Message of 1-6-12

Published: Fri, 01/06/12


A Daily Spiritual Seed
- resources for prayer and spiritual growth


Message of the Day

Not until we have become humble and teachable, standing in awe of God's holiness and sovereignty... acknowledging our own littleness, distrusting our own thoughts, and willing to have our minds turned upside down, can divine wisdom become ours.
   - James I (J. I.) Packer
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Lectionary Readings of the Day
   http://www.usccb.org/calendar/index.cfm?showLit=1&action=month

1 Jn 5:5-13;    Ps 147:12-13, 14-15, 19-20;    Mk 1:7-11

R. (12a) Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.

Glorify the LORD, O Jerusalem;
praise your God, O Zion.
For he has strengthened the bars of your gates;
he has blessed your children within you.

He has granted peace in your borders;
with the best of wheat he fills you.
He sends forth his command to the earth;
swiftly runs his word!

He has proclaimed his word to Jacob,
his statutes and his ordinances to Israel.
He has not done thus for any other nation;
his ordinances he has not made known to them. Alleluia.

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Reflection on the Scripture
   http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html

On coming out of the water he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit, like a dove, descending upon him.

You could possibly read the reference to the heavens being torn open as a weather report or a description of how the sky looked that day, but it is far more likely that Mark is continuing his biblical allusions. The one Old Testament reference to the sky being ripped open is Isaiah 63:19, where the prophet prays urgently to God addressed as "father" (see verse 16), "Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down."  In a passage where the Holy Spirit is already mentioned three times (verses 10, 11, 14) as needed for their guidance, this is a powerful plea for the same gift of the Spirit of God expressed in Ezekiel 36. Mark's assertion that the heavens were being torn open as Jesus entered his public life means that the prayer of Isaiah 63 is finally answered with the advent of Jesus.

There is more to unpack in the reference to the dove (new beginning, as in Genesis 8:11), and even more in Mark 1:11 (see Ps 2:7 and Isa 42:1), but this is enough for today's reflection.  The dunking in the Holy Spirit and the tearing open of the sky remind us that the child born on Christmas really does bring us a renewal of life with God, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and an absolutely fresh start. Let's allow the Lord God to work this newness in our own lives as we move into this new year of the life of the Church.

- by Dennis Hamm, S.J.

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Spiritual Reading

On Cleaving to God
     by St. Albert the Great

To which end, if you have begun to strip and purify yourself of images and imaginations and to simplify and still your heart and mind in the Lord God so that you can draw and taste the well of divine grace in everything within yourself, and so that you are united to God in your mind by a good will, then this itself is enough for you in place of all study and reading of holy scripture, and as demonstration of love of God and neighbour, as devotion itself testifies.                                   

So simplify your heart with all care, diligence and effort so that still and at peace from the products of the imagination you can turn round and remain always in the Lord within yourself, as if your mind were already in the now of eternity, that is of the godhead. In this way you will be able to renounce yourself through love of Jesus Christ, with a pure heart, clean conscience and unfeigned faith, and commit yourself completely and fully to God in all difficulties and eventualities, and be willing to submit yourself patiently to his will and good pleasure at all times.

- Chapter 5. On purity of heart, which is to be sought above all things.

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