Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light for my path. (Psalm 119)
Mark 3: 7-12 & Psalm 40 Still today, as in Jesus’ time, many people are oppressed by demons of darkness and dis-ease, despite the treatment they undergo and the mental and emotional treasures they build up. And still today, Christ Jesus can and does cast out their demons and heal individuals, as witnessed by the writers of sacred scripture, the saints down through the ages and anyone who has been freed from demonic activity and oppression over the past two millennia. Who will tell this good news of deliverance? The demons themselves, who fell down at Jesus’ feet screaming, “You are the Son of God!” knew the truth about Jesus’ power to cast them out and send them away; they will not proclaim the good news of deliverance –and this is perhaps why Jesus ordered the demons not to make him known. Academia and the National Geographic or other media, although they expose the truths of the ‘historic Jesus’, are not interested in telling the good news of deliverance, and so cannot be a dependable source of inner healing information. It falls then to anyone who has been delivered from the darkness, the chaos and the deceits of evil to proclaim the good news: (1Timothy 1:15), ‘Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners’ that is every man, woman and child of the human race. Will I tell the good news of deliverance? Holy Spirit, help me tell the good news of the deliverance of Christ Jesus. [Christ Jesus] became a priest, not through a legal requirement concerning physical descent, but through the power of an indestructible life. (Hebrews 7:16) “Now, I know in my experience that Jesus’ light is stronger than the biggest darkness.” Corrie Ten Boom www.gospelmysteryoftheday.ca & Gospel Mystery of the Day on Facebook Soli ad gloriam Dei
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Gospel Mystery of the Day Wednesday, January 23, 2018
Good Morning! Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light for my path. (Psalm 119) Mark 3: 1-6 Like the withered hand of the man in the synagogue, the hearts of Jesus’ critics were three sizes too small and minimally functional. On the other hand the heart of Christ Jesus was expansive and welcoming (and disciplinary!) regardless of the time or the place. Regardless of the personal danger he incited, Jesus publicly asked the man with the crippled hand to ‘Stretch out your hand’ and softened and restored form, motion and function to the man’s fingers, palm, wrist and forearm. In essence with this miracle, Jesus was inviting the Pharisees, and all of us who suffer from hardness of heart, to stretch forth their (and our) hearts to him, so that they (and we) too might be restored in understanding, flexibility and compassion. Today will I stretch out my heart to Jesus so that he can heal and limber up my capacity for divine love and mercy? Christ Jesus heal my heart to love like you. . [Christ Jesus] became a priest, not through a legal requirement concerning physical descent, but through the power of an indestructible life. (Hebrews 7:16) Faith liberates. It liberates love and hope. If I am free to love and free to hope, what more do I want of life? Catherine de Hueck Doherty www.gospelmysteryoftheday.ca & Gospel Mystery of the Day on Facebook Soli ad gloriam Dei Hebrews 6:10 -20 Jesus was/is a critical development in the plot of God’s relationship with human kind. By his incarnation, ministry, death and resurrection, Jesus explained once and for all time, our relationship to our Creator, as his beloved daughters and sons. This is the ‘hope set before us’, that the writer of the letter to the Hebrews calls the steadfast anchor of the soul. It is a hope that mercy overcomes injustice, that love overcomes selfishness, that light overcomes darkness and that life ultimately triumphs over the death of the souls of the faith-full. This hope is set before all human beings, before you and me today. Will I embrace and live into this hope in each thought , word and action I perform today? Holy Spirit, help me seize the hope set out before us. . Come to me heedfully, listen, that you may have life. (Isaiah 55:3) With God, every moment is the moment of beginning again. Catherine d Hueck Doherty www.gospelmysteryoftheday.ca & Gospel Mystery of the Day on Facebook Soli ad gloriam Dei Hebrews 5:1-10 I have a very real tendency to quickly become frustrated with pain, either emotional or physical, or discomfort of any kind. So when the ‘cross’ of my circumstances in life become weighty and inconvenient to my idyllic view of a ‘happy life’, I immediately revert to fixing mode and try to make my life better –often of my own volition with a few ‘please God’ prayers thrown in. How much of my life becomes tangled in trying to shrug off the responsibilities of life – demanding relationships, dreary tasks, debts and doubts! But when I understand, like Jesus, that abundance of life lies within embracing the ‘cross of my life’ and remaining obedient, step by step, to God’s mercy and will, then like Christ Jesus I able to persevere through any pain or discomfort and maintain my dignity as a beloved daughter or son of the Father. Today will I allow Jesus to show me how to shoulder my cross and walk steadily beside him in the Light of God’s grace? Father God, help me submit to my cross, out of obedience to you. . Because he himself was tested by what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested. (Hebrews 1:18) Suffering is nothing by itself; but suffering shared with the passion of Christ is a wonderful gift, the most beautiful gift, a token of love. St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Suffering into Joy www.gospelmysteryoftheday.ca & Gospel Mystery of the Day on Facebook Soli ad gloriam Dei Hebrews 2: 14-18 Suffering can lead us into various places –into ways of bitterness and desperation, or into paths of courage and profound liveliness. The outcome of my sufferings will depend on who I am trusting as my guide through my mental, physical, emotional and spiritual aches and pains, brought about by disconnections, persecutions and traumas of all kinds. Will I look to the hollow comforts and remedies offered by our self-serve society? Or will I welcome the Spirit of Jesus who suffered rejections tortures and crucifixion –and rose again to guide God’s beloved sons and daughters through the tests and trials of life into ways of courage, patience, kindness and humility? Christ Jesus, help me as I am tested by suffering. Christ Jesus, guide me as I am tested by suffering. . Because he himself was tested by what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested. (Hebrews 1:18) Suffering is nothing by itself; but suffering shared with the passion of Christ is a wonderful gift, the most beautiful gift, a token of love. St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Suffering into Joy 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
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