Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light for my path. (Psalm 119)
John 5:16-30 Who knows the full will of God? No human being on earth. Only Jesus sought perfectly to live into the perfect will of God –and was stretched on a cross for doing so, only to rise again on the third day. We do have indications of God’s will in holy scriptures, that is, in the B.I.B.L.E. –Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth. “Come all you who thirst, Come to the living waters.” God said through Isaiah. “Seek the Lord while he can be found. Call upon him while he is near,“ counsels the Psalmist. “Seek first the Kingdom of heaven and his righteousness,” said Jesus, who also counsels us to “Come to me all you who labour and are heavy laden,” and “Do this in remembrance of me.” I realize that undoubtedly when I choose God’s way, that is Jesus’ way, of learning, loving, and living, I enter into the realm of the Holy Spirit of God, the holy place of forgiveness, mercy, courage, purity, faithfulness and all the facets of fulfilled being. So what am I seeking? Am I seeking to find ways to do my own will and then stamp it with “grace”? Or will I, like Jesus at all times in his life, seek the will of God –by prayerful consideration of the Holy Writ and making a choice to walk with Jesus –and do it? Holy Spirit of God help me seek to do your will, not mine. The Lord is just in all his ways, and kind in all his doing. The Lord is near to all who call on him in truth. (Psalm 145: 17 & 18) “Prayer is as necessary as the air, as the blood in our bodies, as anything to keep us alive –to keep us alive to the grace of God.” Saint Teresa of Kalcutta Soli ad gloriam Dei Gospel Mystery of the Day on FaceBook & www.gospelmysteryoftheday.ca
0 Comments
Holy Spirit of God make me alive, together with Christ Jesus, for it is by grace I have been saved…3/12/2024 Ezekiel 47: 1-12, Ephesians 2: 4-10 Perhaps the river of God’ mercy and grace is counter-intuitive for humankind, starting out as a trickle and quickly becoming a deep river of purifying water, but it is nonetheless life giving. To everyone who takes time to walk along the banks of God’s river of mercy and grace, and chooses to eat the ripe fruit on the branches of the trees on its banks and to apply their healing leave to the wounds of heart, mind and spirit, it is the best nourishment and medicine in the world And for everyone who takes at dip in its waters, it is not only refreshing, but purifying. This was the mercy Christ Jesus engaged throughout his Passion and Resurrection. This is the mercy he extended to every man, woman and child by his obedient suffering and rising again. This is the grace by which I – by which we – have been saved. Will I walk through life unaware of the river of life just beyond the trials and troubles of this life? Or will I take time through prayer and meditation to walk along the banks of the river of God’s mercy and to immerse myself in its healing and cleansing waters? Holy Spirit of God make me alive, together with Christ Jesus, for it is by grace that I have been saved. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea. (Psalm 46:1-2) “Prayer is as necessary as the air, as the blood in our bodies, as anything to keep us alive-to keep us alive to the grace of God.” Saint Teresa of Kalcutta Soli ad gloriam Dei Gospel Mystery of the Day on FaceBook & www.gospelmysteryoftheday.ca 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 & Luke 11:14 -23 Jesus’ parable of a man hiring a guard for his house was his answer to those who accused him of being in league with Satan. Jesus was not a fallen angel who had a stiff neck and turned his back on the Lord. But Jesus was a “Holy One” – the Holy One – who know what it was to listen to the Lord God and knew the power of his Father’s Grace. When Jesus was crucified at Golgatha as one who was ‘in league with Beelzabub’ Jesus did not put his trust in good spirits, or in the evil spirits as his accusers falsely claimed –Jesus didn’t need to hire anyone to guard him. Instead he trusted in his Father’s purpose and power without compromise and trustingly faced his Father throughout his passion without turning. He trusted that this Father’s Grace was sufficient to raise him from the tomb of earthly anguish and evil, to live again. Will I, like our Lord Jesus Christ, St. Paul and all martyrs of Faith, learn how God’s Grace is always sufficient? Holy Spirit of God teach me how your Grace is sufficient for me. O Come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord our maker! For his is our God, and we are the People of his pasture and the sheep of his hand. O today do not harden your hearts! (Psalm 95:7-8 ) Be attentive to the voice of Grace! St, Elisabeth Ann Seton Soli ad gloriam Dei Gospel Mystery of the Day on FaceBook & www.gospelmysteryoftheday.ca www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Kings+5%3A1-15&version=NIV
2 Kings 5:1-15 Like leprosy of the body, seeds of sin silently enter my soul through cuts and bruises that have compromised the ‘skin’ of my being. Traumas of all kinds can leave wounds in our hearts and minds that are particularly susceptible to the nerve-destroying disease, that eventually numbs all senses and extremities, and finally destroys the integrity of one’s being, - as a son or daughter of God. Naaman, the Syrian commander contracted leprosy of the body, and was greatly offended when the God-man Elisha sent his servant to tell him to wash in the Jordon River seven times. How could something so simple as washing work? But encouraged by his servants to humbly follow the Prophet’s guidance, Naaman swallowed his pride and did as he was told. As he simply dipped himself seven times in the quiet splashing of the waters of the Jordan, his mind was cleansed of his self-righteousness, his heart was aligned with the purity of the holy, his soul was healed of its hopelessness and despair and his skin that harbored the spots of leprosy was made whole again. During these 40 days of Lent, we will do well to notice the spots of the leprosy of sin that have invaded, and numbed, the ‘skin’ of our souls through the wounds and wonders of this life. Like Naaman, we will do well to seek out the Holy remedies of God (Repentance, the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and fasting and penance) and humbly wash ourselves in them – ‘seven times’, that is repeatedly. Then we will be able to rejoice with all God’s people on earth at Easter, that by the wounds of the crucified Christ we are healed, and by his rising from tomb, we are raised to life again. Will I, like Naaman, notice my maladies, seek out the wisdom of following Jesus, and ‘seven times’ wash away the leprosy of sin in the rivers of God’s Grace? Holy Spirit of God help me wash away the leprosy of sin in the rivers of God’s mercy. As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. (Psalm 50:16,23) Wash me more and more from my sins, and cleanse me from all unrighteousness… Wash me, O God, and I shall be whiter than snow. King David, Psalm 51 For a discussion of ‘leprosy of the soul’, see Dr. Paul Brand’s book, written with Philip Yancey, Fearfully and Wonderfully Made. Soli ad gloriam Dei Gospel Mystery of the Day on FaceBook & www.gospelmysteryoftheday.ca Holy Spirit of Jesus, help me not sit in the seat of scoffers, but delight in the law of the Lord…2/28/2024 Psalm 1 & Luke 6:36-38 There are many more people, it seems, who sit in the seat of scoffers than delight in the law of the Lord, and humanity is all the poorer because of it. Every time I complain, gossip, scheme, criticize and slander or worry issues and accusations to the bone, I too have turned my back on the Mercy seat of God, and have chosen instead to sit in the congregation of scoffers – a human ‘murder’ of crows – chirping* away at others. Think of the Israelites ‘chirping’ Moses and Aaron on their circuitous and a-maze-ing 400 Kilometer journey through the desert that took forty years. Or think of Job’s Friends who flocked to Job when he was at his lowest and told him that his troubles were his own doing and that all was hopeless. Or consider the crowd scoffing at Christ Jesus and condemning him to death on Good Friday. But there is a remedy for all of this chirping and heckling. The Law of the Lord which is Mercy was the delight of Moses of Job and of Jesus and guided them through the places that ‘looked like death, but really led to life’ (cf. Ronald Rohlheiser). When I find myself (again) sitting in the chair of a scoffer, I do have a choice. I can follow the current of scoffing hopelessness, and continue to turn away from God, or I can repent of my foolishness, get up off the chair of contention and begin again to delight in the law of the Lord, in the company of holy people of all ages. Holy Spirit of Jesus, help me not sit in the seat of scoffers, but delight in the law of the Lord. What right have you to recite my statues, or take my covenant on your lips? For you hate discipline, and you cast my words behind you. .. Those who bring thanksgiving as their sacrifice honour me; to those who go the right way, I will show the salvation of God. (Psalm 50: 16,23) “He who trusts himself is lost. He who trusts in God can do all things.” St. Alphonsus Liguori chirping* - Canadian slang. As in opposing mean-spirited hockey players slandering, swearing at, and checking each other Soli ad gloriam Dei Gospel Mystery of the Day on FaceBook & www.gospelmysteryoftheday.ca |
AuthorBeverly Illauq lives in Kemptville, Ontario, where she greets each morning by seeking the Gospel Mystery of the Day - the Word of the Lord for direct and practical application to the specific challenges & joys of the day. Archives
March 2024
Categories |