Message of 3-6-2012
Published: Tue, 03/06/12
A Daily Spiritual Seed
- resources for prayer and spiritual growth
Message of the Day
A good witness isn't like a salesman, emphasis is on a person rather than a product. A good witness is like a signpost. It doesn't matter whether it is old, young, pretty, ugly; it has to point the right direction and be able to be understood. We are witnesses to Christ, we point to him.
- John White
(How does your life witness to Christ? If you are willing, ask someone who knows you well to share how they see your life giving witness to Christ.)
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Lectionary Readings of the Day
http://www.usccb.org/calendar/index.cfm?showLit=1&action=month
Is 1:10, 16-20; Ps 50:8-9, 16bc-17, 21 and 23; Mt 23:1-12
R. (23b) To the upright I will show the saving power of God.
"Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you,
for your burnt offerings are before me always.
I take from your house no bullock,
no goats out of your fold."
"Why do you recite my statutes,
and profess my covenant with your mouth,
Though you hate discipline
and cast my words behind you?"
"When you do these things, shall I be deaf to it?
Or do you think that I am like yourself?
I will correct you by drawing them up before your eyes.
He that offers praise as a sacrifice glorifies me;
and to him that goes the right way I will show the salvation of God."
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Reflection on the Gospel
- from Daily Bread
http://www.preacherexchange.com/daily_bread.htm
Do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you, but do not follow their example.
I am reminded of a quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson: "What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say." This should send shivers down the spines of pastors and preachers, politicians and parents. It is difficult to give credence to the teaching of those who fail to practice what they preach, however sound that teaching may be. Jesus knows that, but he does not give us a pass on virtue even if our authorities are less than virtuous. Disciples are not exempt from the Gospel mandate because of someone else's failure to hit the mark. And let's be honest: Which one of us would not be tempted to cite another's sin as an excuse for our own misdeeds?
Bless us, Lord, with a genuine desire for holiness and forgive us if we have led another into sin.
- by Paige Byrne Shortal
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Spiritual Reading
The Way of Perfection
- by Teresa of Avila (1515-1582)
(Teaches that the lover of God must care little for life and honor.)
This human nature of ours is so wretchedly weak that, even while we are telling ourselves that there is nothing for us to make a fuss about, we imagine we are doing something virtuous, and begin to feel sorry for ourselves, particularly when we see that other people are sorry for us too. In this way the soul begins to lose the occasions of merit which it had gained; it becomes weaker; and thus a door is opened to the devil by which he can enter on some other occasion with a temptation worse than the last. It may even happen that, when you yourself are prepared to suffer an insult, your sisters come and ask you if you are a beast of burden, and say you ought to be more sensitive about things. Oh, my sisters, for the love of God, never let charity move you to show pity for another in anything to do with these fancied insults, for that is like the pity shown to holy Job by his wife and friends.
- Chapter 12
(Keep in mind that she is writing to sisters in a cloistered contemplative order.)
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