The Catholic Calendar for Wednesday, June 13, 2001
The Tenth Week in Ordinary Time
St. Anthony of Padua
Complete story: http://www.christdesert.org/public_texts/martyrology/
Scripture from today's Liturgy of the Word:
2 Corinthians 3:4-11
Psalm 99:5-9
Matthew 5:7-19
Full text: http://www.nccbuscc.org/nab/index.htm
A Reflection on Today's Scripture:
In today's Gospel of Matthew we hear Jesus' teaching concerning the
relationship between the law of the Old Testament and prophets and
the New Covenant. For those of us who have always been Catholic
Christians this teaching may not seem necessary, but to the Jews who
had always known only the Old Covenant, the heralding of the New
Covenant must have been a tremendous jolt.
I heard a presentation on the Gospels where the presenter tried to
help us imagine the mind-set of the Jews. He said, for us to begin to
understand, we must consider how hard it would be for us if someone
all of a sudden started teaching new spiritual truths and expanding
on dogma and traditions that we hold dear and embrace. Is it any
wonder that the prerequisite for acceptance of God's Word is
something infused and not self-generated. Only with God's grace,
which is always present, and our cooperation with grace, could
anything like the acceptance of Jesus as Messiah occur.
Let us meditate on the truth that God's grace is always present,
always ready to be poured into our hearts and lives and then let us
consider that it is our fearsome ability to accept or reject grace
that accounts for all else that happens.
On this Feast of St Anthony of Padua, beloved Saint for all "lost
things" let us pray that he might intercede for all humanity who has
lost innocence and the natural grace to respond with docility and
love to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Love
proceeding from the heart of the Father and the Son.
- Donna Raye Nelson, ocds
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