Message of 3-23-15

Published: Mon, 03/23/15

A Daily Spiritual Seed
Monday: March 23, 2015
Message of the Day
Prayer and love are learned in the hour when prayer becomes impossible and your heart has turned to stone.
... Thomas Merton (1915-1968), Seeds of Contemplation

(Such "learnings" are deeply formative. Do not pass up such opportunities when they arise.)
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Readings of the Day
DN 13:1-9, 15-17, 19-30, 33-62;    PS 23:1-6;    JN 8:1-11

R. Even though I walk in the dark valley I fear no evil; for you are at my side.

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
In verdant pastures he gives me repose;
Beside restful waters he leads me;
he refreshes my soul.

He guides me in right paths
for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk in the dark valley
I fear no evil; for you are at my side
With your rod and your staff
that give me courage.

You spread the table before me
in the sight of my foes;
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.

Only goodness and kindness follow me
all the days of my life;
And I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
for years to come.

USCCB lectionary
Reflection on the Scripture
"At this they tried to seize Him, but no one laid a finger on Him because His hour had not yet come." –John 7:30

Jesus repeatedly took His place publicly amid ferocious opposition and boldly proclaimed the Word of God. "This led some of the people of Jerusalem to remark: 'Is this not the One they want to kill? Here He is speaking in public and they don't say a word to Him!' " (Jn 7:25-26)

The keys to Jesus' fearlessness are:
  1. His relationship with His Father. Because Jesus knew that the Father loved Him (see Jn 5:20), He had total confidence that His Father would protect Him fully, until His "hour" came to suffer (see Jn 7:30; 12:27).
  2. His knowledge of being sent by the Father to proclaim God's Word. Jesus knew that the full authority of God the Father was backing Him up (see Mt 28:18; Jn 5:36; 7:16). Because Jesus sought glory for His Father Who sent Him and not for Himself (Jn 7:18), His heart burned with zeal rather than cowered due to self-preservation.
  3. His love. "Love has no room for fear; rather, perfect love casts out all fear" (1 Jn 4:18).
Now Jesus says to us: "As the Father has sent Me, so I send You" (Jn 20:21). Let's take up our places in God's kingdom and be confident. God will give us strength even in the full sight of our foes (Ps 23:5). "If God is for us, who can be against us?" (Rm 8:31) Like the psalmist, we can say: "They attacked me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord came to my support. He set me free in the open, and rescued me, because He loves me" (Ps 18:19-20).

PRAYER: Father, I know fear is useless. Increase my trust in You (Mk 5:36) and take away all my fear.

PROMISE: “Many are the troubles of the just man, but out of them all the Lord delivers him." –Ps 34:20

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Spiritual Reading
NOTES ON THE LIFE OF CHRISTIAN PRAYER
 
2708.  Meditation engages thought, imagination, emotion, and desire.  This mobilization of faculties is necessary in order to deepen our convictions of faith, prompt the conversion of our heart, and strengthen our will to follow Christ.  Christian prayer tries above all to meditate on the mysteries of Christ, as in lectio divina or the rosary.  This form of prayerful reflection is of great value, but Christian prayer should go further: to the knowledge of the love of the Lord Jesus, to union with him.
- The Catechism of the Catholic Church, IV, 3, 1)

- part 12 of 24

The Catechism of the Catholic Church, IV
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