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The Lord does not say that the proof of his disciples' faithfulness will be the working of wondrous miracles . . . What does He tell them? 'You shall be known as my disciples if you love one another.'"
- St. Basil the Great -
(Let this love be your guiding light this day.)
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HOS 14:2-10; Ps 51:3-4, 8-9, 12-13, 14, 17
MT 10:16-23
Jesus said to his Apostles:
“Behold, I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves;
so be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves.
But beware of men,
for they will hand you over to courts
and scourge you in their synagogues,
and you will be led before governors and kings for my sake
as a witness before them and the pagans.
When they hand you over,
do not worry about how you are to speak
or what you are to say.
You will be given at that moment what you are to say.
For it will not be you who speak
but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.
Brother will hand over brother to death,
and the father his child;
children will rise up against parents and have them put to death.
You will be hated by all because of my name,
but whoever endures to the end will be saved.
When they persecute you in one town, flee to another.
Amen, I say to you, you will not finish the towns of Israel
before the Son of Man comes.”
USCCB lectionary
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Reflection on the Scripture
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“I will love them freely.” —Hosea 14:5
Today we conclude the readings from the book of Hosea, and the logical concluding questions are: “Did we get the message of the prophet Hosea? And has it sunk deep in our hearts and been applied to our lives?”
The revelation the Lord gave through Hosea is that His love for us is unconditional. As the Lord told Hosea to marry and love an adulterous wife, so the Lord loves us even if we choose to be unfaithful to Him through sin (see Hos 1:2).
Have you accepted the grace to believe that God’s love for you is perfect, infinite, unconditional, and unchangeable? As baptized sons and daughters of God, we should be unshakably secure in our Father’s love. This should make us truly free and profoundly at peace.
If you believe in God’s unconditional love for you, have you applied this to your life by accepting the grace to respond by loving Him unconditionally? Even if the Lord permitted you to suffer the tragedies of Job, would you say: “Blessed be the name of the Lord”? (Jb 1:21) Live in unconditional love.
Prayer: Father, may the words of the prophet Hosea find a home in my heart.
Promise: “You will be hated by all on account of Me. But whoever holds out till the end will escape death.” —Mt 10:22
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.
It seems to me that it is easy to conclude from all this that souls abandoned to God cannot occupy themselves, as others do, with desires, examinations, cares, or attachments to certain persons. Neither can they form plans, nor lay down methodical rules for their actions, or for reading. This would imply that they still had power to dispose of themselves, which would entirely exclude the state of abandonment in which
they are placed. In this state they give up to God all their rights over themselves, over their words, actions, thoughts, and proceedings; over the employment of their time and everything connected with it. There remains only one desire, to satisfy the Master they have chosen, to listen unceasingly to the expression of His will in order to execute it immediately. No condition can better represent this state than that of a servant who obeys every order he receives, and does not occupy his time in
attending to his own affairs; these he neglects in order to serve His Master at every moment. These souls then should not be distressed at their powerlessness; they are able to do much in being able to give themselves entirely to a Master who is all-powerful, and able to work wonders with the feeblest of instruments if they offer no resistance.
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