Readings of the Day
RB: Ch 2:33-40
Mass: Acts 16:1-10; Resp Ps 100; Jn 15:18-21
MARY, TOWER OF IVORY,
PRAY FOR US.
In today's Gospel, Jesus tells his disciples, as he tells us: I have chosen you out of the world (Jn 15:19). Saint Benedict says something similar to the one chosen to lead a monastic community: "Above all, he must not show too great concern for the fleeting or temporal things of this world" (RB 2:33). We are to be in the world yet not of it. We are all in this together and support and love one another through prayer and gestures of kindness and compassion. Still, given a free will, we have choices to make on a daily basis, most often several times a day. Some questions come to mind: How do I spend my free time? What books do I read? How much time do I spend surfing the internet and/or watching television? Do I say please and thank you? Am I grateful for what I have and not wishing I had more? Do I complain? We must keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and keep going with joy and gratitude and maintain a sense of humor, as Basil Hume said, "If you don't have a sense of humor, acquire one." If nothing else put today's Responsorial Psalm 100 to a tune and sing it throughout the day: Sing joyfully to the Lord, all you lands; serve the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful song. Know that the Lord is God; he made us; his we are; his people, the flock he tends. The Lord is good; his kindness endures forever, and his faithfulness, to all generations.
Coming to the monastery has been for me exactly the right kind of withdrawal. It has given me perspective. It has taught me how to live. And now I owe everyone else in the world a share in that life. My first duty is to start, for the first time, to live as a member of a human race which is no more (or no less) ridiculous than I am myself. And my first human act is the recognition of how much I owe everybody else.
(Thomas Merton, The Sign of Jonas, pp. 322-23)
I think the chief reason we have so little joy is that we take ourselves too seriously.
(Thomas Merton, The Sign of Jonas, p. 273)
We pray with the Holy Father:
For people who bury the dead during the pandemic. To bury the dead is one of the works of mercy, and obviously, it is not something pleasant. Let us also pray for them because they also risk their lives and may be infected.
SAINT SIMON STOCK,
SAINT SIMON STOCK,
PRAY FOR US.
Today's photo: Violet, courtesy of CO.© Gertrude Feick 2020
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