Message of the Day
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The ban on inventing new
Jesus stories and sayings was not, as some have suggested, repressive. Its effect was to release the imagination for doing what is proper to it, namely, like Mary the mother of Jesus, to ponder Jesus in our hearts (Luke 2:19, 51), meditating our way into the presence of Jesus as presented by the Gospel writers, meditating so that Jesus is met and either crucified again or believed in again by me. And we have been doing it ever since in sermons and Bible studies, in stories and poems, in hymns
and prayers, in acts of obedience and service in Jesus' name.
- Why Spirituality Needs Jesus, by Eugene Peterson
(Who is Jesus for you? How do you ponder his life in your heart and life?)
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Readings of the Day
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GAL 4:22-24, 26-27, 31-5:1; PS 113:1-7; LK 11:29-32
R. Blessed be the name of the Lord
forever.
Praise, you servants of the LORD,
praise the name of the LORD.
Blessed be the name of the LORD
both now and forever.
From the rising to the setting of the sun
is the name of the LORD to be praised.
High above all nations is the LORD;
above the heavens is his glory.
Who is like the LORD, our
God,
who looks upon the heavens and the earth below?
He raises up the lowly from the dust;
from the dunghill he lifts up the poor.
USCCB lectionary
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Reflection on the Gospel
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"Stand firm, and do not take on yourselves the yoke of slavery a second time!" -Galatians 5:1
If Jesus sets us free, we are really free (Jn 8:36). If, however, we take on ourselves "the yoke of slavery a second time," we are in
the worst condition possible for a human being. "When men have fled a polluted world by recognizing the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and then are caught up and overcome in pollution once more, their last condition is worse than their first. It would have been better for them not to have recognized the road to holiness than to have turned their backs on the holy law handed on to them, once they had known it" (2 Pt 2:20-21). If we ever give up our God-given freedom, seven demons far worse than
anything we have previously experienced may enter and dwell in us. "The result is that the last state of the man is worse than the first" (Lk 11:26). The people who have done the worst things in history are often former Christians. This does not indicate that Christianity is bad but that leaving Christianity is very bad. We must get free in Jesus and stay free.
PRAYER: Father, give me lasting
freedom.
PROMISE: "You have a greater than Jonah here." -Lk 11:32
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 11 of 12
- The Nature of Christian Love -
This brings us to a critical point in our
reflection on love. God has to put up with selfish creatures the same way codependents do. How does God handle it? Does God enable us or try to control us into shaping up?
The answer, of course, is that God continues to love us while allowing us to experience our consequences. God has given us the gift of Himself in Christ and the gift of the Church to manifest the divine
presence on earth. Beyond this, however, God does nothing, for to do more would violate our freedom, an essential condition for loving. As love, God allows us to use our freedom in destructive ways.
Many people have a problem with this reasoning. They believe that an all-powerful God should rescue us from the evil we have created through our own sick minds. They fail to
realize that even if God did rescue us, we would create the same mess again in a short time out of the same sick minds. What God wants for us is not a short-term fix (which is what enabling brings) but a long-term cure. What God wants for us is conversion.
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