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When we enter a place of solitude, all the things that seemed so important to us recede in significance; what is truly important emerges into clarity. It is difficult to imagine any real breakthroughs without a solitary element in one's spiritual life.
- Wayne Teasdale, The Mystic Heart
(What role does solitude play in your life? What treasures might be awaiting you there?)
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Jer 20:10-13; Psalm 18:2-3a, 3bc-4, 5-6, 7
Jn 10:31-42
The Jews picked up rocks to stone Jesus.
Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from my Father.
For which of these are you trying to stone me?”
The Jews answered him,
“We are not stoning you for a good work but for blasphemy.
You, a man, are making yourself God.”
Jesus answered them,
“Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, ‘You are gods”‘?
If it calls them gods to whom the word of God came,
and Scripture cannot be set aside,
can you say that the one
whom the Father has consecrated and sent into the world
blasphemes because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?
If I do not perform my Father’s works, do not believe me;
but if I perform them, even if you do not believe me,
believe the works, so that you may realize and understand
that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.”
Then they tried again to arrest him;
but he escaped from their power.
He went back across the Jordan
to the place where John first baptized, and there he remained.
Many came to him and said,
“John performed no sign,
but everything John said about this man was true.”
And many there began to believe in him.
USCCB lectionary
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Reflection on the Scripture
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“My word has no room among you.” —John 8:37, RNAB
How chilling it would be on the Day of Judgment to hear Jesus, the eternal Word of God, speak the words: “My Word has no room among you.” Jesus came into this world as a Baby in the womb of Mary, His mother. At Bethlehem, on the day of His birth, there was no room for Him at the inns and homes of Bethlehem (Lk 2:7). There was no room for the Word of God.
Do you have a Bible in your home? If so, does it merely sit unopened on a shelf? Or do you have room in your life for the Word of God? We need to make room for the Word of God by getting rid of clutter in our lives which is “taking up room” and crowding God’s Word out of our lives. Meditate on God’s Word day and night (Ps 1:2). Devour God’s Word and let it become the joy and the happiness of your heart (Jer 15:16).
Whatever changes are required, make room for God’s Word in your heart and in your life. Presentation Ministries publishes this booklet, One Bread, One Body, to help you abide in God’s Word (Jn 8:31-32) through the daily Mass readings. In these final days of Lent, devote yourselves anew to Jesus and His Word. “Open wide your hearts!” (2 Cor 6:13)
Prayer: Father, I open wide my heart and ask You to plant Your Word deep within. May I be good soil that hears and heeds Your Word to bear much fruit for You.
Promise: “If you live according to My teaching, you are truly My disciples; then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” —Jn 8:31-32
Presentation Ministries
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Abandonment to Divine Providence
- by Jean-Pierre de Caussade
BOOK II,
CHAPTER IV. CONCERNING THE ASSISTANCE RENDERED BY THE FATHERLY PROVIDENCE OF GOD TO THOSE SOULS WHO HAVE ABANDONED THEMSELVES TO HIM
SECTION 8. Self-guidance a mistake
God imparts to the soul in the state of abandonment by means which seem more likely to destroy it.
The divine operation, unknown to the soul, communicates its virtue and substance by many circumstances that the soul believes will be its destruction. There is no cure for this ignorance, it must be allowed its course. God gives Himself therein, and with Himself, he gives all things in the obscurity of faith. The soul is but a blind subject, or, in other words, it is like a sick person who knows nothing of the
properties of remedies and tastes only their bitterness. He often imagines that what is given him will be his death; the pain and weakness which result seem to justify his fears; nevertheless it is under the semblance of death that his health is restored, and he takes the medicines on the word of the physician. In the same way the submissive soul is in no way pre-occupied about its infirmities, except as regards obvious maladies which by their nature compel it to rest; and to take suitable
remedies. The languor and weakness of souls in the state of abandonment are only illusory appearances which they ought to defy with confidence. God sends them, or permits them in order to give opportunities for the exercise of faith and abandonment which are the true remedies. Without paying the least attention to them, these souls should generously pursue their way, following by their actions and sufferings the order of God, making use without hesitation of the body as though it were a horse on
hire, which is intended to be driven until it is worn out. This is better than thinking of health so much as to harm the soul.
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