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Then, by the virtue of love, is the lover transformed in the beloved and the beloved is transformed in the lover, and like unto hard iron which so assumeth the colour, heat, virtue, and form of the fire that it almost turneth into fire, so doth the soul, united with God through the perfect grace of divine love, itself almost become divine and transformed in God."
- Angela of Foligno [13th-14th C.], "The Divine Consolation," Ch. 6 -
(This is the fruit of the spiritual life. Open yourself to being transformed in and by Love today.)
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EPH 2:19-22; Ps 117:1BC, 2
JN 20:24-29
Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve,
was not with them when Jesus came.
So the other disciples said to him, “We have seen the Lord.”
But Thomas said to them,
“Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands
and put my finger into the nailmarks
and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
Now a week later his disciples were again inside
and Thomas was with them.
Jesus came, although the doors were locked,
and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.”
Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands,
and bring your hand and put it into my side,
and do not be unbelieving, but believe.”
Thomas answered and said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
Jesus said to him, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me?
Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”
USCCB lectionary
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Reflection on the Scripture
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Jesus said “to Thomas: ‘Take your finger and examine My hands. Put your hand into My side. Do not persist in your unbelief, but believe!’ ” —John 20:27
Thomas, whose name means “twin,” showed signs of a pronounced independence. It stands to reason that a twin might be especially insistent on differentiating himself from his twin as he matures. When Thomas told the other apostles that he did not believe the apostles’ claim that Jesus had risen (Jn 20:25), Thomas wrongfully chose to be independent of the apostles, Mary Magdalene, and others who had met the risen
Christ. When Thomas talked about putting his fingers and hands into Jesus’ wounds (Jn 20:25), he was displaying an independence which was extreme to the point of possibly being sinful. Thomas was saying that he would have to see, probe, and inspect Jesus’ risen body himself before he would believe in Jesus’ Resurrection.
It is no coincidence that in the USA the celebration of the feast of St. Thomas always is on the day preceding the birthday of our country, “Independence Day.” When our citizens are independent from sin and totally dependent on God, we are truly “one nation under God.” When we decide to be independent from God, our independence becomes sinful, leading to destruction and damnation. May the USA repent as did
Thomas and proclaim Jesus as Lord and God (Jn 20:28). Otherwise, we will perish in our independence.
Prayer: Father, help me unlearn what the world has mistaught me about independence. Send the Holy Spirit to teach me that true independence is grounded in total dependence on You.
Promise: “This means that you are strangers and aliens no longer. No, you are fellow citizens of the saints and members of the household of God.” —Eph 2:19
Presentation Ministries
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Abandonment to Divine Providence
- by Jean-Pierre de Caussade
BOOK II,
CHAPTER III. THE TRIALS CONNECTED WITH THE STATE OF ABANDONMENT
SECTION III. Self-contempt
The third trial: interior humiliations.
Contemptible as they are in the eyes of others, the souls raised by God to this state are far more contemptible in their own. There is nothing either in what they do, or in what they suffer that is not altogether paltry and humiliating; there is nothing striking in anything about them, all is quite ordinary, nothing but troubles and afflictions interiorly, and contradictions and disappointments exteriorly. With a feeble
body requiring many alleviations and comforts, the very reverse one would think of that spirit of poverty and austerity so much admired in the saints. Neither heroic undertakings, nor fasts, large alms, nor ardent and far-reaching zeal can be discerned in them; but united to God by faith and love they behold in themselves nothing but disorder. They despise themselves still more by comparison with those who pass for saints, and who, besides adapting themselves with facility to rules and methods
show nothing irregular either in their persons or actions. Therefore their own short-comings in this respect fill them with confusion, and are unbearable to them. It is on this account that they give way to sighs and tears, marking the grief with which they are oppressed. Let us remember that Jesus Christ was both God and man; as man He was destroyed, and as God He remained full of glory. These souls have no participation in His glory, but they share in the sadness and misery of His sufferings.
Men regard them in the same way as Herod and his court regarded Jesus Christ. These poor souls, therefore, are nourished as to their senses and mind, with a most disgusting food, in which they can find no pleasure. They aspire to something quite different, but all the avenues leading to the sanctity they so much desire, remain closed to them. They must live on this bread of suffering, on this bread mingled with ashes, with a continual shrinking both exterior and interior. They have formed an
idea of saintliness which gives them constant and irremediable torment. The will hungers for it, but is powerless to practise it. Why should this be, except to mortify the soul in that which is its most spiritual and intimate part, which, finding no satisfaction or pleasure in anything that happens to it, must needs place all its affection in God who conducts it this way for the express purpose of preventing it taking pleasure in anything but Him alone.
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