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To: All

Pay Attention, He’s Trying to Let You Know He’s Here

November 11th, 2011 by Monsignor Dennis Clark, Ph.D.

Wis 13:1-9 / Lk 17:26-37

A friend of mine lost his wife’s diamond ring while bringing in the evening cocktails. The two of them searched high and low, swept the floors, and crawled about on their hands and knees, but all to no avail. As they sipped their drinks, mourning the loss of a precious keepsake, they were in deepest despair till the last ice cubes melted. There on the bottom of the wife’s glass was her ring.  It had been literally right under her nose all evening!

That “right under the nose” phenomenon is what today’s Old Testament reading is pressing on our attention. Every day in a thousand ways, God is showing himself to us through the marvels of his creation, both great and small. How much of that do we typically notice? Very little. No wonder we feel so alone and so uncertain about life and the Lord so much of the time. We’re not paying attention!

So open your eyes, look more closely at the beauty that God has filled his world with, and take heart: You’re not alone, and you never have been!


37 posted on 11/11/2011 6:44:43 PM PST by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
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To: All
One Bread, One Body

One Bread, One Body

 


<< Friday, November 11, 2011 >> St. Martin of Tours
Saint of the Day
 
Wisdom 13:1-9
View Readings
Psalm 19:2-5 Luke 17:26-37
 

FOR NATURE LOVERS

 
"For if they so far succeeded in knowledge that they could speculate about the world, how did they not more quickly find its Lord?" —Wisdom 13:9
 

Many people are nature-lovers. They are impressed by the "might and energy" (Wis 13:4), "the greatness and the beauty of created things" (Wis 13:5), such as "fire, or wind, or the swift air, or the circuit of the stars, or the mighty water, or the luminaries of heaven" (Wis 13:2).

Nature-lovers will either become idol worshippers or true worshippers. From studying the works of creation we should discern the Creator (Wis 13:1). "For from the greatness and the beauty of created things their original Author, by analogy, is seen" (Wis 13:5). However, if we don't worship the God of creation, we will worship creation as god.

"Since the creation of the world, invisible realities, God's eternal power and divinity, have become visible, recognized through the things He has made. Therefore these men are inexcusable. They certainly had knowledge of God, yet they did not glorify Him as God or give Him thanks; they stultified themselves through speculating to no purpose, and their senseless hearts were darkened" (Rm 1:20-21). "These men...exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator" (Rm 1:25). When nature-lovers become nature-worshippers, they become spiritually blind, foolish, and perverted (Rm 1:22, 24). May all nature-lovers also be God-lovers and true worshippers.

 
Prayer: Father, may all those in "New Age" spirituality repent and be freed.
Promise: "Whoever tries to preserve his life will lose it; whoever loses it will keep it." —Lk 17:33
Praise: St. Martin strove to do the right thing his entire life and was used by God because of his great zeal. He spent the last eleven years of his life in humble toil, preparing for glory.

38 posted on 11/11/2011 6:51:59 PM PST by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
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