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I [God] can love you more than you can love yourself and I watch over you a thousand times more carefully than you can watch over yourself.
- St. Catherine of Siena
(Repeat these words slowly, prayerfully. Let their truth penetrate deeply into your soul. Express yourself to God when you are ready)
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ECCL 3:1-11; PS 144:1B AND 2ABC, 3-4
LK 9:18-22
Once when Jesus was praying in solitude,
and the disciples were with him,
he asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?”
They said in reply, “John the Baptist; others, Elijah;
still others, ‘One of the ancient prophets has arisen.’”
Then he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
Peter said in reply, “The Christ of God.”
He rebuked them and directed them not to tell this to anyone.
He said, “The Son of Man must suffer greatly
and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,
and be killed and on the third day be raised.”
USCCB lectionary
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Reflection on the Scripture
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“He has made everything appropriate to its time, and has put the timeless into their hearts.” —Ecclesiastes 3:11
The writer of Ecclesiastes continues his bleak description of life by saying: “There is an appointed time for everything” (Eccl 3:1). In his view, everything is ruled by fate. Our dedication, creativity, and hard work mean nothing. They are negated by the tyranny of time. Things will happen when they are fated to happen, and we can’t do a thing about it. So why try? Is there any hope?
Jesus is the Hope of the world. His Resurrection has freed us from the tyranny of time. Baptized into Jesus and living for Him, we, in our daily activity, are making a difference rather than being deceived. Therefore, the most important thing in the world is to know and love our risen Lord and then to decide to live totally for Him and no longer for ourselves (2 Cor 5:14-15). When we decide to give our lives totally to
Jesus, we lose our self-deceptions and chains and receive eternal life in the risen Christ.
How merciful the Lord has been to us! How privileged we are to live for Him and to have the exalted mission of telling the world about Him, “the Resurrection and the Life”! (Jn 11:25) Jesus became a Man and entered time so that we can escape from time’s tyranny. Jesus will come a final time, on the last day, and that will be the end of time. Come, Lord Jesus! Maranatha! (Rv 22:20)
Prayer: Father, day by day may I enter more deeply into eternal life.
Promise: “ ‘But you — who do you say that I am?’ He asked them. Peter said in reply, ‘The Messiah of God.’ ” —Lk 9:20
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 V. The Life of Faith
The fruit of these trials. The conduct of the submissive soul.
After that what will become of you, little worm? by what outlet will you come forth? Oh! marvel of grace by which souls are moulded in so many different shapes! Who can guess in what direction grace will guide it? And who could guess either, what nature does with a silkworm if he had not seen it working? It is only necessary to provide it with leaves, and nature does the rest.
Therefore no soul can tell from whence it came, nor whither it is going; neither from what thought of God the divine wisdom drew it, nor to what end it tends. Nothing is left but an entire passive abandonment, and to allow this divine Wisdom to act without interfering by our own reflexions, examples and methods. We must act when the time to act comes, and cease when it is time to stop; if necessary letting all be lost, and
thus, acting or remaining passive according to attraction and abandonment we, insensibly, do, or leave undone without knowing what will be the result; and after many changes the formed soul receives wings and flies up to Heaven, leaving a plentiful harvest on earth for other souls to gather.
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