First Friday of the Month
Readings of the Day
RB: Prol 14-20
Mass: 1 Jn 2:29-3:6; Resp Ps 98; Jn1:29-34
O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name through all the earth.
This is not only the First Friday of the Month, it is the First Friday of the New Year 2020! Welcome to it.
St Benedict asks two questions in today's passage from the Holy Rule. First he quotes the psalmist and asks, "Is there anyone here who yearns for life and desires to see good days?" (Ps 33[34]:13). If you are listening and your answer is "I do," God then directs these words to you:
If you desire true and eternal life,
keep your tongue free from vicious talk and your lips from all deceit;
turn away from evil and do good;
let peace be your quest and aim (Ps 33[34]:14-15).
(RB Prol 16-17)
Once we have done this, Benedict tells us, we call on the name of the Lord for help. The Lord will answer our cry for help, and say, Here I am! (Is 58:9) And what, dear brothers and sisters, "is more delightful than this voice of the Lord calling to us?" (RB Prol 18-19). There is no need to be afraid. See now, the Lord in his love shows us the way of life (RB Prol 20).
Jesus to me is honey in the mouth, music in the ear, a song in the heart … [the name of Jesus] is medicine. Does one of us feel sad? Let the name of Jesus come into her heart, from there let it spring to her mouth, so that shining like the dawn it may dispel all darkness and make a cloudless sky. Does someone fall into sin? Does his despair even urge him to suicide? Let him invoke this life-giving name and his will to live will be at once renewed.
(Bernard of Clairvaux, On the Song of Songs, Sermon 15, 6-7)
Today's photo: Mt Hood from the Bend, OR, side. Thanks d. 😊
© Gertrude Feick 2020
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