|
|
Pray unceasingly. Fight with confidence. Believe God's promises.
Take Him at His Word. Wait for His victory.
- Anonymous
(Which of these are you most needing to attend to these days?) |
|
|
Ez 9:5-9; Tobit 13:2, 3-4a, 4befghn, 7-8; Lk 9:1-6
R. Blessed be God, who lives for ever.
He scourges and then has mercy;
he casts down to the depths of the nether world,
and he brings up from the great abyss.
No one can escape his hand.
Praise him, you children of Israel,
before the Gentiles,
for though he has scattered you among them,
he has shown you his greatness even there.
So now consider what he has done for you,
and praise him with full voice.
Bless the Lord of righteousness,
and exalt the
King of ages.
In the land of my exile I praise him
and show his power and majesty to a sinful nation.
Bless the Lord, all you his chosen ones,
and may all of you praise his majesty.
Celebrate days of gladness, and give him praise.
USCCB Lectionary
|
|
|
Why did Jesus put the parable of the two debtors before his learned host, a rabbi and teacher of the people? This
parable is similar to the parable of the unforgiving official (see Matthew 18:23-35) in which the man who was forgiven much showed himself merciless and unforgiving. Jesus makes clear that great love springs from a heart forgiven and cleansed. Peter the Apostle tells us that "love covers a multitude of sins" (1 Peter 4:8). It was love that motivated the Father in heaven to send his only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus, to offer up his life on the cross as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. The
woman's lavish expression of love was an offering of gratitude for the great forgiveness, kindness, and mercy Jesus had shown to her.
The stark contrast of attitudes between Simon and the woman of ill-repute demonstrates how we can either accept or reject God's mercy and forgiveness. Simon, who regarded himself as an upright Pharisee, felt no need for love
or mercy. His self-sufficiency kept him from acknowledging his need for God's grace - his gracious gift of favor, help, and mercy. Are you grateful for God's mercy and grace?
"Lord Jesus, your grace is sufficient for me. Fill my heart
with love and gratitude for the mercy you have shown to me and give me joy and freedom to love and serve others with kindness and respect."
DailyScripture.Net
|
|
|
The Cloud of Unknowing, by Anonymous
That a man shall not take ensample at the bodily ascension of Christ, for to strain his imagination upwards bodily in the time of prayer: and that time, place, and body, these three should be forgotten in all
ghostly working.
AND if thou say aught touching the ascension of our Lord, for that was done bodily, and for a bodily bemeaning as well as for a ghostly, for both He ascended very God and very man: to this will I answer thee, that He had been
dead, and was clad with undeadliness, and so shall we be at the Day of Doom. And then we shall be made so subtle in body and in soul together, that we shall be then as swiftly where us list bodily as we be now in our thought ghostly; whether it be up or down, on one side or on other, behind or before, all I hope shall then be alike good, as clerks say. But now thou mayest not come to heaven bodily, but ghostly. And yet it shall be so ghostly, that it shall not be on bodily manner; neither
upwards nor downwards, nor on one side nor on other, behind nor before.
- Chapter 59 |
|
|
|
