“. . . a society is good to the extent that it renders
contemplation possible for its members; and that the existence of at least a minority of contemplatives is necessary for the well-being of any society.”
- Aldous Huxley, The Perennial Philosophy
(Using this criterion, how well does our culture “measure up”? How well your family? Your workplace? What can you do to help foster a more contemplative spirit in the groups where you participate?) |
Jer 31:31-34; Ps 51:12-13, 14-15, 18-19
Mt 16:13-23
Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi
and he asked his disciples,
“Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”
They replied, “Some say John the
Baptist, others Elijah,
still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
Simon Peter said in reply,
“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Jesus said to him in reply, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah.
For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.
And so I say to you, you are Peter,
and upon this rock I will build my Church,
and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against
it.
I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of heaven.
Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven;
and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
Then he strictly ordered his disciples
to tell no one that he was the Christ.
From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples
that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly
from the elders, the chief
priests, and the scribes,
and be killed and on the third day be raised.
Then Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him,
“God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you.”
He turned and said to Peter,
“Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me.
You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings
do.”
Reflection on the
Scriptures |
“I will forgive their evildoing and remember their sin
no more.”
God is so eager to forgive us and welcome us back with open arms! It is always “an acceptable time” for repentance. If I have not taken stock of my spiritual state or have not availed myself of the Lord’s unconditional mercy in the sacrament of reconciliation for a
while, today would be a good time. The Lord wants to remove every barrier that keeps us from forgiveness and spiritual peace. Lord, grant me your grace so that every barrier that separates me from you or from my brothers and sisters may be removed.
“May your law of love be written on my heart and be evident in my life.”
- from preacherexchange.com
Revelations of Divine
Love - by Julian of Norwich
Ninth Revelation, Chapter 23
“The Glad
Giver”
“All the Trinity wrought in the Passion of Jesus Christ”
AND in these three words: It is a Joy, a bliss, an endless satisfying to me, were shewed three heavens, as thus: For the joy, I understood the pleasure of
the Father; and for the bliss, the worship of the Son; and for the endless satisfying, the Holy Ghost. The Father is pleased, the Son is worshipped, the Holy Ghost is satisfied.
And here saw I, for the Third Beholding in His blissful Passion: that is to say, the Joy and the Bliss that make Him to be well-satisfied in it. For our Courteous Lord shewed His Passion to me in five manners: of which the first is
the bleeding of the head; the second is, discolouring of His face; the third is, the plenteous bleeding of the body, in seeming [as] from the scourging; the fourth is, the deep dying:—these four are aforetold for the pains of the Passion. And the fifth is [this] that was shewed for the joy and the bliss of the Passion.
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