"Whoever does not gather with me scatters"
Those who are God's friends and who love him and have him within themselves like an inviolable treasure, go to receive insults and humiliations with unspeakable joy and delight (Mt 5,10-12). With all sincerity they love those who so treat them... as though they were benefactors...
Jesus our Lord and God, who has never fallen into sin, was smitten so that those sinners who imitate Him should not only receive the forgiveness of the sins they have committed, but also become partakers of His divinity (2 Pet. 1:4) because of their obedience. He who does not accept this in humility of heart because he is ashamed to imitate the Master's sufferings, of him will Christ also be ashamed in the presence of the angels (Lk 9,26)...
He was slapped, spit upon, crucified... : Tremble with awe, O men! The insults God suffered for the sake of our salvation you too must endure! God is slapped on the face by the basest of slaves (Jn 18,22). He gives you an example of victory, yet do you refuse to undergo this at the hands of a man of like passions as yourself? You are ashamed of becoming an imitator of God, how then will you reign with him? If you are not patient in small things while you wait for him, how will you be glorified with him in the Kingdom of heaven?
| Thursday, March 07, 2013 Sts. Perpetua and Felicity, Martyrs (Commemoration) |
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