Dear Lord God, today I am still wrestling with myself; the old under the sun self vs. the visions of the one I seek to be with and in You. But can I? Can I satisfy anyone but You? Or am I just being weak seeking the easy broad well traveled road, not the narrow one which maybe meant for me. Only You know and only in and with You will I find the answers. So with the awareness that I am still more of the old self than the one I seek, I must ask and lift up in prayer all those I love and depend on as well as all under the sun and within the universe of You Kingdom that I hurt, offend, effect or weaken through my inability to unite in pure feeling and love. For while I still see myself for what I am, it is the knowledge of how much I have fallen short of what I could be because I waited so long to seek You will, and now the change is harder and more painful for all I touch; especially when the old quick tempered, insensitive, outspoken and judgmental self surfaces. Help me by continuing to provide me with insight into Your wisdom keeping my hears, eyes, mind and heart open to the words of Your servants like Father Guy, all the Prophets and Saints, and the Holy Spirit that lives within me united with Jesus my Lord and Savior and You my God. In Jesus name I ask and pray, let me continue to dream of Your Kingdom, but fuel the fight within myself that must be fought under the sun with Your unconditional love,
Amen.
Ah! Many of us are more afraid of poverty than of humility or modesty or any other virtue. We must therefore take to poverty resolutely if we want to resemble our Lord. Let each one of us, according to his condition; aim at having fewer and less expensive things. Let everything that we buy or receive be a tribute to the holy poverty of our Master Jesus Christ. We shall want to depend on Him for everything: on His light for our mind, on His grace for our will, on His love for our heart, on His Cross for our body. Do not seek any other. He is always here in The Blessed Sacrament.
— St. Peter Emyard
16 and Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint to be king over Israel; and Eli’sha the son of Shaphat of A’bel-meho’lah you shall anoint to be prophet in your place.
19 So he departed from there, and found Eli’sha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing, with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he was with the twelfth. Eli’jah passed by him and cast his mantle upon him.
20 And he left the oxen, and ran after Eli’jah, and said, "Let me kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you." And he said to him, "Go back again; for what have I done to you?"
21 And he returned from following him, and took the yoke of oxen, and slew them, and boiled their flesh with the yokes of the oxen, and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he arose and went after Eli’jah, and ministered to him.
Bible Study: [15-17] Elijah himself carried out only the third of the commissions entrusted to him (1 Kings 19:19-21); Elisha was deputed to perform the first in person (2 Kings 8:7-19), and the second through one of his followers (2 Kings 9:1-10). [19-21] Elijah’s act of throwing his mantle over the shoulders of Elisha expressed the divine call to share the prophetic mission. Elisha’s prompt response through destruction of his plow and oxen is an example of total obedience and detachment from his former manner of living in order to promote the glory of God.
1 Preserve me, O God, for in thee I take refuge.
2 I say to the LORD, "Thou art my Lord; I have no good apart from thee."
5 The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup; thou holdest my lot.
7 I bless the LORD who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me.
8 I keep the LORD always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my soul rejoices; my body also dwells secure.
10 For thou dost not give me up to Sheol, or let thy godly one see the Pit.
11 Thou dost show me the path of life; in thy presence there is fulness of joy, in thy right hand are pleasures for evermore.
Bible Study: [Psalm 16] A miktam of David. In the first section, the psalmist rejects the futile worship of false gods (Psalm 16:2-5), preferring Israel’s God (Psalm 16:1), the giver of the land (Psalm 16:6). The second section reflects on the wise and life-giving presence of God (Psalm 16:7-11). [1] Miktam: a term occurring six times in psalm superscriptions, always with "David." Its meaning is unknown. [4] Take their names: to use the gods’ names in oaths and hence to affirm them as one’s own gods. [6] Pleasant places were measured out for me: the psalmist is pleased with the plot of land measured out to the family, which was to be passed on to succeeding generations ("my inheritance"). [10] Nor let your faithful servant see the pit: Hebrew shahath means here the pit, a synonym for Sheol, the underworld. The Greek translation derives the word here and elsewhere from the verb shahath, "to be corrupt." On the basis of the Greek, Acts 2:25-32; 13:35-37 apply the verse to Christ’s resurrection, "Nor will you suffer your holy one to see corruption."
1 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand fast therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
13 For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love be servants of one another.
14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."
15 But if you bite and devour one another take heed that you are not consumed by one another.
16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh.
17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you would.
18 But if you are led by the Spirit you are not under the law.
Bible Study: [1-6] Paul begins the exhortations, continuing through Gal 6:10, with an appeal to the Galatians to side with freedom instead of slavery (Gal 5:1). He reiterates his message of justification or righteousness by faith instead of law and circumcision (Gal 5:2-5); cf Gal 2:16; 3:3. Faith, not circumcision, is what counts (Gal 5:6). [1] Freedom: Paul stresses as the conclusion from the allegory in Gal 4:21-31 this result of Christ’s work for us. It is a principle previously mentioned (Gal 2:4), the responsible use of which Gal 5:13 will emphasize. [13-26] In light of another reminder of the freedom of the gospel (Gal 5:13; cf Gal 5:1), Paul elaborates on what believers are called to do and be: they fulfill the law by love of neighbor (Gal 5:14-15), walking in the Spirit (Gal 5:16-26), as is illustrated by concrete fruit of the Spirit in their lives. [13] Serve . . . through love: cf Gal 5:6. [14] Lev 19:18, emphasized by Jesus (Matthew 22:39; Luke 10:27); cf Romans 13:8-10. [16-25] Spirit . . . flesh: cf Gal 3:3 and the note on Romans 8:1-13.
51 When the days drew near for him to be received up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.
52 And he sent messengers ahead of him, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him;
53 but the people would not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem.
54 And when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, "Lord, do you want us to bid fire come down from heaven and consume them?"
55 But he turned and rebuked them.
56 And they went on to another village.
57 As they were going along the road, a man said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go."
58 And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head."
59 To another he said, "Follow me." But he said, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father."
60 But he said to him, "Leave the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God."
61 Another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home."
62 Jesus said to him, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God."
Bible Study: [9:51-18:14] The Galilean ministry of Jesus finishes with the previous episode and a new section of Luke’s gospel begins, the journey to Jerusalem. This journey is based on Mark 10:1-52 but Luke uses his Marcan source only in Luke 18:15-19:27. Before that point he has inserted into his gospel a distinctive collection of sayings of Jesus and stories about him that he has drawn from Q, a collection of sayings of Jesus used also by Matthew, and from his own special traditions. All of the material collected in this section is loosely organized within the framework of a journey of Jesus to Jerusalem, the city of destiny, where his exodus (suffering, death, resurrection, ascension) is to take place (Luke 9:31), where salvation is accomplished, and from where the proclamation of God’s saving word is to go forth (Luke 24:47; Acts 1:8). Much of the material in the Lucan travel narrative is teaching for the disciples. During the course of this journey Jesus is preparing his chosen Galilean witnesses for the role they will play after his exodus (Luke 9:31): they are to be his witnesses to the people (Acts 10:39; 13:31) and thereby provide certainty to the readers of Luke’s gospel that the teachings they have received are rooted in the teachings of Jesus (Luke 1:1-4).
[51-55] Just as the Galilean ministry began with a rejection of Jesus in his hometown, so too the travel narrative begins with the rejection of him by Samaritans. In this episode Jesus disassociates himself from the attitude expressed by his disciples that those who reject him are to be punished severely. The story alludes to 2 Kings 1:10, 12 where the prophet Elijah takes the course of action Jesus rejects, and Jesus thereby rejects the identification of himself with Elijah. [51] Days for his being taken up: like the reference to his exodus in Luke 9:31 this is probably a reference to all the events (suffering, death, resurrection, ascension) of his last days in Jerusalem. He resolutely determined: literally, "he set his face." [52] Samaritan: Samaria was the territory between Judea and Galilee west of the Jordan river. For ethnic and religious reasons, the Samaritans and the Jews were bitterly opposed to one another (see John 4:9). [57-62] In these sayings Jesus speaks of the severity and the unconditional nature of Christian discipleship. Even family ties and filial obligations, such as burying one’s parents, cannot distract one no matter how briefly from proclaiming the kingdom of God. The first two sayings are paralleled in Matthew 8:19-22; see also the notes there. [60] Let the dead bury their dead: i.e., let the spiritually dead (those who do not follow) bury their physically dead. See also the note on Matthew 8:22.
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