Mark 4:26-34

 
What Jesus said is true:  a person deliberately plants seed, continues on with their life and after a while a young plant appears where the seed was sown – a whole, unique, complete and beautiful work of the Father.  What an everyday, simple, and yet so very complex mystery this is!  So it is with  my life. I plant a seed by praying fervently for something  that lines up with the truth and love of God – “Help my children know and love Jesus as their Redeemer”. Or “Help me find good employment.” Or “Teach me patience…” or “Bring an end to this pandemic…” and then carry on with my daily routines. Then, lo and behold, I find that my prayer of two weeks or even two years ago, has ‘sprouted’ and is being answered leaf by leaf, day by day, inch by inch, on its way to becoming a touch of Grace that transforming and usually far more than I had ever envisioned.  Will I plant the seed of the Word and the Will of God with my with prayers – and then take time to witness and give thanks for their growth?  Holy Spirit of Jesus, help me enter into the mystery of the growth of the kingdom of God around me.   
 
Create in my a clean heart, O God, and put a new and steadfast spirit within me…. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit.  (Psalm 51: 10 – 12)
 
The things that we love tell us what we are.
St. Mother Teresa
 
 
Soli ad gloriam
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• 1 Samuel 24: 2-21 & Mark 3: 20-21

 
In the world, there are not ‘them’ and ‘us’, but rather only ‘us’. When Jesus interacted with the crowds of people who followed him, he saw each person and received them as one of the family of God, as fellow human beings each beloved by the Father.  King Saul, on the other hand, by giving into the all-too-human characteristic of grasping for power and control was so obsessed by his own lust for power and control, for domination, that he became crazed with hunting and killing a man whom he admired – his harp-player and court musician, David.  By contrast David received Saul with respect and honor, in the cave where he and his friends were hiding, and showed Saul the corner had had cut from his garment to prove that he had no ill intent. It was this willingness to act honorably rather than in a dominating way, that made David a more effective king than his predecessor. Will I walk in the company of David and Jesus, receiving all people as brothers and sisters, or will I, like King Saul, seek to dominate others?   Holy Spirit of Jesus, help me receive others as you receive them.
 
I have found my servant [David] with holy oil I have anointed him; my hand shall always remain with him; my arm shall also strengthen him. My faithfulness and steadfast love will be with him. (Psalm 89:20 – 21)
 
If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other – that man, that woman, that child is my brother, my sister.
St. Mother Teresa
 
 
Soli ad gloriam
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Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul
 
2 Samuel 5:1-10 & 1 Cor 12:12 -30 & Acts 22:3-16

 
David’s life was so designed by the Lord that he be King of the people of Israel. Although at times it seemed that he would either give up in the face of adversity or be killed before he became the ruler God had in mind, in the end David was able to take Jerusalem and so fully establish his kingdom. For the most part of next 40 years he ruled faithfully as a king after the Lord’s own heart. Paul, the Jewish Roman from Damascus likewise lived into the charism of his life. When Jesus intervened in his travels and called the loyal Paul to faithfully follow Him, Paul  left  behind his illustrious career as a slayer of Christians to become an Apostle of the Lord and ultimately a teacher of the “Good News” of God’s Mercy. Millions of followers of Jesus through two millennia have benefitted from Paul’s ministry through the letters to the young Churches  that he penned from prison. When they lived into the design of God for their lives, both King David and Saint Paul ‘set the world on fire’, by being obedient to the call of God in their lives. What is God’s charism for my life – what has God called and designed me to be?  Will I fully and faithfully live into God’s design for my life? Holy Spirit of Jesus, help me live into your design for my life.
 
I have found my servant [David] with holy oil I have anointed him; my hand shall always remain with him; my arm shall also strengthen him. My faithfulness and steadfast love will be with him. (Psalm 89:20 – 21)
 
Have patience to walk with short steps until you have wings to fly.
St. Francis de Sales
 
 
Soli ad gloriam
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1 Samuel 16:1-13

 
Having just come in from an hour of skiing along a snow-covered bike path that transverses fields and forest, I glance in the mirror – and notice ruddy cheeks and clear eyes, perhaps similar to the visage of David when he was fetched from the fields to meet the prophet Samuel. I know what it is like to commune with land and sky, flora and fauna of a Canadian winter landscape.  David would have been highly in-formed by wandering the hills and valleys, fens and fields of the Judean countryside with his sheep. Our Creator’s many lessons written through the medium of the plants, animals, rocks and landscapes are visible to me; David the Shepherd would have been even more attuned to nature’s themes and theology as he camped for days in the wilderness. Patiently guiding and tending his flock of sheep,  finding his way to fresh water and green pastures, David learned first hand from Creator God how to lead and care for his people. And drawing on the wisdom and strength of the Lord, fending off lions and wolves became his preparation for facing Goliath.  I believe it is those natural life-lessons –learned through all kinds of weather and great varieties of wide-eyed experiences that the natural world offers any human being who will listen –specifically gave David ‘beautiful eyes’ and  prepared the youngest of Jesse’s sons to be the capable, albeit human, King of Israel who led the Israelites into a closer walk with the Lord God.  Will I shut off my digital devices, close my books and desist from lengthy human conversations long enough to truly commune with God through the rhymes and rhythms of the natural world ?  Holy Spirit of God, speak to me through creation about your nature and your ways.
 
The heavens declare the Glory of God, and the firmament proclaims his handiwork, Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night declares knowledge.  (Psalm 19:1-2 )
 
Keep a clear eye toward life’s end. Do not forget your purpose and destiny as God’s creature. What you are in his sight is what you are and nothing more.
St Francis of Assisi  
 
 
Soli ad gloriam
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John 2:1-12
…
 
Just as Jesus turned water into wine at the wedding feast in Cana of Galilee, so the nondescript water of my ego can be changed  into the life-giving  wine of God’s will  - an elixir that is healing, life-giving and transformative at all levels.  Like the water in the jars in Cana, my human spirit is fluid and able to be transformed into all kinds of things – of my own will or of the will of the Holy Spirit. If I lift up my being to power, possessions and prominence, the outflow from my life becomes sour and more like vinegar than like wine. If I am driven by passions and problems, and endlessly question the authority of Christ Jesus, I can become toxic to myself and flow poisons to others. In a heartbeat, though, without anyone knowing how, without any ‘scientific explanation’, my surrendered ego can be transformed into the full-bodied, thirst quenching wine of God’s will. As I put my own information and interests aside, I can become infused with God’s grace so that my words and my actions, my conversations and prayers flow out into all relationships and situations of a dry and dusty world to bring love, joy, peace and all the other fruits of the Holy Spirit. Will I let the ordinary ‘water’ of my being be changed quietly over time into the ‘wine’ of God’s grace flowing out into the world?  Christ Jesus, change the water of my ego into the wine of your will.
 
Purify our hearts from every evil desire, make us intent on doing your will.  (Intercessions, Morning Prayer,  Thursday, Week III, Shorter Christian Prayer)
 
We ask God for the courage to abandon ourselves unreservedly, so that we might be molded by God’s grace.
St Ignatius of Loyola  
 
See  a beautiful  “Chosen” version of the Miracle of  Water Being Turned Into Wine at
https://youtu.be/ym-5QPYiBso
 
Soli ad gloriam
Gospel Mystery of the Day on FaceBook 
 www.gospelmysteryoftheday.ca