September 6, 2013

Friday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time

Brothers and sisters:
Christ Jesus is the image of the invisible God,
the firstborn of all creation.
For in him were created all things in heaven and on earth,
the visible and the invisible,
whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers;
all things were created through him and for him.
He is before all things,
and in him all things hold together.
He is the head of the Body, the Church.
He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
that in all things he himself might be preeminent.
For in him all the fullness was pleased to dwell,
and through him to reconcile all things for him,
making peace by the Blood of his cross
through him, whether those on earth or those in heaven.

Responsorial Psalm PS 100:1b-2, 3, 4, 5

R. (2b) Come with joy into the presence of the Lord.
Sing joyfully to the LORD, all you lands;
serve the LORD with gladness;
come before him with joyful song.
R. Come with joy into the presence of the Lord.
Know that the LORD is God;
he made us, his we are;
his people, the flock he tends.
R. Come with joy into the presence of the Lord.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
his courts with praise;
Give thanks to him; bless his name.
R. Come with joy into the presence of the Lord.
For he is good,
the LORD, whose kindness endures forever,
and his faithfulness, to all generations.
R. Come with joy into the presence of the Lord.

Gospel Lk 5:33-39

The scribes and Pharisees said to Jesus,
“The disciples of John the Baptist fast often and offer prayers,
and the disciples of the Pharisees do the same;
but yours eat and drink.”
Jesus answered them, “Can you make the wedding guests fast
while the bridegroom is with them?
But the days will come, and when the bridegroom is taken away from them,
then they will fast in those days.”
And he also told them a parable.
“No one tears a piece from a new cloak to patch an old one.
Otherwise, he will tear the new
and the piece from it will not match the old cloak.
Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins.
Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins,
and it will be spilled, and the skins will be ruined.
Rather, new wine must be poured into fresh wineskins.
And no one who has been drinking old wine desires new,
for he says, ‘The old is good.’”

Interactive Saints for Kids

Blessed Bertrand

Feast Day: September 6
Born: 1195 :: Died: 1230

Bertrand was born in the diocese of Nimes in southern France. At that time France was troubled by religious wars and there was great confusion about the Church's teaching. But Bertrand's parents managed to live a peaceful life and they taught the true faith to their son. He lived a good and holy life, praying constantly even as a young person.

He became a priest at a very early age and joined the missionaries to bring back to the Church the Albigenses who had no respect for authority or life, burned churches and convents and believed in false teachings.

St. Dominic and Blessed Bertrand met as missionaries and became very close friends, traveling, praying and fasting together, offering sufferings for the good of others.

Bertrand saw the holiness of St. Dominic, and the miracles he performed and told people about them. This was God's invitation for him to begin a very important ministry. When he was just 20 years old, he and five other men joined Dominic to form a new religious congregation, the Order of Preachers. They are also called "Dominicans".

Blessed Bertrand was sent to Paris to start the order there. Then St. Dominic called asked Bertrand to go to Bologna and start the order there. Bertrand obeyed happily.

Meanwhile, the Order of Preachers was growing. They preached the Gospel message in the towns and countryside. They wanted people to know and love Jesus.

Bertrand was made the superior of the province in southern France. He lived a simple life and spent his days preaching and helping people grow closer to God. He died while giving a sermon to some at the convent of Notre Dame in 1230. Many miracles still take place when people pray to Blessed Bertrand.

Luke
	English: Douay-Rheims	Latin: Vulgata Clementina	Greek NT: Byzantine/Majority Text (2000)
	Luke 5
33.	And they said to him: Why do the disciples of John fast often, and make prayers, and the disciples of the Pharisees in like manner; but thine eat and drink?	At illi dixerunt ad eum : Quare discipuli Joannis jejunant frequenter, et obsecrationes faciunt, similiter et pharisæorum : tui autem edunt et bibunt ?	οι δε ειπον προς αυτον δια τι οι μαθηται ιωαννου νηστευουσιν πυκνα και δεησεις ποιουνται ομοιως και οι των φαρισαιων οι δε σοι εσθιουσιν και πινουσιν
34.	To whom he said: Can you make the children of the bridegroom fast, whilst the bridegroom is with them?	Quibus ipse ait : Numquid potestis filios sponsi, dum cum illis est sponsus, facere jejunare ?	ο δε ειπεν προς αυτους μη δυνασθε τους υιους του νυμφωνος εν ω ο νυμφιος μετ αυτων εστιν ποιησαι νηστευειν
35.	But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, then shall they fast in those days.	Venient autem dies, cum ablatus fuerit ab illis sponsus : tunc jejunabunt in illis diebus.	ελευσονται δε ημεραι και οταν απαρθη απ αυτων ο νυμφιος τοτε νηστευσουσιν εν εκειναις ταις ημεραις
36.	And he spoke also a similitude to them: That no man putteth a piece from a new garment upon an old garment; otherwise he both rendeth the new, and the piece taken from the new agreeth not with the old.	Dicebat autem et similitudinem ad illos : Quia nemo commissuram a novo vestimento immittit in vestimentum vetus : alioquin et novum rumpit, et veteri non convenit commissura a novo.	ελεγεν δε και παραβολην προς αυτους οτι ουδεις επιβλημα ιματιου καινου επιβαλλει επι ιματιον παλαιον ει δε μηγε και το καινον σχιζει και τω παλαιω ου συμφωνει το απο του καινου
37.	And no man putteth new wine into old bottle: otherwise the new wine will break the bottles, and it will be spilled, and the bottles will be lost.	Et nemo mittit vinum novum in utres veteres : alioquin rumpet vinum novum utres, et ipsum effundetur, et utres peribunt :	και ουδεις βαλλει οινον νεον εις ασκους παλαιους ει δε μηγε ρηξει ο νεος οινος τους ασκους και αυτος εκχυθησεται και οι ασκοι απολουνται
38.	But new wine must be put into new bottles; and both are preserved.	sed vinum novum in utres novos mittendum est, et utraque conservantur.	αλλα οινον νεον εις ασκους καινους βλητεον και αμφοτεροι συντηρουνται
39.	And no man drinking old, hath presently a mind to new: for he saith, The old is better.	Et nemo bibens vetus, statim vult novum : dicit enim : Vetus melius est.	και ουδεις πιων παλαιον ευθεως θελει νεον λεγει γαρ ο παλαιος χρηστοτερος εστιν

33. And they said to him, Why do the disciples of John fast often, and make prayers, and likewise the disciples of the Pharisees; but you eat and drink?
34. And he said to them, Can you make the children of the bride-chamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them?
35. But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days.
36. And he spoke also a parable to them; No man puts a piece of a new garment upon an old; if otherwise, then both the new makes a rent, and the piece that was taken out of the new agrees not with the old.
37. And no man puts new wine into old bottles; else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish.
38. But new wine must be put into new bottles; and both are preserved.
39. No man also having drunk old wine straightway desires new: for he said, The old is better.

CYRIL; As soon as they have received the first answer from Christ, they proceed from one thing to another, with the intent to show that the holy disciples, and Jesus Himself with them, cared very little for the law. Hence it follows, Why do the disciples of John fast, but you eat, &c. As if they said, You eat with publicans and sinners, whereas the law forbids to have any fellowship with the unclean, but compassion comes in as an excuse for your transgression; why then do you not fast, as they are wont to do who ho wish to live according to the law? But holy men indeed fast, that by the mortification of their body they may quell its passions. Christ needed not fasting for the perfecting of virtue, since as God He was free from every yoke of passion. Nor again did His companions need fasting, but being made partakers of His grace without fasting they were ere strengthened in all holy and godly living. For when Christ fasted for forty days, it was not to mortify His passions, but to manifest to carnal men the rule of abstinence.

AUG. Now Luke evidently relates that this was spoken not by men of themselves, but by others concerning them. How then does Matthew say, Then came to him the disciple of John, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast; unless that they themselves also came, and were all eager, as far as they were able, to put the question to Him?

AUG. Now there are two fasts, one is in tribulation, to propitiate God for our sins; another in joy, when as carnal things delight us less, we feed the more on things spiritual. The Lord therefore being asked why His disciples did not fast, answered as to each fast. And first of the fast of tribulation; for it follows, And he said to them, Can you make the children of the bridegroom fast when the bridegroom is with them?

CHRYS. As if He should say, The present time is one of joy and gladness, sorrow must not then be mixed up with it.

CYRIL; For the showing forth of our Savior in this world was nothing else but a great festival, spiritually uniting our nature to Him as His bride, that she who was formerly barren might become fruitful. The children of the Bridegroom then are found to be those who have been called by Him through a new and evangelical discipline, but not the Scribes and Pharisees, who observe only the shadow of the law.

AUG. Now this which Luke alone mentions, You cannot make the children of the bridegroom fast, is understood to refer to those very men who said that they would make the children of the Bridegroom mourn and fast, since they were about to kill the Bridegroom.

CYRIL; Having granted to the children of the Bridegroom that it was not fitting that they should be troubled, as they were keeping a spiritual feast, but that fasting should be abolished among them, He adds as a direction, But the days shall come when the Bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast in those days.

AUG. As if He said, Then shall they be desolate, and in sorrow and lamentation, until the joy of consolation shall be restored to them by the Holy Spirit.

AMBROSE; Or, That fast is not given up whereby the flesh is mortified, and the desires of the body chastened. (For this fast commends us to God.) But we cannot fast who have Christ, and banquet on the flesh and blood of Christ.

BASIL; The children of the Bridegroom also cannot fast, i.e. refuse nourishment to the soul, but live on every word which proceeds out of the mouth of God.

AMBROSE; But when are those days, in which Christ shall be taken away from us, since He has said, I will be with you always, even to the end of the world? But no one can take Christ away from you, unless you take yourself away from Him.

THEOPHYL; For as long as the Bridegroom is with us we both rejoice, and can neither fast nor mourn. But when He has gone away through our sins, then a fast must be declared and mourning be enjoined.

AMBROSE; Lastly, it is spoken of the fast of the soul, as the context shows , for it follows, But be said, No man puts a piece of a new garment upon an old. He calls fasting an old garment, which the Apostle thought should be taken off, saying, Put off the old man with his deeds. In the same manner we have a series of precepts not to mix up the actions of the old and new man.

AUG. Or else, The gift of the Holy Spirit being received, there is a kind of fast, which is of joy, which they who are already renewed to a spiritual life most seasonably celebrate. Before they receive this gift, He says they are as old garments, to which a new piece of cloth is most unsuitably sewed on, i.e. any part of the doctrine which relates to the soberness of the new life; for if this takes place, the very doctrine itself also is in a measure divided, for it teaches a general fast not from pleasant food only, but from all delight in temporal pleasures, the part of which that appertains to food He said ought not to be given to men still devoted to their old habits, for therein seems to be a rent, and it agrees not with the old. He says also, that they are like to old skins, as it follows, And no one puts wine into old skins.

AMBROSE; The weakness of man's condition is exposed when our bodies are compared to the skins of dead animals.

AUG. But the Apostles are compared to old skins, who are more easily burst with new wine, i.e. with spiritual precepts, than contain them. Hence it follows, Else the new wine will burst the skins, and the wine will be spilled. But they were new skins at that time, when after the ascension of the Lord they received the Holy Spirit, when from desire of His consolation they were renewed by prayer and hope.

Hence it follows, But the new wine must be put into new bottles, and both are preserved.

THEOPHYL; Inasmuch as wine refreshes us within, but garments cover us without, the garments are the good works which we do abroad, by which we shine before men; wine, the fervor of faith, hope, and charity. Or, The old skins are the Scribes and Pharisees, the new piece and the new wine the precepts of the Gospel.

GREG. NYSS. For wine newly drawn forth, evaporates on account of the natural heat in the liquor, throwing off from itself the scum by natural action. Such wine is the new covenant, which the old skins because of their unbelief contain not, and are therefore burst by the excellence of the doctrine, and cause the grace of the Spirit to flow in vain; because into an evil soul wisdom will not enter.

THEOPHYL; But to every soul which is not yet renewed, but goes on still in the old way of wickedness, the sacraments of new mysteries ought not to be given. They also who wish to mix the precepts of the Law with the Gospel, as the Galatians did, put new wine into old bottles. It follows, No man also having drank old wine straightway desires new, for he said, the old is better. For the Jews, imbued with the taste of their old life, despised the precepts of the new grace, and being defiled with the traditions of their ancestors, were not able to perceive the sweetness of spiritual words.

Catena Aurea Luke 5

Catholic Culture

Daily Readings for: September 06, 2013
(Readings on USCCB website)

Collect: God of might, giver of every good gift, put into our hearts the love of your name, so that, by deepening our sense of reverence, and, by your watchful care, keep safe what you have nurtured. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

RECIPES

o Nameday Sugar Cookies

ACTIVITIES

o Attitudes toward Miracles

PRAYERS

o September Devotion: Our Lady of Sorrows

Ordinary Time: September 6th

Friday of the Twenty-Second Week of Ordinary Time

Old Calendar: St. Eleutherius, priest (Hist)

Mary suffered because of her intimate union with Christ, on account of our sins, and on behalf of her spiritual children. Devotion to the Mother of Sorrows and the Seven Sorrows of Mary encourages us to flee from sin and inflames our desire to do penance and make reparation so as to console the Hearts of Jesus and Mary.

— The Catholic Faith, John O'Connell

Historically today is the feast of St. Eleutherius, abbot of St. Mark's monastery near Spoleto in the Italian province of Perugia, he was the friend of St. Gregory who mentions him several times in his Dialogues.

St. Eleutherius

A wonderful simplicity and spirit of compunction were the distinguishing virtues of this holy sixth century abbot. He was elected to preside Saint Mark’s monastery near Spoleto, and favored by God with the gift of miracles.

A child who was confided to the monastery, to be educated there after having been delivered by the Abbot from a diabolical possession, appeared to everyone to be entirely exempt from further molestations. And Saint Eleutherius chanced to say one day: “Since the child is among the servants of God, the devil dares not approach him.” These words seemed to savor of vanity, and thereupon the devil again entered into and tormented the child. The Abbot humbly confessed his fault and undertook a fast, in which the entire community joined, until the child was again freed from the tyranny of the fiend.

Saint Gregory the Great, finding himself unable to fast on Holy Saturday on account of extreme weakness, called for this Saint, who was in Rome at the time, to offer up prayers to God for him that he might join the faithful in the solemn practice of that day’s penances. Saint Eleutherius prayed with many tears, and the Pope, when they came out of the church, felt suddenly strengthened and able to accomplish the fast as he desired. The same Pope, remarking that the Abbot was said to have raised a dead man to life, added: “He was so simple a man, one of such great penance, that we must not doubt that Almighty God granted much to his tears and his humility!” After resigning his abbacy, Saint Eleutherius died in Rome in Saint Andrew’s monastery, about the year 585.

—Excerpted from Vie des Saints pour tous les jours de l’année, by Abbé L. Jaud (Mame: Tours, 1950); Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, a compilation based on Butler’s Lives of the Saints and other sources by John Gilmary Shea (Benziger Brothers: New York, 1894)

The Word Among Us

Meditation: Colossians 1:15-20

22nd Week in Ordinary Time

He is the image of the invisible God. (Colossians 1:15)

From Pope Benedict XVI’s general audience, January 30, 2013:

“It is not always easy today to talk about fatherhood, especially in the Western world. Families are broken, the workplace is ever more absorbing, families worry and often struggle to make ends meet and the distracting invasion of the media invades our daily life… . At times communication becomes difficult, trust is lacking and the relationship with the father figure can become problematic; moreover, in this way even imagining God as a father becomes problematic… .

“Yet the revelation in the Bible helps us to overcome these difficulties by speaking to us of a God who shows us what it really means to be ‘father.’ … As Jesus revealed, he is the Father who feeds the birds of the air … who welcomes and embraces his lost but repentant son, who gives freely to those who ask him, and offers the bread of heaven and the living water… .

“It is in the Lord Jesus that the benevolent face of the Father, who is in heaven, is fully revealed. It is in knowing him that we may also know the Father. It is in seeing him that we can see the Father, because he is in the Father and the Father is in him. He is ‘the image of the invisible God’ (Colossians 1:15).

“Consequently God’s fatherhood is infinite love, tenderness that bends over us, frail children, in need of everything. Psalm 103, the great hymn of divine mercy, proclaims: ‘As a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust’ (Psalm 103:13-14). It is our smallness, our frail human nature that becomes an appeal to the Lord’s mercy, that he may show his greatness and tenderness as a Father, helping, forgiving us and saving us.

“And God responded to our plea by sending his Son who died and rose for us. He entered our frailty and did what man on his own could never have done… . It is there, in the Paschal Mystery, that the definitive face of the Father is revealed in its full splendor.”

“Jesus, thank you for revealing the Father to me. May my life reflect the kind, merciful face of God!”

Psalm 100:1-5; Luke 5:33-39

Vultus Christi

But quick–eyed Love drew nearer to me

Friday, 06 September 2013 21:12

There are souls for whom concepts are unintelligible, for whom words are hollow and meaningless, for whom the most logical arguments are unconvincing. Such souls must be put in the presence of Love.

Changed by Love

Thus will they begin to hear Love, and even to see Love, and be touched by Love, and changed by Love, until all that formerly was difficult and even impossible becomes easy, and sweet, and spontaneous.

The Smallest Act of Trust

Give souls the experience of divine Love in the Most Holy Eucharist and all the rest will follow, provided that these souls begin with even the smallest act of trust in Love.

Converted by the Eucharist

Think of the great converts of the Eucharist. One single Amen, uttered consciously and with but a spark of faith in the presence of the Most Holy Sacrament, is enough to set in motion the conversion of an entire life, reparation for sin, and a river of graces for the future.

Open the Door to Love’s Dwelling

When a soul weighed down by sin, sunk in vice, intoxicated by sensual pleasures, comes to a priest, it is useless for him to say to that soul, “You must do this”, or “You must not do that”, or even, “This is why you must do this”, or “This is why you must not do that”. One must simply open the door to Love’s dwelling and invite that soul to enter in and discover what Love us, Who Love is, and the power of Love to change that which by human efforts cannot be changed.

LOVE bade me welcome; yet my soul drew back,
Guilty of dust and sin.
But quick-eyed Love, observing me grow slack
From my first entrance in,
Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning
If I lack’d anything.

‘A guest,’ I answer’d, ‘worthy to be here:’
Love said, ‘You shall be he.’
‘I, the unkind, ungrateful? Ah, my dear,
I cannot look on Thee.’
Love took my hand and smiling did reply,
‘Who made the eyes but I?’

‘Truth, Lord; but I have marr’d them: let my shame
Go where it doth deserve.’
‘And know you not,’ says Love, ‘Who bore the blame?’
‘My dear, then I will serve.’
‘You must sit down,’ says Love, ‘and taste my meat.’
So I did sit and eat.
(George Herbert 1593–1632)

Regnum Christi

Becoming the New You

| SPIRITUAL LIFE | SPIRITUALITY

Friday of the Twenty-Second Week in Ordinary Time

Luke 5: 33-39

The scribes and Pharisees said to Jesus, "The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and the disciples of the Pharisees do the same; but yours eat and drink." Jesus answered them, "Can you make the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come, and when the bridegroom is taken away from them, then they will fast in those days." And he also told them a parable. "No one tears a piece from a new cloak to patch an old one. Otherwise, he will tear the new and the piece from it will not match the old cloak. Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins, and it will be spilled, and the skins will be ruined. Rather, new wine must be poured into fresh wineskins. And no one who has been drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ´The old is good.´"

Introductory Prayer: Lord God, I come from dust and to dust I shall return. You, on the other hand, existed before all time, and every creature takes its being from you. You formed me in my mother’s womb with infinite care, you watch over me tenderly. I hope at my dearth you will embrace my soul to carry me home to heaven to be with you forever. Thank you for looking upon me and blessing me with your love. Take mine in return. I humbly offer you all that I am.

Petition: Rejuvenate my spiritual life, Lord.

1. Judging by the Wrong Standards: Once again, we have Jesus at a meal, this time with Levi (Matthew) and his friends. The scribes and Pharisees have come along to scrutinize Jesus and his followers, as they were wary of his teachings which were not in accord with the legalism and formalism to which they were accustomed. Their statement here about fasting contains an implicit judgment: You and your followers are not following our traditions of fasting; therefore, you cannot be truly holy. They present it not as a question, but as a statement, an accusation. They are not open to looking at things in a new way. We, too, can be guilty of rash judgment, even with other people in the Church who do not do things the way we do. Our reference point has to be not what we are used to, but what the Church, guided by the Holy Spirit, teaches and approves, be it ancient traditions or new manifestations of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Church.

2. For Everything There Is a Season: Jesus’ answer is simple: there is a time and place for both fasting and feasting. Some people have a special vocation to a life of unusual abnegation, but for most of us, the liturgical year provides us with a natural cycle of rejoicing and penance. At times we rejoice with the “bridegroom” – like Christmas and Easter when we celebrate the coming of Christ and his resurrection. At other times we practice more penance – as in Lent when we focus more on making reparation for the separation from the Lord caused by sin in our lives, or in Advent when we purify our hearts to receive the Lord at Christmas. Ordinary Time has its own feasts and occasions of particular significance one way or the other. The question we have to ask ourselves is this: Are we living these liturgical realities, or are we neglecting them? Do the feasts and fasts of the Church affect my life, or are the liturgical seasons at best curiosities that I hardly notice?

3. The New You: Then, Jesus offers all those present a challenge in the form of the parable. Both images – the cloth and the wineskins – emphasize the idea that in order to embrace his message we need to think “outside the box”. We easily get settled into a routine, becoming complacent and tepid in our faith. It’s even worse if we have habits of sin. To follow Christ and his “Good News” truly, we need to leave behind what St. Paul called the “old self” in order to be new creatures in Christ (Colossians 3:9-10). For the Pharisees, that would have meant leaving behind their strict formalism and judgmental attitude. For Levi and his friends it meant abandoning their worldliness and sinful lifestyle. Making a break with our old self is difficult – the “old wine” is what we’re used to – but we have to take the step of recognizing in what our old self consists and deciding to leave that behind to embrace Christ’s message, which is always challenging, ever new.

Conversation with Christ: Lord Jesus, help me to focus more on following you than on judging others. Show me who I am, and whom you want me to be. Grant me the grace to live the life of the Church – feasts and fasts – with enthusiasm, so you can transform me into a new creature.

Resolution: I will make it a point to live today, Friday, as a memorial of the death of Our Lord by offering a small sacrifice as a penance for my sins, and I will live this coming Sunday with real joy as the celebration of his resurrection.

Things That Separate

by Food For Thought on September 6, 2013 ·

Jesus paints himself as the bridegroom in his response to the question propounded in this gospel passage. While the bridegroom is present, the wedding guests do not need to fast. When one is with Christ, the bridegroom, there is no need for anything else but what pleases the bridegroom. He requires no sacrifice. It is only when the wedding guests are separated from the bridegroom, when the bridegroom will be taken from them, will they need to fast and sacrifice. We can be separated from Christ by sin. In those occasions, we need to do all things within our power, including fasting and sacrifice, to remove the things which separate us from Christ, so that we may again be like wedding guests in the presence of the bridegroom.

Jesus was teaching things about God which the people of his time found to be different from the things they were previously taught. The Mosaic law taught that God is a stern judge of the acts of man. Countless rules and practices were taught as part of worship of God. Matters of personal hygiene, like washing the hands before eating, prohibitions against eating fish without scales, and similar mundane matters, became part of religious rituals and obligations. The teaching of Jesus, therefore, was like a “new coat.” To tear a part of it would just damage the new coat but would not match the old one. It is like new wine that would burst an old skin. But those who have learned and gotten used to the old teachings would say, “the old is good” and went to the extent of crucifying him who taught the real things about God.

Lord Jesus, give us the grace to walk with you always, and remove the things which may separate us from you.

One Bread, One Body

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All Issues > Volume 29, Issue 5

<< Friday, September 6, 2013 >>

Colossians 1:15-20
View Readings

Psalm 100:1-5

Luke 5:33-39
Similar Reflections

JESUS

Christ "is..." —Colossians 1:15

Today's date is September 6, 2013, which is 2,013 years after Jesus' Incarnation. The most commonly used tabulation of years is dated from Jesus. He "is the Image," the Icon, "of the invisible God" (Col 1:15). He is both "the First-Born of all creatures" (Col 1:15) and "the First-Born of the dead" (Col 1:18). Everything was created in, through, and for Him (Col 1:16). "It is He Who is Head of the body, the Church" (Col 1:18).

Primacy is "His in everything. It pleased God to make absolute fullness reside in Him and, by means of Him, to reconcile everything in His Person" (Col 1:18-20). Jesus is "the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End" (Rv 21:6). Jesus is Lord of lords and King of kings (Rv 19:16). Jesus' name is the only name by which we can be saved (Acts 4:12). He is the only Way to the Father (Jn 14:6) and the One Who baptizes us in the Holy Spirit (Mk 1:8). Jesus is God.

Therefore, love Him "with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind" (Lk 10:27). "Live no longer" for yourself "but for Him" (2 Cor 5:15; Gal 2:20). Be His slave (Col 3:24). Worship Him (Rv 5:13). Trust Jesus.

Prayer: Jesus, I confess with my lips that You are Lord, and I believe in my heart that You are risen from the dead (Rm 10:9).

Promise: "When the days come that the Groom is removed from their midst, they will surely fast in those days." —Lk 5:35

Praise: Once a slave to drugs, Rick was healed and lived for God alone.

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Meditation: Colossians 1:15-20

Marriage = One Man and One Woman Til' Death Do Us Part

Things That Separate

One Bread, One Body

JESUS