It is a blessing for you
when they insult you for bearing the name of Christ,
for the Spirit of God rests on you. 1PT 4:14
ROMANS 13:8-10
My Soul's Beloved,
When we love God and our neighbor as You command us to, we will journey through this valley of tears with courage and in peace. You will provide all we need to persevere if we obey this law of love. We know that God is love, and we know it viscerally, for You, O Lord, demonstrated the love of God by doing the will of Your Father. This was Your Father's will, that while we were yet sinners, He sent You into the world, as one like us, to enter into our death so we could receive His life in abundance through You.
When we love as we are commanded to love, we will think nothing of pouring ourselves out in sacrificial love just as You did for us. If genuine love for one another rules our lives, truly, the Kingdom of God would come among us. It is not easy, Beloved. Loving is hard, and it is especially hard to love those who deliberately seek our destruction. But it is not impossible, as the lives of so many saints have witnessed to us. Grant us the graces we need, Lord, to allow love to dictate and rule our lives and to seek the good even of those who seek to harm us.
Avoid getting into debt, except the debt of mutual love. If you love your fellow men you have carried out your obligations. All the commandments: You shall not commit adultery, you shall not kill, you shall not steal, you shall not covet, and so on, are summed up in this single command: You must love your neighbour as yourself. Love is the one thing that cannot hurt your neighbour; that is why it is the answer to every one of the commandments.
PSALM 111(112):1-2,4-5,9
Happy the man who takes pity and lends.
Happy the man who fears the Lord,
who takes delight in all his commands.
His sons will be powerful on earth;
the children of the upright are blessed.
He is a light in the darkness for the upright:
he is generous, merciful and just.
The good man takes pity and lends,
he conducts his affairs with honour.
Open-handed, he gives to the poor;
his justice stands firm for ever.
His head will be raised in glory.
Avoid getting into debt, except the debt of mutual love. If you love your fellow men you have carried out your obligations. All the commandments: You shall not commit adultery, you shall not kill, you shall not steal, you shall not covet, and so on, are summed up in this single command: You must love your neighbour as yourself. Love is the one thing that cannot hurt your neighbour; that is why it is the answer to every one of the commandments.
PSALM 111(112):1-2,4-5,9
Happy the man who takes pity and lends.
Happy the man who fears the Lord,
who takes delight in all his commands.
His sons will be powerful on earth;
the children of the upright are blessed.
He is a light in the darkness for the upright:
he is generous, merciful and just.
The good man takes pity and lends,
he conducts his affairs with honour.
Open-handed, he gives to the poor;
his justice stands firm for ever.
His head will be raised in glory.
Happy the man who takes pity and lends.
LUKE 14:25-33
My Soul's Beloved,
LUKE 14:25-33
My Soul's Beloved,
There is no mistaking the clarion call of discipleship in today's Gospel. If we are to love You as You ought to be loved, then every other love must come as a far second. Too often, Lord, we place love of creatures above our love for You, and this is why we fall short of the mark. We are sinful, concupiscent creatures, and make convincing excuses to ourselves for loving people, whoever they may be - parents, children, animals, and give them greater attention and devotion than we give the Living God. All too often, we go to ridiculous lengths to lavish on creatures the love that is actually hierarchical. Love of God comes before love for family, neighbor, and self. Unless we give You the glory, honor, worship, and love that is due to You alone, O Lord, we will never live holy lives, pleasing to God.
Radical love for God costs everything, but when we are prepared to sacrifice all for love of You, Beloved, You will ensure that we receive far more than we ever dreamed of. Grant us the grace, O Lord, not to just give you lip service, but to heed Your call to love You above and before all else and our neighbor as ourselves. This is the only way to be happy in this life, no matter what crosses we must endure, and to enjoy eternal bliss with You in Your Kingdom.
Great crowds accompanied Jesus on his way and he turned and spoke to them. ‘If any man comes to me without hating his father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, yes and his own life too, he cannot be my disciple. Anyone who does not carry his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.
‘And indeed, which of you here, intending to build a tower, would not first sit down and work out the cost to see if he had enough to complete it? Otherwise, if he laid the foundation and then found himself unable to finish the work, the onlookers would all start making fun of him and saying, “Here is a man who started to build and was unable to finish.” Or again, what king marching to war against another king would not first sit down and consider whether with ten thousand men he could stand up to the other who advanced against him with twenty thousand? If not, then while the other king was still a long way off, he would send envoys to sue for peace. So in the same way, none of you can be my disciple unless he gives up all his possessions.’
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