Watch Yourself

When we long for someone to return to the Faith, there’s a danger of spiritual pride. We know our Faith to be true, and we are practicing it to the best of our ability. That knowledge can easily be warped into pride. We may scoff at the Pharisee praying, “Lord, I thank you that I’m not like that poor sinner.” But if we’re not deeply aware of our own flaws, the Pharisee’s attitude and our own may become dangerously similar.

Green, Maggie. Saint Monica Club: How to Wait, Hope, and Pray for Your Fallen-Away Loved Ones (p. 57). Sophia Institute Press. Kindle Edition. 

“Where is he that is born king?”

 

Jan. 6, 2022

“Where is he that is born king?”

Humility is another good way to arrive at interior peace. He has said so: ‘Learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart: and you will find rest for your souls.’ (The Way, 607)

Where is he that is born king of the Jews? Moved by this question, I too now contemplate Jesus “lying in a manger," in a place fit only for animals. Lord, where is your kingship, your crown, your sword, your sceptre? They are his by right, but he does not want them. He reigns wrapped in swaddling clothes. Our king is unadorned. He comes to us as a defenseless little child. Can we help but recall the words of the Apostle: He emptied himself, taking the nature of a slave? Our Lord became man to teach us the Father's will. And this he is already doing as he lies there in the manger. Jesus Christ is seeking us — with a call which is a vocation to sanctity — so that we may carry out the redemption with him. Let us reflect on this first lesson of his. We are to co‑redeem, by striving to triumph not over our neighbour, but over ourselves. Like Christ we need to empty ourselves, to consider ourselves as the servants of others, and so to bring them to God. Where is the king? Could it be that Jesus wants to reign above all in men's hearts, in your heart? That is why he has become a child, for who can help loving a little baby? Where then is the king? Where is the Christ whom the Holy Spirit wants to fashion in our souls? He cannot be present in the pride that separates us from God, nor in the lack of charity which cuts us off from others. Christ cannot be there. In that loveless state man is left alone. As you kneel at the feet of the child Jesus on the day of his Epiphany and see him a king bearing none of the outward signs of royalty, you can tell him: “Lord, take away my pride; crush my self‑love, my desire to affirm myself and impose myself on others. Make the foundation of my personality my identification with you." (Christ is passing by, 31) Opus Dei - Finding God in daily life

Rainbow Covenant

Genesis Chapter 9

Be fertile, then, and multiply; abound on earth and subdue it 8 God said to Noah and to his sons with him: 9 See, I am now establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you 10 and with every living creature that was with you: the birds, the tame animals, and all the wild animals that were with you — all that came out of the ark. 11 I will establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all creatures be destroyed by the waters of a flood; there shall not be another flood to devastate the earth. 12 God said: This is the sign of the covenant that I am making between me and you and every living creature with you for all ages to come: 13  I set my bow in the clouds to serve as a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 When I bring clouds over the earth, and the bow appears in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant between me and you and every living creature — every mortal being — so that the waters will never again become a flood to destroy every mortal being. 16 When the bow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature — every mortal being that is on earth. 17 God told Noah: This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and every mortal being that is on earth.

Bible: New American Bible, Revised Edition 2011 (Kindle Locations 740-752). Kindle Edition.