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“When perfect love has driven out fear, or fear has been transformed into love, then everything that has been saved will be a unity growing together through the one and only Fullness, and everyone will be, in one another, a unity in the perfect Dove, the Holy Spirit.”
- Gregory of Nyssa,
Homilies on the Song of Songs, 15
(Thy Kingdom come . . . ) |
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SIR 3:2-6, 12-14; PS 128:1-2, 3, 4-5
MT 2:13-15, 19-23
When the magi had departed, behold,
the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said,
“Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt,
and stay there until I tell you.
Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him.”
Joseph rose and took the child and his mother by night
and departed for Egypt.
He stayed there until
the death of Herod,
that what the Lord had said through the prophet might be fulfilled,
Out of Egypt I called my son.
When Herod had died, behold,
the angel of the Lord appeared in a dream
to Joseph in Egypt and said,
“Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel,
for
those who sought the child’s life are dead.”
He rose, took the child and his mother,
and went to the land of Israel.
But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea
in place of his father Herod,
he was afraid to go back there.
And because he had been warned in a dream,
he departed for the region of Galilee.
He went and dwelt in a town called Nazareth,
so that what had been spoken through the prophets
might be fulfilled,
He
shall be called a Nazorean. USCCB Lectionary
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(Feast of the Holy Family - reflections from dailyscripture.net)
Like all godly Jewish parents, Joseph and Mary raised the child Jesus in the reverence and wisdom of the Lord. Joseph was given a unique task as the guardian and protector of Mary and of Jesus. What can we learn from the example and
witness of Joseph? Joseph is a man of God, a man of unquestioning obedience and willing service. He is a man of prayer and a man of God's word. Through faith he recognized the hand of God in the mystery of the Incarnation - the Son of God taking on flesh as the son of the virgin Mary.
Joseph is a man of action, diligent in the care of his family and ready to do the Lord's bidding. Joseph fearlessly set aside his own plans when God called him to "take to the road" and to leave his
familiar surroundings - his home, friends and relatives, and the security of his livelihood in order to pursue a hidden mission God entrusted to him as the guardian of the newborn King.
God has a plan for each one of us. With the plan God gives grace and the assurance of his guiding hand and care. Do you trust your heavenly Father for his plan for your life?
Are you willing to sacrifice your own plans for the sake of God's plan? Are you willing to give God unquestioning service and to pursue whatever mission he gives you?
"Lord Jesus, make me a faithful servant of your word and guardian of your truth. Help me to obey you willingly, like Joseph and Mary, with unquestioning trust and with joyful
hope."
Paperback, Kindle
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God and I: Exploring the Connections between God, Self and Ego, by Philip St. Romain, 2016 (2nd ed.) ____________ Chapter 1: God (excerpts) Existence does not
lend itself to scientific inquiry because it does not present empirical data about itself per se. Dissect any creature as carefully as you can and you will never find existence apart from the things being dissected. We do not know what pure existence is in isolation from existents, but we can wonder and think about this topic anyway. We can inquire into what it means simply to be or even what is-ness is. The mind longs for some symbol or form to give expression to this, but it
is impossible to do so. Something that is while also remaining unmanifest is difficult to imagine, but not impossible to conceive. The most we can do is to conceptually affirm that pure existence (if there be such) would simply be. Hardback, paperback, eBook and free preview versions.
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