Message of the Day
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Continence is an ignoring of the body in accordance with the confession of faith in God. For continence is not merely a matter of sexual abstinence, but applies also to the other things for which the soul has an evil desire because it is not satisfied with the necessities of life. There is also a continence of the tongue, of money, of use, and of desire. It does not only teach us to exercise self-control; it is rather that self-control is granted to us, since it is a divine power and grace.
- Clement of Alexandria, Miscellanies
(What desires do you need to discipline? Ask the Spirit to help you come to greater self-control.)
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Readings of the Day
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2 COR 1:1-7; PS 34:2-9; MT 5:1-12 R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
I will bless the LORD at all times;
his praise shall be ever in my mouth.
Let my soul glory in the LORD;
the lowly will hear me and be glad.
Glorify the LORD with me,
let us together extol his name.
I sought the LORD, and he answered me
and delivered me from all my fears.
Look to him that you may be radiant with joy,
and your faces may not blush with shame.
When the poor one called out, the LORD heard,
and from all his distress he saved him.
The angel of the LORD encamps
around those who fear him, and delivers them.
Taste and see how good the LORD is;
blessed the man who takes refuge in him.
USCCB lectionary
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Reflection on the Gospel
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Blessed are the peacemakers.
Who is responsible for making peace? I'm going to suggest that it is the party who's in the right. Why? Because in an argument neither party assumes, "I am wrong and my opponent is right, but I'm going to argue anyway." If the responsibility for making peace lies first with the one in the right, then there will be peace because both parties will seek peace. If one party is looking for a fight and doesn't care about peace? Then slip away quietly and wait. There's no winning an argument with someone who wants a fight.
Let there be peace -- with family, friends, parishioners, pastor, employer, colleagues, neighbors, and among the nations -- and let it begin with me. - by Paige Byrne Shortal
My Daily Bread
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Spiritual Reading
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The Sparkling Stone, by St. John of Rusybroeck (1293-1381) The fifth kind of sinners are those hypocrites who do outward good works, not for the glory of God and their own salvation, but to acquire a name for holiness or for the sake of some fleeting thing. Though they may appear holy and good from without, within they are false and turned away from God, and they lack the grace of God and every virtue.
See, I have shown to you five kinds of sinners, who have all been inwardly called to union with God. But so long as a sinner remains in the service of sin, so long he remains deaf and blind and unable to taste, or to feel, all the good that God wishes to work in him. But whenever a sinner enters into himself, and considers himself, if he be displeased by his sinful life, then he draws near to God. But if he would be obedient to the call and the words of God, he must of his own free will resolve to leave sin and to do penance. And so he becomes one aim and one will with God, and receives the grace of God. - Chapter Five: "Of the works which God works in all in common and of five kinds of sinners"
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