Message of 8-31-15

Published: Mon, 08/31/15

A Daily Spiritual Seed
Monday: August 31, 2015
Message of the Day
I have a capacity in my soul for taking in God entirely. I am assure as I live that nothing is so near to me as God. God is nearer to me than I am to myself; my existence depends on the nearness and the presence of God.
   - Meister Eckhart

(Be still . . . abide in God . . . )
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Readings of the Day
1 THES 4:13-18;    PS 96:1-5, 11-13;    LK 4:16-30

R. The Lord comes to judge the earth.

Sing to the LORD a new song;
sing to the LORD, all you lands.
Tell his glory among the nations;
among all peoples, his wondrous deeds.

For great is the LORD and highly to be praised;
awesome is he, beyond all gods.
For all the gods of the nations are things of nought,
but the LORD made the heavens.

Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice;
let the sea and what fills it resound;
let the plains be joyful and all that is in them!
Then shall all the trees of the forest exult.

Before the LORD, for he comes;
for he comes to rule the earth.
He shall rule the world with justice
and the peoples with his constancy.

USCCB lectionary
Reflection on the Scripture

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me." –Luke 4:18


Father Al Lauer, founder of One Bread, One Body, considered Luke 4:18 to be his personal mission statement. As he prepared for his ordination to the priesthood, he chose this Scripture verse as his theme. The passage was quoted on his funeral Mass card. Fr. Al was on fire with the Holy Spirit and operated in the gifts of the Holy Spirit throughout his priesthood.


Jesus said: "I have come to light a fire on the earth. How I wish the blaze were ignited!" (Lk 12:49) Jesus came to baptize you with the Holy Spirit (Mk 1:8). On Easter, He told His disciples, "Receive the Holy Spirit" (Jn 20:22). After Jesus ascended, the gifts of the Spirit were poured out on us all (Eph 4:11; Acts 2:17) and the Church was born.


At Baptism, you received "the power to live and act under the prompting of the Holy Spirit through the gifts of the Holy Spirit" (Catechism, 1266; see also Mk 1:8). Yet the world, the devil, and our flesh constantly fight against the Holy Spirit for control of our lives (Gal 5:17). Therefore, "I remind you to stir into flame" the Holy Spirit in your lives (2 Tm 1:6-7).


Fr. Al once told me: "The more I say 'No' to myself, the more I say 'Yes' to the Holy Spirit." In that spirit, repent immediately of all sin. Deny yourself and take up your daily cross (Lk 9:23). Be on fire with the Holy Spirit, living so as to never stifle or sadden the Spirit (1 Thes 5:19; Eph 4:30). "Since we live by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit's lead" (Gal 5:25).


PRAYER: Lord Jesus, may I receive a double portion of the spirit You gave Your servant, Fr. Al Lauer (2 Kgs 2:9). May I want the Holy Spirit more than I want to take my next breath.


PROMISE: "Thenceforth we shall be with the Lord unceasingly." –1 Thes 4:17

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Spiritual Reading
Theological Gems from Emile Merch's Theology of the Mystical Body
- selected by Jim and Tyra Arraj

Book I: Theological and Philosophical Introduction

Chapter 5: The Teaching of Philosophy on Man and His Unity

96. Man is a certain immensity. In his relations to the universe he is more than a part: he is a center, a totality, a culmination.

99. Without man the universe is truncated and inexplicable; it has no center, no ultimate, no issue. It is nowhere conscious.

Man is the intrinsic end of the world, and is the relatively last end for the world. God is the transcendent and absolutely ultimate end, but the world tends to God only in man.
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