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“In regard to all persons, have the same love, have the same indifference, whether relations or strangers. Detach your heart as much from the one as from the other; in a sense, even more particularly from
relations, for fear lest flesh and blood be stirred with the normal love which must be forever mortified if one is to achieve spiritual perfection.” - St. John of the Cross -
(This is a difficult teaching, to be sure.
Later, C. S. Lewis will make the point that "normal love" [e.g., romance, friendship, etc.] can co-exist with and be enriched by divine love. What is your experience?) |
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GN 37:3-4, 12-13, 17-28; PS 105:16-21; MT 21:33-43, 45-46
R. Remember the marvels the
Lord has done.
When the LORD called down a famine on the land
and ruined the crop that sustained them,
He sent a man before them,
Joseph, sold as a slave.
They had weighed him down with fetters,
and he was bound with chains,
Till his prediction came to pass
and the word of the LORD proved him true.
The king sent and released him,
the ruler of the peoples set
him free.
He made him lord of his house
and ruler of all his possessions.
USCCB Lectionary
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Matthew 21: 33-46: Parable of the wicked tenants
Jesus did not hide behind polite facades when love required that the truth be spoken. In today’s parable, he reveals his knowledge of the intentions of certain Jewish authorities to dispose of him, yet continues to invite them to recognize God working through him.
* God has entrusted us
with the cultivation of a vineyard, his kingdom. Who are the faithful tenants today? Who are the unfaithful? How can you tell one from the other?
* If the Master of the vineyard were to come today, what do you think he would say to you? Spend some time listening. Paperback, Kindle
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The Way of Perfection, by Teresa of Avila (1515-1582) Treats of the great need which we have to beseech the Eternal Father to grant us what we ask in these words: “Et ne nos inducas in tentationem, sed libera nos a malo.” Explains certain temptations. This chapter is noteworthy. That being so, who can say that he possesses any virtue, or that he is rich, if at the time when he most needs this virtue he finds himself devoid of it? No, sisters: let us rather think of ourselves as lacking it and not run into debt without having the means of repayment. Our treasure must come from elsewhere and we never know when God will
leave us in this prison of our misery without giving us any. If others, thinking we are good, bestow favours and honours upon us, both they and we shall look foolish when, as I say, it becomes clear that our virtues are only lent us. The truth is that, if we serve the Lord with humility, He will sooner or later succour us in our needs. But, if we are not strong in this virtue, the Lord will leave us to ourselves, as they say, at every step. This is a great favour on His part, for it helps us to
realize fully that we have nothing which has not been given us. - Chapter 36 (Keep in mind that she is writing to sisters in a cloistered contemplative order.)
Paperback, Kindle
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