Saturday, August 21, 2004

1:17 am

The Catholic Calendar for Sunday, August 22, 2004
Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time

Scripture from today’s Liturgy of the Word:
Isaiah 66:18-21
Psalm 117:1-2
Hebrews 12:5-7,11-13
Luke 13:22-30

A reflection on today’s Sacred Scripture:

Today’s readings and Gospel tell us quite a bit about God’s plan for the
salvation of mankind. First of all, the gift of salvation is intended to
extend far beyond peoples and places that were thought to be the exclusive
recipients of God’s grace; and His praises will be sung not just on the lips
of those who might be considered "shoo-ins," but also by those who appear by
some, to be unseemly.

The second theme is that human suffering is often associated with those who
seek entrance to the Kingdom of God, not because God enjoys seeing mankind
suffer, but because in intimation of Christ who suffered on our behalf, many
have been given the grace to share in His suffering. And finally we're told
that the narrow path to God is accessible to all, but many will refuse to
take it.

In light of these Gospel truths we have the opportunity to not only
cooperate with God and His plan, but to assist others to do the same. It's
part of our responsibilities as Christians to extend the Good News of God’s
Kingdom everywhere, to those who seem most unsuited, to those who are
suffering and to those who are frightened by the narrow path. That's our
responsibility, that's our privilege.

If we do our part, we need never fear that God will say “Go away, I do not
know you” but will recognize us and will open wide the gates of paradise to
us because of the likeness we bear to His Son.

- Donna Raye Nelson, ocds
(drn3rd at hotmail dot com)
______________________
(c)1986-2004 Reprints permitted except for profit. Credit required.
Please recommend our website http://www.daily-meditations.org/ to your friends and Catholic webmasters.
The meditations are also online at our weblog: http://dailymed.blogspot.com
Archives: http://www.ymlp.com/pubarchive.php?dailymeds
Scripture from today's Mass: http://www.nccbuscc.org/nab/index.htm
Lives of the saints: http://www.christdesert.org/public_texts/martyrology/
______________________
Pray the Liturgy of Hours, PC or Mobile Device: http://www.liturgyhours.org/
Daily Meditations in Spanish: http://www.daily-meditations.org/SpanishMeditations.html

_____________________________
Unsubscribe: http://www.ymlp.com/u.php?dailymeds+steve-s.diurnaljesus@blogger.com
Hosting by http://www.yourmailinglistprovider.com

# |