Saturday 4 July 2020
Saturday of week 13 in Ordinary Time
Spiritual Reading
Your Second Reading from the Office of Readings:
Saturday of week 13 in Ordinary Time
From the Instructions to Catechumens by St Cyril of Jerusalem
Confess your sins at the acceptable time
If anyone here is a slave to sin then let him make himself ready through faith for the new birth into the freedom of God’s adopted children. Let him put aside his wretched servitude of sin and take on the blessed service of the Lord; so that he may be counted as a worthy sharer in the inheritance of the kingdom of heaven. Through confession, strip yourself naked of your old human nature, which is being torn apart by deceitful desires, and clothe yourself in the new nature, which is being mended and made whole by knowledge of the One who created you. By faith receive the guarantee of the Holy Spirit, so that you will be received into your eternal home. Come before the mystical Seal of God’s kingdom so that you may be easily recognised by the Master.
Be counted as part of the holy and spiritual flock of Christ, to be set apart on his right hand and receive the inheritance that has been prepared for you. Those who still wear the rough garment of their sins are on his left hand because they have not come to the grace of God which is given through Christ in the baptism of rebirth. It is not a new physical birth I mean, but a spiritual second birth of the soul. Bodies are born of visible parents but souls are reborn through faith, for the Spirit blows where it wills.
If you are found worthy, you will hear the words Well done, good and faithful servant – when your conscience has been examined and found to be free of all taint of hypocrisy.
If anyone here thinks of putting God’s grace to the test, he is deceiving himself and ignorant of the power of things. Keep your soul sincere and free of hypocrisy because God searches the mind and the heart.
The present time is the time for confession. Confess what you have done, whether by words or by actions, whether by day or by night. If you confess at the acceptable time, you will receive the heavenly treasure on the Day of salvation.
Make yourself pure so that you may be a vessel of more abundant grace. Remission of sins is given equally to everyone but the sharing of the Holy Spirit is given differently to each man, according to the faith of each. If you have expended little labour, you will receive little in the way of reward; if, on the other hand, you have laboured greatly, great will be the reward you receive. It is for your own benefit that you are running this race: run hard, in your own interest.
If you are holding anything against anyone, forget it, let it go. You have come here to receive forgiveness of sins, so you must first forgive whoever has sinned against you.
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In other parts of the world and other calendars:
Blessed Maria Crocifissa Curcio, Virgin
From the Letters of Blessed Maria Crocifissa Curcio
Draw from the Eucharistic Spring and communicate: that is our mission
Convey the love which you find every day in the Eucharistic Spring to all the world with your prayer and with an immense desire to save all souls. With your words and above all by your good example take possession of the pure hearts of young girls to give themselves to Him who created us to love Him above all things.
Use gentle words, inspired by Him who is immense Love; in this spirit of intimate union, the Eucharistic Jesus must always guide you in all your actions, even those which are indifferent; let your rest and your work always be guided by the Divine Light, by the Eucharistic flame which you must always carry with you. By doing this, my good and dearest daughter, you will forever maintain the intimate peace which binds you to Jesus your Spouse, and in Him reciprocally to your neighbour, thus doing immense good, filling your souls with joy, the beauty of which is not of this world, while lamenting your own helplessness.
The first disciples of the Divine Master were poor ignorant fishermen but, filled with the spirit of God, how much good did they do in the world? The purpose of Uncreated Wisdom is not the fulfilment of His designs by learned and powerful people, but by humble means in order to demonstrate to the world that He operates by means of modest instruments. If the Divine Goodness has chosen us for this arduous mission, let it not surprise us but, in admiration, let us bow our heads and with humble simplicity abandon ourselves like a child to the heart of the Father.
This was how our little yet great Therese of the Child Jesus acted when she was made Novice Mistress. She confessed her helplessness at such a difficult task, but like a child she abandoned herself to the breast of Jesus and asked Him to enable her to nourish her daughters, wishing to give to each of them by His means that which they needed: “fill my hands, and without leaving your arms I shall distribute your food to the souls who come to me asking for your treasures.” May the spirit of this admirable little saint which guides us also be our teacher that by imitating her we shall make ourselves eternal!
May Jesus speak to you intimately and bring you peace, love of the Supreme Good, and mutual charity. The spirit of contemplation from the time of the Novitiate must always be kept in the heart of our soul; we were not called to the cloistered life, but to the active life; nevertheless, a life of prayer is the spirit of our Carmelite Order, and we must nourish our union with God in order to gain strength in our actions.
Jesus in the Eucharist lives in your house day and night; you always have the Divine Spouse who enlightens you and gives you strength in prayer and, within your heart, stands among you, watches over you always and asks for your love. Love the Immaculate Host, be watchful sentinels of the Tabernacle, always keep your heart, even during your work, in adoration of the Host of Love which is closed in that little house for our love. Blessed are the souls which succeed in finding the secret of true holiness in Him who alone can make saints!
Copyright © 1996-2020 Universalis Publishing Limited: see www.universalis.com. Scripture readings from the Jerusalem Bible are published and copyright © 1966, 1967 and 1968 by Darton, Longman & Todd, Ltd and Doubleday, a division of Random House, Inc, and used by permission of the publishers. Text of the Psalms: Copyright © 1963, The Grail (England). Used with permission of A.P. Watt Ltd. All rights reserved.