Free Republic
Browse · Search
Religion
Topics · Post Article

To: All

January, 2018

The Holy Father's Prayer Intentions

That .........., and other religious minorities in Asian countries, may be able to practice their faith in full freedom.


20 posted on 01/11/2018 4:37:40 PM PST by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies ]


To: All
Daily Gospel Commentary

Thursday of the First week in Ordinary Time
Commentary of the day
Saint John of the Cross (1542-1591), Carmelite, Doctor of the Church
Living Flame of Love, stanza 2 (©Institute of Carmelite Studies)

"Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him"

       O divine life, you never kill unless to give life, never wound unless to heal. When you chastise, your touch is gentle, but it is enough to destroy the world. When you give delight you rest very firmly, and thus the delight of your sweetness is immeasurable. You have wounded me in order to cure me, O divine hand, and you have put to death in me what made me lifeless, what deprived me of God's life in which I now see myself live. You granted this with the liberality of your generous grace, which you used in contacting me with the touch of “the splendor of your glory and the figure of your substance” (Heb 1:3), which is your only begotten Son, through whom, he being your substance, “you touch mightily from one end to the other” (Wis 8:1). And your only begotten Son, O merciful hand of the Father, is the delicate touch by which you touched me with the force of your cautery and wounded me.

       O you, then, delicate touch, the Word, the Son of God, through the delicacy of your divine being, you subtly penetrate the substance of my soul and, lightly touching it all, absorb it entirely in yourself in divine modes of delights and sweetnesses unheard of in the land of Canaan and never before seen in Teman (Bar 3:22)! O, then, very delicate, exceedingly delicate touch of the Word, so much more delicate for me insofar as, after overthrowing mountains and smashing the rocks to pieces on Mount Horeb with the shadow of the might and power that went before you, you gave the prophet Elijah the sweetest  and strongest experience of yourself in the gentle breeze (1Kgs 19:11-12)! O gentle breeze, since you are a delicate and mild breeze, tell us: How do you, the Word, the Son of God, touch mildly and gently, since you are so awesome and mighty? O happy is the soul that you... gently and lightly touch... “You hide them in the secret of your face,” which is the Word, “from human disturbance” (Ps 31[30]:21)

21 posted on 01/11/2018 4:40:04 PM PST by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
Religion
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson