D.R.R.
January 31st 2004, 12:10 PM
Daily Prayer with Regnum Christi
For the health of all the sick and injured who are hospitalized.
All You Need is Faith
Author: Father Jeffrey Bowker, LC
February 1, 2004
Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Luke 4:21-30
He said to them, "Today this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing." And all spoke highly of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They also asked, "Isn’t this the son of Joseph?" He said to them, "Surely you will quote me this proverb, ’Physician, cure yourself,’ and say, ’Do here in your native place the things that we heard were done in Capernaum.’" And he said, "Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place. Indeed, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah when the sky was closed for three and a half years and a severe famine spread over the entire land. It was to none of these that Elijah was sent, but only to a widow in Zarephath in the land of Sidon. Again, there were many lepers in Israel during the time of Elisha the prophet; yet not one of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian." When the people in the synagogue heard this, they were all filled with fury. They rose up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town had been built, to hurl him down headlong. But he passed through the midst of them and went away.
Introductory Prayer:O Lord, open my heart to receive your Word in total faith and trust. I seek you ardently in this prayer so as to know you better. I want to know you so as to love you more completely as my Savior and Lord.
Petition:Lord, grant me the grace of active and total faith in you and all that you ask of me today.
1. “Isn’t this the son of Joseph?” To accept grace into our lives through the channel God wishes to send it requires an act of humility. God sends to me “the Carpenter’s son” in many ways. Was it the good example of one of my children? A gentle correction from a spouse? Words of wisdom and acts of virtue from a coworker I like to compete with? God can use all these channels to teach me and feed me, but only a humble heart that strips away pride and pretentiousness can receive that special grace through them and profit from it. It is amazing to see how quickly insensitivity to grace can take over and shut out the voice of Christ, starting with reticence towards sacrificing time to find him through prayer and the sacraments. Christ is coming to me now, and how I treat in this time of prayer clearly reflects how I am treating him the whole day long, him who is the only salvation of my soul.
2. “But only to the widow of Zarephath ...” When we look at the panorama that Christ offers us from the history of Israel, he describes Yahweh’s true motive for encountering man, for seeking him out. Is it to bring him into submission and lay upon him an unsupportable burden of ‘holiness’? God rather is the healer and has no other purpose than to make these privileged souls happy. He yearns to lift a burden from their soul. He is there to heal and to elevate their whole experience of life. Ultimately, all that Christ needs to make them happy is that they have faith, an active and all embracing faith, a faith that is not diluted by those rationalistic demands that condition our acceptance of the plan of God. Do I experience Christ as only trying to tighten the noose of responsibilities around my neck, or do I see that through what appears to me as difficult, he only seeks to bring out something more beautiful in me?
3. “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” Christ is the Alpha and the Omega. “All power belongs to him and for all ages:” so the fathers of the Church reveal the mystery of his divine Sonship. Faith is not just for the future, not just to recognize Christ as the Omega, the end point of my journey where I find an explanation for death. Nor is faith just for when my personal plans have gone awry and I need an explanation for my moral and spiritual failures. He is not simply the caboose trailing my life to clean up disorders that may pull my train off the track. Our Lord is also the Alpha, the beginning point. He is the engine itself that drives the whole process and the place from where every new initiative for advancement must begin. I must acknowledge that he is not just one means among others to live a good life. He is the source and summit of true life itself in me, goodness incarnate, such that no effort of mine can have value or merit unless it be done in total dependence on him. Let my faith reveal this truth to me so that my heart may be open more and more to make Christ my reason for living, my foundation for giving myself day after day.
Dialogue with Christ: I will today open myself to what you O Lord propose to me in prayer, and eliminate all pride and human calculation at work in my heart and mind. I trust in you Lord for you seek only to make me happy, never to hurt me. Help me confide in and walk by your holy power and wisdom when my own reason becomes darkened and my natural enthusiasm wanes before the mystery of your design.
Resolution: Today I will offer an act of faith and trust in some desire of Christ for me that I originally met with fear or indifference.
By Father Jeffrey Bowker, LC
We would like to announce that Catholic.net will be publishing daily meditations for young people. Many of you have wished to share this wonderful prayer resource with your children. Now you have the chance. To check them out please visit Catholic.net by clicking here.
Want to help us maintain this free service? Make a tax-deductible donation online by clicking here.This link will take you to the online donation page of the Legion of Christ, but accessing it by this specific link will create a report letting us know your donation is for the daily meditation service from RegnumChristi.org.Thank you and God bless you.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You can send your testimony to testimonies@regnumchristi.org
If you would like any further information please contact infoeng@regnumchristi.org
If you did not subscribe to this service or you would like to cancel your subscription please click here or send an email to meditation-request@regnumchristi.org with the word unsubscribe in the subject line.
© Regnum Christi http://www.regnumchristi.org/
For the health of all the sick and injured who are hospitalized.
All You Need is Faith
Author: Father Jeffrey Bowker, LC
February 1, 2004
Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Luke 4:21-30
He said to them, "Today this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing." And all spoke highly of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They also asked, "Isn’t this the son of Joseph?" He said to them, "Surely you will quote me this proverb, ’Physician, cure yourself,’ and say, ’Do here in your native place the things that we heard were done in Capernaum.’" And he said, "Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place. Indeed, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah when the sky was closed for three and a half years and a severe famine spread over the entire land. It was to none of these that Elijah was sent, but only to a widow in Zarephath in the land of Sidon. Again, there were many lepers in Israel during the time of Elisha the prophet; yet not one of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian." When the people in the synagogue heard this, they were all filled with fury. They rose up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town had been built, to hurl him down headlong. But he passed through the midst of them and went away.
Introductory Prayer:O Lord, open my heart to receive your Word in total faith and trust. I seek you ardently in this prayer so as to know you better. I want to know you so as to love you more completely as my Savior and Lord.
Petition:Lord, grant me the grace of active and total faith in you and all that you ask of me today.
1. “Isn’t this the son of Joseph?” To accept grace into our lives through the channel God wishes to send it requires an act of humility. God sends to me “the Carpenter’s son” in many ways. Was it the good example of one of my children? A gentle correction from a spouse? Words of wisdom and acts of virtue from a coworker I like to compete with? God can use all these channels to teach me and feed me, but only a humble heart that strips away pride and pretentiousness can receive that special grace through them and profit from it. It is amazing to see how quickly insensitivity to grace can take over and shut out the voice of Christ, starting with reticence towards sacrificing time to find him through prayer and the sacraments. Christ is coming to me now, and how I treat in this time of prayer clearly reflects how I am treating him the whole day long, him who is the only salvation of my soul.
2. “But only to the widow of Zarephath ...” When we look at the panorama that Christ offers us from the history of Israel, he describes Yahweh’s true motive for encountering man, for seeking him out. Is it to bring him into submission and lay upon him an unsupportable burden of ‘holiness’? God rather is the healer and has no other purpose than to make these privileged souls happy. He yearns to lift a burden from their soul. He is there to heal and to elevate their whole experience of life. Ultimately, all that Christ needs to make them happy is that they have faith, an active and all embracing faith, a faith that is not diluted by those rationalistic demands that condition our acceptance of the plan of God. Do I experience Christ as only trying to tighten the noose of responsibilities around my neck, or do I see that through what appears to me as difficult, he only seeks to bring out something more beautiful in me?
3. “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” Christ is the Alpha and the Omega. “All power belongs to him and for all ages:” so the fathers of the Church reveal the mystery of his divine Sonship. Faith is not just for the future, not just to recognize Christ as the Omega, the end point of my journey where I find an explanation for death. Nor is faith just for when my personal plans have gone awry and I need an explanation for my moral and spiritual failures. He is not simply the caboose trailing my life to clean up disorders that may pull my train off the track. Our Lord is also the Alpha, the beginning point. He is the engine itself that drives the whole process and the place from where every new initiative for advancement must begin. I must acknowledge that he is not just one means among others to live a good life. He is the source and summit of true life itself in me, goodness incarnate, such that no effort of mine can have value or merit unless it be done in total dependence on him. Let my faith reveal this truth to me so that my heart may be open more and more to make Christ my reason for living, my foundation for giving myself day after day.
Dialogue with Christ: I will today open myself to what you O Lord propose to me in prayer, and eliminate all pride and human calculation at work in my heart and mind. I trust in you Lord for you seek only to make me happy, never to hurt me. Help me confide in and walk by your holy power and wisdom when my own reason becomes darkened and my natural enthusiasm wanes before the mystery of your design.
Resolution: Today I will offer an act of faith and trust in some desire of Christ for me that I originally met with fear or indifference.
By Father Jeffrey Bowker, LC
We would like to announce that Catholic.net will be publishing daily meditations for young people. Many of you have wished to share this wonderful prayer resource with your children. Now you have the chance. To check them out please visit Catholic.net by clicking here.
Want to help us maintain this free service? Make a tax-deductible donation online by clicking here.This link will take you to the online donation page of the Legion of Christ, but accessing it by this specific link will create a report letting us know your donation is for the daily meditation service from RegnumChristi.org.Thank you and God bless you.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You can send your testimony to testimonies@regnumchristi.org
If you would like any further information please contact infoeng@regnumchristi.org
If you did not subscribe to this service or you would like to cancel your subscription please click here or send an email to meditation-request@regnumchristi.org with the word unsubscribe in the subject line.
© Regnum Christi http://www.regnumchristi.org/