So let's talk about today's readings 10/21/09

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cheeto1

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October 21, 2009

Reading 1
Rom 6:12-18

Brothers and sisters:
Sin must not reign over your mortal bodies
so that you obey their desires.
And do not present the parts of your bodies to sin
as weapons for wickedness,
but present yourselves to God as raised from the dead to life
and the parts of your bodies to God
as weapons for righteousness.
For sin is not to have any power over you,
since you are not under the law but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law
but under grace?
Of course not!
Do you not know that if you present yourselves
to someone as obedient slaves,
you are slaves of the one you obey,
either of sin, which leads to death,
or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?
But thanks be to God that, although you were once slaves of sin,
you have become obedient from the heart
to the pattern of teaching to which you were entrusted.
Freed from sin, you have become slaves of righteousness.

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 124:1b-3, 4-6, 7-8

R. (8a) Our help is in the name of the Lord.
Had not the LORD been with us,
let Israel say, had not the LORD been with us–
When men rose up against us,
then would they have swallowed us alive;
When their fury was inflamed against us.
R. Our help is in the name of the Lord.
Then would the waters have overwhelmed us;
The torrent would have swept over us;
over us then would have swept the raging waters.
Blessed be the LORD, who did not leave us
a prey to their teeth.
R. Our help is in the name of the Lord.
We were rescued like a bird
from the fowlers’ snare;
Broken was the snare,
and we were freed.
Our help is in the name of the LORD,
who made heaven and earth.
R. Our help is in the name of the Lord.

Gospel
Lk 12:39-48

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Be sure of this:
if the master of the house had known the hour
when the thief was coming,
he would not have let his house be broken into.
You also must be prepared,
for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.” Then Peter said,
“Lord, is this parable meant for us or for everyone?”
And the Lord replied,
“Who, then, is the faithful and prudent steward
whom the master will put in charge of his servants
to distribute the food allowance at the proper time?
Blessed is that servant whom his master on arrival finds doing so.
Truly, I say to you, he will put him
in charge of all his property.
But if that servant says to himself,
‘My master is delayed in coming,’
and begins to beat the menservants and the maidservants,
to eat and drink and get drunk,
then that servant’s master will come
on an unexpected day and at an unknown hour
and will punish the servant severely
and assign him a place with the unfaithful.
That servant who knew his master’s will
but did not make preparations nor act in accord with his will
shall be beaten severely;
and the servant who was ignorant of his master’s will
but acted in a way deserving of a severe beating
shall be beaten only lightly.
Much will be required of the person entrusted with much,
and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.”
 
“Freed from sin, you have become slaves of righteousness.”
– So I am frustrated with this idea that “Jesus forgave all our sins, past, present,
and future, with His death”. Why do people say “Jesus forgives me” while they
are sinning? Is this only a Protestant idea, or do Catholics do that too?
(I’ll just go to confession). So… how do we become slaves of righteousness?
We don’t believe in slavery here in America. This reading is not specific enough
to be helpful.

“We were rescued like a bird
from the fowlers’ snare”
– We were rescued, and are being rescued, from sins. Did you ever stop to think
about how many sins you are saved from because of your faith? We are being
saved daily from a multitude of sins as a side effect of our faith. And supposing
you never confessed your sins? You would still be trapped in the fowler’s snare…

“Much will be required of the person entrusted with much,
and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more”
– What have we been entrusted with, and what is demanded of us?
If only it was as easy as that steward mentioned here, who just had to
distribute food at the proper time…

So what struck you about today’s readings? :bible1::twocents:
 
“Much will be required of the person entrusted with much,
and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more”
– What have we been entrusted with, and what is demanded of us?
If only it was as easy as that steward mentioned here, who just had to
distribute food at the proper time…

So what struck you about today’s readings? :bible1::twocents:
These verse always gets, I am so afraid to meet my Lord with knowledge that I sure didn’t do enough, out of my pure laziness. Very scary. I shall try again today.:o
 
These verse always gets, I am so afraid to meet my Lord with knowledge that I sure didn’t do enough, out of my pure laziness. Very scary. I shall try again today.:o
And what will you try to do? How will you know when it’s enough?
The time before last when I went to confession, the priest said we are not to
operate in fear. Are you going to try to “be not afraid”? Or something else?
Thank you for sharing you thoughts here…
 
These verse always gets, I am so afraid to meet my Lord with knowledge that I sure didn’t do enough, out of my pure laziness. Very scary. I shall try again today.:o
Combined with your “Cornerstone Quotation”:
“The most powerful weapon to conquer the Devil is humility. For as he does not know at all how to employ it, neither does he know how to defend himself from it.”

Today’s readings and responsorial provide us with the knowledge that we must strive to please God and give him glory as Christ did :bowdown:. Doing so will set us on the righteous path. Adhering to your tenet of “Humility” will certainly give you courage to avoid the devil by avoiding selfishness and self absorption which seems to be the fiber of all sin. Our help is in the name of the Lord. Seek Him by invoking His holy name and He will set us free from sin and enslave us to His love, ie, righteousness. :amen:
 
Today’s readings and responsorial provide us with the knowledge that we must strive to please God and give him glory as Christ did :bowdown:.
Welcome txsippian. Hope you enjoy the forums, you are really good at it already.
You mention st lucy’s quote about the devil not knowing how to be humble, or to
fight humility. Wouldn’t you be proud if you could achieve humility? I would. And
then what?

I am reading a book about a man who is endeavoring to teach others
how to achieve humility. He says among other things, don’t be interested in the
news, don’t find consolation in friends, make being alone your happiest time. He
says to not demand what you most desire, and realize that if someone insults you,
it doesn’t change you. He says to thank God for annoyances, and problems, no
matter how large, because your strength and patience is being helped.

And what do you think? What has helped your humility? Mine has only been
helped by being humiliated.
 
Thank you both for your post, I read them last night and I have been pondering your questions.

Cheeto1 asked
And what will you try to do? How will you know when it’s enough?
The time before last when I went to confession, the priest said we are not to
operate in fear. Are you going to try to “be not afraid”? Or something else?
Thank you for sharing you thoughts here…
For your first question my answer would be to just keep trying to be the creature my Lord wants to see me as. And as for how will I know when it is enough, I guess my answer will have to be that I know it will never be enough, but I will never stop trying. I guess what I am afraid of most is myself. I know that my biggest fault is my pride. Instead of taking humility, humbly, I tend to take it with defiance. I know that I have continually asked my Lord to send me the Holy Spirit to help me with my humility, so this one of my biggest obstacles. I keep falling, but I know that my Lord is right there to pick me up and help me with next obstacle.

The character in your book sounds so much like St Teresa of Avila, who I try to model my life with, she said much of the same.

Thank you txsippian, for your words of encouragement. I will keep them in my thoughts today as I try to stay on my path without straying.
 
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