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The whole idea of compassion is based on a keen awareness of the interdependence of all these living beings, which are all part of one another and all involved in one another.
- Thomas Merton -
(Are you awake to this sense of connection with other people, creation, and God? Pray the grace to grow in this awareness.)
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JER 3:14-17; JER 31:10, 11-12ABCD, 13
MT 13:18-23
Jesus said to his disciples:
“Hear the parable of the sower.
The seed sown on the path is the one who hears the word of the Kingdom
without understanding it,
and the Evil One comes and steals away
what was sown in his heart.
The seed sown on rocky ground
is the one who hears the word and receives it at once with joy.
But he has no root and lasts only for a time.
When some tribulation or persecution comes because of the word,
he immediately falls away.
The seed sown among thorns is the one who hears the word,
but then worldly anxiety and the lure of riches choke the word
and it bears no fruit.
But the seed sown on rich soil
is the one who hears the word and understands it,
who indeed bears fruit and yields a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.”
USCCB lectionary
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Reflection on the Scripture
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“Return, rebellious children, says the Lord, for I am your Master.” —Jeremiah 3:14
The Lord promised that, if we repented of our rebellion against Him, He would appoint over us wise and prudent leaders after His own heart (Jer 3:15). Then we would become fruitful and reach new heights (Jer 3:16ff).
We do not produce “grain a hundred- or sixty- or thirtyfold” (Mt 13:8) if we do not repent of:
• not growing in understanding God’s Word (Mt 13:19). The Holy Spirit has been given to us as our Teacher (Jn 14:26). If we are docile to the Spirit, we will have a good understanding of God’s Word.
• not rooting God’s Word in our lives (Mt 13:21). Our superficiality is due to our refusal to repent of selfishness and lukewarmness (Rv 3:16).
• giving in to “worldly anxiety and the lure of money” (Mt 13:22). By the power of the Holy Spirit, we must and can crucify our “flesh with its passions and desires” (Gal 5:24). In other words, we must live our Baptisms.
Do you believe we need better leaders in government, church, and business, especially the media? If so, repent of your own sins, especially of rejecting God’s Word. Then you will be spiritually fruitful, and you will be led into a much better world, even leading to a civilization of love and life.
Prayer: Father, may I never underestimate the importance of my repentance.
Promise: “There all nations will be gathered together to honor the name of the Lord at Jerusalem, and they will walk no longer in their hardhearted wickedness.” —Jer 3:17
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 IV. Distrust of self
The fourth trial of souls in the state of abandonment: the obscurity of their state, and their apparent opposition to the will of God.
For a soul that desires nothing else but the will of God, what could be more miserable than the impossibility of being certain of loving Him? Formerly it was mentally enlightened to perceive in what consisted the plan for its perfection, but it is no longer able to do so in its present state. Perfection is given to it contrary to all preconceived ideas, to all light, to all feeling. It is given by all the crosses
sent by Providence, by the action of present duties, by certain attractions, which have in them no good beyond that of not leading to sin; but seem very far from the dazzling sublimity of sanctity, and all that is unusual in virtue. God and His grace are given in a hidden and strange manner, for the soul feels too weak to bear the weight of its crosses, and disgusted with its obligations. Its attractions are only for quite ordinary exercises. The ideal it has formed of sanctity reproaches it
interiorly for its mean and contemptible disposition. All books treating of the lives of the saints condemn it, it can find nothing in vindication of its conduct; it beholds a brilliant sanctity which renders it disconsolate because it has not strength sufficient to attain to it, and it does not see that its weakness is divinely ordered, but looks upon it as cowardice. Those whom it knows to be distinguished for striking virtue, of sublime contemplation regard it only with contempt. "What a
strange saint,‚" say they; and the soul, believing this, and confused by its countless useless efforts to raise itself from this low condition, is overwhelmed with opprobrium, and has nothing to advance in its own favour either to itself or to others. The soul in this state feels as if it were lost. Its reflexions afford it no help for its guidance, or enlightenment, and divine grace seems to have failed it. It is, however, through this loss that it finds again that same grace substituted under
a different form, and restoring a hundredfold more than it took away by the purity of its hidden impressions.
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