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Message of the Day
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"One day a soldier asked an
elder whether God grants pardon to sinners. The elder answered, 'Tell me, my good friend, if your cloak is torn do you throw it away?' The soldier replied, 'No. I mend it and continue to use it.' The elder concluded, 'If you take good care of your cloak, will not God be merciful to his own image.?'
- Sayings of the Desert Fathers -
(What
do you need God to mend in you this day? Pray the grace of healing.)
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Lectionary Readings
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EPH 1:1-10; PS 98:1-6; LK 11:47-54
R. The Lord has made known his salvation.
Sing to the LORD a new
song,
for he has done wondrous deeds;
His right hand has won victory for him,
his holy arm.
The LORD has made his salvation known:
in the sight of the nations he has revealed his justice.
He has remembered his kindness and his faithfulness
toward the house of
Israel.
All the ends of the earth have seen
the salvation by our God.
Sing joyfully to the LORD, all you lands;
break into song; sing praise.
Sing praise to the LORD with the harp,
with the harp and melodious song.
With trumpets and the sound of the
horn
sing joyfully before the King, the LORD.
USCCB Lectionary
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Reflection on the Gospel
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Jesus in the key of knowledge that opens God's kingdom for us
What does Jesus mean when he says they have taken away the key of knowledge? The religious lawyers and scribes held the "office of the keys" since they were the official interpreters of the Scriptures. Unfortunately their
interpretation of the scriptures became so distorted and difficult to understand that others were "shut off" to the Scriptures. They not only shut themselves to heaven - they also hindered others from understanding God's word. Through pride and envy, they rejected not only the prophets of old, but God's final prophet, the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is the "key of David" (see Isaiah 22:22; Revelations 3:7) who opens heaven to those who accept him as Lord and Savior. He is the "Wisdom of God" and
source of everlasting life.
Humility helps us to be receptive to God's wisdom
Only the humble of heart - those who thirst for God and acknowledge his word as true - can truly understand this wisdom. [See Psalm 119:99ff: "I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your
testimonies are my meditation."] God is ever ready to speak his word to us and to give us true wisdom and understanding. Do you hunger for the wisdom which comes from above?
"Lord Jesus, may your word take root in my heart and transform all my thoughts and actions. Give me wisdom and understanding that I may know your will for my life and have the courage to live according to
it."
DailyScripture.Net
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Spiritual Reading
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The Cloud of Unknowing, by Anonymous Of the special prayers of them that be continual workers in the word of this book
And right as this little word "fire" stirreth rather and pierceth more hastily the ears of the hearers, so doth a little word of one syllable when it is not only spoken or thought, but privily meant in the deepness of spirit; the which is the height, for in ghostliness all is
one, height and deepness, length and breadth. And rather it pierceth the ears of Almighty God than doth any long psalter unmindfully mumbled in the teeth. And herefore it is written, that short prayer pierceth heaven.
- Chapter
37
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