HOS 14:2-10;    PS 81:6-11, 14, 17;    MK 12:28-34

R. I am the Lord your God: hear my voice.

An unfamiliar speech I hear:
"I relieved his shoulder of the burden;
his hands were freed from the basket.
In distress you called, and I rescued you."

"Unseen, I answered you in thunder;
I tested you at the waters of Meribah.
Hear, my people, and I will admonish you;
O Israel, will you not hear me?"

"There shall be no strange god among you
nor shall you worship any alien god.
I, the LORD, am your God
who led you forth from the land of Egypt."

"If only my people would hear me,
and Israel walk in my ways,
I would feed them with the best of wheat,
and with honey from the rock I would fill them."





Jesus' teachings called the Jews at the time to simplify.  As today's reading says, to love God and to love our neighbors "is worth more than all the burnt offerings and sacrifices" (Mk 12:33). The majority of Jesus' followers came from a strictly Jewish background in which rules were very important; Jesus' answer was incredibly radical for his time. I imagine him saying: "you are all too worried about the rules; the rules worked in the past, but all that you have been taught is no longer as important as simply loving God and loving each other." 

Truly reflecting on today's readings can call to question our own faith today. How often do we Christians become caught up in the web of rules which surround us? "Don't do that!" "Do this!" "Go to church every week" "You'll get to heaven if ____." Although religious doctrine was usually created as a guide for living out Jesus' commandment to love, we sometimes forget about the meaning behind the way in which we live. I certainly do not intend to say that all rules today are bad. Rather, I believe that we need to remind ourselves that all of the rules and doctrines of Christianity today fall under Jesus' one simple call to love God and to love each other. We must ask ourselves not if we follow the rules to a T but if we live our lives out of love for God and one another.

- by Sara Francesconi

Selected Quotes from St. John of the Cross on the Journey of the Soul to God by Contemplation

- from Ascent of Mt. Carmel

Bk. 1. Ch. 6. #6. The soul is wearied and fatigued by its desires; the (desires) disturb it, allowing it not to rest in any place or in any thing soever.? the desires and indulgence in them all cause it greater emptiness and hunger.

Bk. 1. Ch. 8. The soul that is clouded by the desires is darkened in the understanding and allows neither the sun of natural reason nor that of the supernatural Wisdom of God to shine upon it and illumine it clearly.
#2. At the same time, when the soul is darkened in the understanding, it is benumbed also in the will, and the memory becomes dull and disordered in its dire operation. The intellect cannot get the illumination of God's wisdom, the will cannot get the love of God, and the memory cannot get God's image. 
#4. Darkness and coarseness will always be with a soul until its appetites are extinguished. The appetites are like a cataract on the eye or specks of dust in it; until removed they obstruct vision.
#6. The affections and appetites deprive them of a treasure of divine light.
#7. Any appetite, even one that is but slightly imperfect, stains and defiles the soul.

- compiled by James and Tyra Arraj