Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light for my path. (Psalm 119)
Mark 12:28-34 Not only are we/ am I to keep God’s decrees, but we are / I am to observe them diligently “so that it may go well with” us/ with me. When I merely keep the commandments of God, I can get away with knowing the letter of the law and shelving it, until it is convenient to pull it up from its niche in my mind and use it – perhaps in judgement of another. But when I observe the law, I am watchful or ‘mindful’ to do the Lord’s commandments –to love God and love others, day in and day out. Then I notice that indeed my life ‘goes well’ as it becomes ordered, lively, and full of meaning, like the lives of Mother Mary and all the saints of God, and of Christ Jesus when he lived as one of us on earth. Am I ready to observe the commandments of God at all times? Holy Spirit of God, help me diligently observe your law of love. My God, my rock in whom I take refuge, my shield and the source of my salvation, my stronghold. (Psalm 18:2) Be to me a patient Jesus, bearing with my faults, looking only to my intention. Saint Mother Teresa of Kalcutta www.gospelmysteryoftheday.ca & Gospel Mystery of the Day on Facebook Soli ad gloriam Dei
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Luke 13:22-30 The narrow door mentioned by Jesus has a great many teachings for me as a disciple: There are indeed many other, wider, paths that I find branching off from the narrow path that leads to the narrow door, but they, each and all, lead me astray, away from God my Saviour. Entry through a narrow doorway immediately precludes anyone who is burdened with many possessions – or book bags, bulky back packs or shopping bags full of purchases. The narrow gateway of faith in Jesus is not notable or even ‘interesting’ to those with no time for God. In fact it is, out of the way of mainstream plans and projects and the fickle eyes of the media, and is of no interest to the crowds looking for self-satisfaction. The narrow door that Christ points out as the entry point to life, is hidden and inconspicuous, as much as it is narrow, and is not advertized, (though it is proclaimed). Indeed to enter through the narrow door, requires a commitment to find it, and the humility of a lithe and disciplined body without the ‘fat of pride’ to walk through it. Will I find and open the narrow door that is the way of Christ Jesus? Holy Spirit, help me enter through the narrow door. He leads me in right paths for his name sake. (Psalm 23:3) Well and good if all things change, O Lord God, provided I am rooted in You. St. John of the Cross www.gospelmysteryoftheday.ca & Gospel Mystery of the Day on Facebook Soli ad gloriam Dei
Luke 13:22-30 I can so easily rejoice in passing things. A happy turn of events can always put a smile on my face and cause me to publicly ‘rejoice’ and ‘do the happy dance’ – a new job, a raise in pay, a ‘great deal’, or the achievement of success or fame. But no matter how significant they are nothing can compare with the over-arching redemptive work of Christ on the cross, ‘when he suffered these things’, and then entered into his glory. Rejoicing in our salvation from death, darkness and eternal separation from God that could be the curse of our free will, and our restoration into life, light and holy communion with God, this is not a passing but an everlasting cause for rejoicing, day in and day out. What will I rejoice in today? Christ Jesus, let me rejoice in our salvation. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. (Psalm 23:5) Well and good if all things change, O Lord God, provided I am rooted in You. St. John of the Cross www.gospelmysteryoftheday.ca & Gospel Mystery of the Day on Facebook Soli ad gloriam Dei |
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
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