June 4, 2012
- Category: brdaniel
- Published Date
- Written by Br. Daniel Thomas, OP
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Monday in the 9th week of the Church year.
Saint for the day: St. Francis Caracciolo (1563-1608)
Scripture readings for today's liturgy:
2 Peter 1:2-7
Psalm 91
Mark 12:1-12
"Thank you, Lord Jesus Christ, for all the benefits which you have given us; for all the pains and insults which you have borne for us. O most merciful redeemer, friend, and brother, may we know you more clearly, love you more dearly, and follow you more nearly, for your own sake!" (Prayer of St. Richard of Chichester, 13th century)
Yesterday I attended the 70th Anniversary of Religious Vows of my Second Grade Teacher, Holy Names Sister Thomasine. The prayer that I quoted just above certainly applies to her life: she knows Jesus more clearly … and has obviously followed Him more nearly. She was the nun who prepared us for our First Holy Communion and, as I told her, she obviously did a good job since it has lasted all these years.
I have to admit that my prayer was slightly tainted by my wish that I could grow old as gracefully as she has and keep my wits about me!
Now, after having celebrated the Solemnity of the Holy Trinity, I’m sure that you can see that the Church has come to an obvious crossroads in what we’ve been hearing in all these weeks after Easter. Now we move into the practical side of our following of Jesus. The readings for the liturgies picks up where we left off before beginning Lent and we’ll be in the Gospel of Mark for some time now.
Today our liturgy begins with a reading from the 2nd letter of Peter in which we hear, “make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, virtue with knowledge, knowledge with self-control, self-control with endurance, endurance with devotion, devotion with mutual affection, mutual affection with love.”
There you have it! The perfect outline as to how we must lead our lives.
Take some time to go through the above slowly in order to let it sink in. Ask yourself, “what kind of effort do I make to supplement my faith? What virtue(s) do I seek?
I’m not going to go through the entire list right here, but you should try to do that on your own.
“May I love you more dearly and follow you more nearly all the days of my life.” Amen!
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I’d like to hear from you to know that you’re getting these reflections. Use the link below to go to my “home page” where you’ll find more stories and pictures along with a link to e-mail me: http://brotherdaniel.opwest.org/
Daily Reflections