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"We will cure inordinate self-love not so much by direct attack as by keeping our eyes always on God. Indeed it is only by doing this that we will acquire a true knowledge of ourselves at
all, one that will reveal our shortcomings and yet is neither morbid or paralyzing, for it will make known to us at the same time God's goodness and what can be be and do by His grace."
- The Experience of God's Presence, by Anselm Moynihan, O.P.
(To know oneself in God . . . To be free in God's presence.)
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1 COR 12:12-14, 27-31; PS 10:1-5; LK 7:11-17
R. We are his
people: the sheep of his flock.
Sing joyfully to the LORD, all you lands;
serve the LORD with gladness;
come before him with joyful song.
Know that the LORD is God;
he made us, his we are;
his people, the flock he tends.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
his courts with praise;
Give thanks to him; bless his name.
For he is good, the LORD, whose kindness endures forever,
and his faithfulness, to all generations.
USCCB Lectionary
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Reflection on the Scriptures |
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"Proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes again." When the words in St. Paul's first letter to the Corinthians find their way into today's Psalm text, they become a kind of command or "program of life" for all who believe
in Jesus: Proclaim the death of the Lord! But why proclaim his death?
In this proclamation, St. Paul presents to us the heart of the gospel, the good news of Jesus. He expresses this truth in the Letter to the Romans: "God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us (Romans 5, 8)." The death of Jesus, far from being a disaster, shines
as the supreme example of God's love manifested in the coming of Jesus among us. The Gospel of John provides another summary: "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life (John 3, 16)."
To proclaim the Lord's death, then, is to proclaim his saving love for sinners. This announcement becomes the
heart of the early church's preaching.
Do we find ourselves able to "proclaim the death of the Lord"? We know that our ability to proclaim that death, to proclaim his saving love, depends on the extent to which we ourselves have received it. Once the Lord's mercy has pierced our hearts, its truth opens up a river that wants to flow out to others in need of that Good News. Today
we want to recall the times and places where the Lord's mercy has touched us, so that in savoring the memory of this Good News for ourselves, we become equipped to proclaim it to others.
- by Richard
Gabuzda
Creighton Online Ministries
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Selected Quotes from the Writings of St. Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179)
The soul is a breath of living spirit, that with excellent sensitivity, permeates the entire body to
give it life. Just so, the breath of the air makes the earth fruitful. Thus the air is the soul of the earth, moistening it, greening it.
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