? Only love - the love which God has poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us (Romans 5:5) - can
transform us and fill us with joy and courage in offering our lives in humble service to God and one another. The Lord Jesus sets us free from fear and pride so we can love and serve one another as he has loved and served each one of us (Ephesians 5:2). Ask the Lord to give you a servant heart and a willing spirit that is ready to listen and eager to obey.
Lord Jesus, you loved me first and you gave your life for me. Fill me with a joyful heart and a generous spirit that is ready to serve and to do whatever you command.
- dailyscripture.net
The Son of God Became Human
From The Catechism of the Catholic Church
Part One, Section Two, Chapter Three
Article 8: I Believe in the Holy Spirit
IV. THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST IN THE FULLNESS OF TIME
"Rejoice, you who are full of grace"
722 The Holy Spirit prepared Mary by his grace. It was fitting that the mother of him in whom "the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily" should herself be "full of grace." She was, by sheer grace, conceived without sin as the most humble of creatures, the most capable of welcoming the inexpressible gift of the Almighty. It was quite correct for the angel Gabriel to greet her as the "Daughter of Zion":
"Rejoice." It is the thanksgiving of the whole People of God, and thus of the Church, which Mary in her canticle104 lifts up to the Father in the Holy Spirit while carrying within her the eternal Son.
(Footnote references in the Catechism.)
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