Message of the Day
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"Now understand this: God comes to us without ceasing, both with means and without means, and demands of us both action and fruition, in such a way that the one never impedes, but always strengthens,
the other."
- John of Rusybroeck, Adornment of the Spiritual Marriage
("God comes to us without ceasing . . ." even here and now! What is your response?)
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Readings of the Day
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1 COR 2:1-5; PS 119:97-102; LK 4:16-30
R.
Lord, I love your commands.
How I love your law, O LORD!
It is my meditation all the day.
Your command has made me wiser than my enemies,
for it is ever with me.
I have more understanding than all my teachers
when your decrees are my meditation.
I have more discernment than the elders,
because I observe your precepts.
R. Lord, I love your commands.
From every evil way I withhold my feet,
that I may keep your
words.
From your ordinances I turn not away,
for you have instructed me.
USCCB lectionary
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Reflection on the Gospel
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"The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me; therefore He has anointed Me." -Luke 4:18
The Spirit of the Lord is upon Jesus, and He wants to lavish the Spirit on us (Ti 3:6) in an unrationed way (Jn 3:34). However, to receive the Spirit and grow in the Spirit, we must repent. At
the first Christian Pentecost, Peter proclaimed: "You must repent and be baptized, each one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, that your sins may be forgiven; then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:38, our transl).
The people of Jesus' home town, Nazareth, missed the opportunity to receive the Spirit by refusing to repent of not accepting Him (see Lk 4:24ff). The Corinthians had received every
gift of the Spirit (1 Cor 1:7), but they did not grow in the Spirit because they refused to continue to repent more and more deeply. They remained infants in Christ (1 Cor 3:1). Life in the Spirit, and continued, deeper life in the Spirit are based on deeper repentance.
When preparing for the Great Jubilee of the year 2000, Pope John Paul II proclaimed: "The Church cannot prepare for the new millennium 'in any other
way than in the Holy Spirit' " (Towards The New Millennium, 44, emphasis his). Repent and receive the Holy Spirit in a life-changing and world-renewing way. Then let the Holy Spirit convict you of sin (Jn 16:8), lead you to deeper repentance, and fill you as never before.
PRAYER: Father, make me a disciple of the Holy Spirit.
PROMISE: "My message and my preaching had none of the persuasive force of 'wise' argumentation, but the convincing power of the Spirit." -1 Cor 2:4
mycatholic.com
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Spiritual Reading
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Freedom from Codependency, by Philip St. Romain
Chapter 6: What is Christian Love?
- part 5 of 12
- Dysfunctional Beliefs About Love -
part 4 of 5
* "We should never judge
others."
Codependents distort the Christian warning about judging others to mean we should not even confront unhealthy behavior. Codependents make no distinction between person and behavior; to confront someone's behavior is to say that the person is bad. They neglect to challenge harmful and inappropriate behavior, further enabling irresponsibility.
* "We should be perfect as God is perfect."
ACOAs and codependents understand this teaching to mean we should not make mistakes. Because codependency is rooted in the experience of conditional love, the attempt to be perfect is an effort to obtain love through perfect works. It is not a sin to make mistakes; it is human to make mistakes. Sin is a willful neglect of what is good, or a willful consent to do what is bad. Often our mistakes concern not willfulness or being good and bad but merely human weaknesses and
limitations. It is harmful to judge yourself as bad because you make mistakes. The perfection Jesus asks for is that we do our best, then leave the rest in God's hands.
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