predication.net

Would you trust someone you don’t know? Why wouldn’t you follow someone you know very well and trust implicitly?

We can see from the Gospel the importance of the situation presented by the evangelist Luke. Before every critical event, Jesus prays, and it is no different in the pericope we read. Jesus asks about the disciples’ relationship with him. And this is where Peter enters with his confession on behalf of all: God’s Messiah – the Christ – the Anointed One. In this confession, Jesus’ special closeness to God is expressed, and in this connection, Jesus goes to meet the suffering he must suffer. And here, he commands the disciples to be silent about it. It seems incomprehensible. The disciples, like the crowds, may not have understood why the Son of God, the Son of Man, must suffer. Jesus knew and predicted persecution, suffering, and death while still living on earth. That is why he says: “The Son of Man must suffer many things; the elders, chief priests, and scribes will reject him and kill him, but on the third day he will rise from the dead” (Luke 9:22).

However, the most profound reason for Jesus’ suffering and death is not a presumed political development but a necessity and importance decided in advance by God. Jesus does not forget to add that just so the person who follows him cannot avoid suffering. “And he said to all: Whoever wishes to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life shall lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake shall save it” (Lk 9:23-24). Notice how Jesus ends his discourse. We can discern here five different sayings of Jesus as we follow Him. He wasn’t just speaking to Peter. He is saying “to all of us.” He gives the terms of what it means to “follow me” – to follow Jesus. The conditions of discipleship to which “all” are called. To follow means to go with him and his “way,” and it means to deny oneself—bearing the cross – willingness to witness, to remain daily under his cross and to persevere. To hold oneself up selfishly save oneself leads to the loss of one’s existence.

How is it with us? How do we take our daily crosses on our shoulders? Following Jesus means following him, it even requires the sacrifice of life, whether it is martyrdom in times of persecution or committing ourselves to people for Jesus’ sake in times of mission. To carry our daily crosses requires that we know who Jesus is. Heck, what would I answer Jesus to the question he asked the disciples? “Who do you think I am?” Would I say some learned philosophical definition, a mindless platitude? Would it be a statement of my heart? How can I follow someone I don’t know? If I were to ask a child how he imagines Jesus, God, he would portray the figure as he is depicted in pictures. Aren’t we adults also left with these childish ideas of God? Have you ever felt a longing to know God? To see the essence, to understand who God is…

St. Sister Faustina recounts in her diary how she thought about the Holy Trinity, the essence of God, saying: “I felt an urgent desire to examine thoroughly and to know who God is… My spirit was as if caught up out of this world at one point. I perceived an unapproachable light and within it, as it were, three strands of light that I could not comprehend. And from this light, words came forth in the form of lightning and surrounded heaven and earth. I could not understand any of this, and it grieved me greatly. Then, our beloved Savior came forth in incredible beauty with glowing wounds out of the sea of inaccessible light. And out of that light, I heard a voice say, “What God is in His essence no one can fathom, neither the reason of angels nor men.” Jesus said to me: “Know God, contemplate his attributes.”

His greatest attribute is infinite mercy, infinite love. God doesn’t just talk to the saints, as we might think. He speaks to every single one of us. I have to show a willingness to speak to him. How can I know someone if I don’t speak to him? That is what prayer is for. Jesus is God and gives us the example of worship. He prays before he asks the disciples a question, he prays before he makes a big decision, he prays in suffering, he prays. Can I go to someone I don’t know? Jesus offers us whoever wants to follow me, but he adds that let him deny himself and take up his cross.

Let us take up our daily worries, difficulties, illnesses, adversities, … those we are afraid to bear. Let us not be scared to accept them. Let us surrender them to God. Our crosses will be easier to take with him with his merciful love. Where can we find it? We will meet her at the breaking of the bread in a little while at the Eucharist. Let us draw the strength that is offered to us from this source. Jesus helps us to bear our crosses, even through this sacrament. St. Faustína merited holiness by following Christ and carrying her cross despite her then incurable illness, tuberculosis. She shows us how she handled ordinary life situations thanks to God’s grace.

In his diary, he writes: “Today I was visited by a certain worldly person for whom I had great trouble because he abused my goodness and lied about many things. The first moment I saw her, my blood stiffened in my veins, for all that I had to suffer for her sake was revealed before my eyes, although I could have freed myself from it in a word. It occurred to me to tell her the whole truth decisively and at once.”

There were many similar situations in our lives. This is precisely how most of us would have acted. We would have dealt with the person in question the same way. But by doing so, we would be shortchanging ourselves, selfishly saving ourselves, the opposite of what Jesus is telling us in today’s Gospel. “Deny yourself, and follow me” – do as I do.

Sister Faustína, however, continues in her diary, ” But at the same moment, I remembered God’s mercy and decided to treat her as Jesus would have done if he had been in my place. I began to speak to her kindly, and when she longed to talk to me about her loneliness, I pointed out to her very considerately but the sad state of her soul. I could see her deep distress, though she hid it from me.” She goes on to say, “Without God’s grace, I would not have been able to treat her in this way.” And few of us have behaved in this way, as Faustína did, thanks to God’s grace.

Therefore, let us follow the example of Sister Faustína, and, also at her intercession and together with her, let us ask for the necessary graces of God so that we may be able and willing to deny ourselves in following “God’s Messiah,” so that we may be able to know and confess Him. And with her, let us exclaim: “O Christ, though it takes such great effort, yet with your grace, all things are possible.”

We can catch ourselves doing good deeds to receive praise from people immediately.
And how does Jesus admonish us? “Take heed and do not do your good works before men, lest they admire you, for you will have no reward with your Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 6:1).

Jesus talks about three things: good works, prayer, and fasting. He doesn’t tell us how often to do them, but He tells us how `way’ to do them. And he contrasts this with the Pharisees. They did good work where everyone saw them and praised them for it. They did the same with prayer and fasting. They did everything hypocritically to be great in the eyes of the people. But we Christians are to do it with a pure intention, not to be praised by people, but to do a good deed. And then the heavenly Father will reward me.

We can see – especially in the media, how famous people in today’s society want to donate some – for example, an orphanage. They do it in front of the television, in front of journalists, and many people. In this way, they want to show that they are the good ones and think of the poorer and poorer ones. And they will make a big celebration around it, just so that people will praise them. And yet everybody knows how immoral this person is, what all the bad things he has done, and maybe he dishonestly got the money.
Isn’t this what Jesus is warning us against? These people forget that human glory is not lasting but fragile, like a beautiful spring flower, but quickly fades and is gone.
But we know that only God can give a reward that will last. Jesus teaches us to avoid vanity and do everything – every good deed, prayer, and fasting – with humility and a pure heart so that we may glorify God and help our neighbors.

Then God will give us a reward that will be written in heaven. This reward of God can hardly be compared to the tip of men. For the reward from God is permanent, eternal, and specific. God prepares for us eternal life as a reward for our works.

Let us pray, Almighty God, who sees even the hidden things. Teach us to act according to the example of your Son, Jesus Christ. Act with pure intention and out of love for you. Only this way can we receive the eternal reward you prepare for glorifying those who do not look to men.

Excellent thoughts on verbal prayer can be read in the Russian spiritual writer Theophan Zatvornik. The Church values it because it is necessary for interior prayer; it is like a ladder by which one climbs higher. We cannot command the beginner: “Pray in your own words !” That would be something. This is similar to ordering someone who has not yet studied a language to speak, for example, French. He must first repeat memorized sentences; only then will he learn to speak fluently. Inner prayer is the fruit. The plant, however, must rather have leaves and flowers.

“All the great teachers of prayer …have first laid down a kind of rule. They began by setting certain prayers, and only then, when the time was right, did they begin to pray freely.” There is, of course, the danger of formalism, of mindless renunciation of other people’s words. This is not avoided by discarding form. “Do not throw away the forms,” writes Theophanes, “but revive them, give them spirit! ” But another reason, dogmatic, is also given. He who prays connect his words with the words of Christ praying to the Father. The Savior’s words are then powerful, being a force at work in the world, creating and transforming the face of the earth. In the complete sense of the word, this is true of the terms of the sacramental prayers (“I absolve you… ” “This is my body…”). However, they derive their power from the sacraments and other prayers, especially priestly prayers.

As Gogol writes in his Meditations on the Divine Liturgy, these are a double-edged sword that intervenes in the struggle of life. According to John of Kronstadt, then, “the holy words… are living water, flowing water; the word flows like water, the water then refreshes and revitalizes the body. The holy word also quickens, fills the world and the soul with joy, gentleness, pity for sins.” The problem of the power of the word in connection with prayer was of interest to Eastern theologians of this century, e.g. S. Bulgakov. The word is like an acoustic image of thought. Holy images then, in a mysterious way…in a weird way, they make present what they represent. Western authors also speak in favor of oral prayer. Thus writes, e.g., Karl Rahner: “Every religious act has an integral, integral structure. Therefore, even verbal prayer and repetition of a fixed prayer formula have a positive meaning.In this way, one experiences the relationship to God in all dimensions, dimensions. ”

When the man confessed that he had been faithful to the commandments from his youth, Christ’s eyes reflected an expression of praise and sympathy. And yet, the Lord Jesus did not leave him in a state of good self-esteem. Despite being materially well off, this man certainly did not feel any lack; he wanted something more. Perhaps he realized that one could not rejoice so much in the treasures of this world when one wants to secure the prize of eternal life. And the Lord Jesus follows up this desire: of course, you will have treasure in heaven, but for this reason, sell all that you have and give to the poor. And at this point, the man’s good self-esteem ended. Jesus explains to the disciples more precisely what is at stake. Wealth in itself is not a bad thing. But as we hear, it is hard for those who rely on wealth to enter the kingdom of God.

Not wealth, but over-reliance on wealth, as some do, can be malignant. Material goods are positive values, they serve us, but it is not to be the other way round: one must not become a worshiper of them, a slave to them; wealth is a valuable thing, even a necessary thing unless one is blinded by it unless one relies on it entirely and puts all one’s hope in it. It is not that one should give away what one has, but that one should be willing to do so if necessary for salvation. He who does not feel able to do this gives evidence that he has become enslaved; wealth is so dangerous that it can deprive someone of his freedom. It may also fill a man with pride and self-confidence; someone may acknowledge that he can do without the grace and mercy of God: such a camel then lifts high his proud hump and does not press through that eye of the needle into the treasures of the kingdom. Before us on the altar is the pattern of Christ, who gave up all that he had that we might be able to enter the kingdom.

Believing Christians need to be aware that Jesus died and rose again for their marital union. There will be crosses and crosses in their life together, despite the love they feel for each other. They are to remember the words of Jesus, “Whoever wishes to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.” (Mt 16:24).

We are, after all, marked by original sin. And spouses should often recall the words they said when they celebrated the sacrament of marriage, “Do you promise before Almighty God that you will be a faithful husband to her, that you will be a faithful wife to him, that you will not leave her, either in happiness or in unhappiness, sickness or health, and that you will love and honor her all the days of your life?”

For we read in Scripture, “What therefore God hath gathered, let not man put asunder.” (Mk 10:9). It is a wellspring of new satisfaction for God and us. The Church looks at every marriage with joy, love, gratitude, and happiness. In the love of the spouses, we discern the passion with which Christ Himself and the Church are endowed. Satisfaction is all the more significant, the more extraordinary, man’s love for woman and woman for man. From today’s Gospel on marriage, we should want to take the vital truth that a good marriage, a lasting and faithful union of man and woman, was and is possible. Whatever is done. Why? Because a woman is the ” bone of my bones” to a man. Because man is called for partnership, both biologically and psychologically. Because God so wills it that the two be His through marriage. And also because Jesus, for the salvation order and the New Testament era, affirmed it. The marriage problems relate to the whole complex of issues in a person’s life.

A wealthy Roman woman once asked Rabbi Yossi Chalafta, “What does God do all day long?” The rabbi answered her: “He brings married couples together. He chooses who is to marry whom. This man, this woman, this man’s wife, and so on.” “There’s nothing special about that,” the Roman woman remarked, “I can do that too. I can put a thousand couples together in one day.” The Rabbi said nothing to this. When the mistress returned to her palace, she had all the male, and enslaved women summoned and married and married to each other. She commanded: “You take that one, and you, in turn, take that one.” That night, almost all the married couples quarreled and fought. The following day they went to their mistress. One enslaved person had his head smashed in, another enslaved person had a black eye, and another enslaved person had his nose broken… The mistress summoned Rabbi Jossi. She told him what had happened and declared: “You were right. I see that only God can bring a man and a woman together.” Then a voice from heaven came: “This is not easy even for me.”

And everyone, in good faith, must say that what the Church teaches and upholds is correct, that she disapproves of divorce. Young people are not evil. … How many of them suffer for their parents…

In many tragic events, doctors often state that they might not have died if the affected person had received help in time. For this reason, various training courses are given to young children in kindergartens on how to help a seriously injured person or to prevent situations with a tragic ending. We, believers, know well that just as the health of the body needs to be taken care of, the health of the soul also needs to be taken care of and protected for eternal life. Today Jesus informs us, explains, and warns us against several mistakes that could cause the death of the soul and wishes us to live in union with Him and avoid eternal damnation.

His discourse is short but varied in content and style, and one senses a kind of free flow of words from which love emanates strongly. First, he asks: Can the blind lead the blind? Won’t they both fall into the pit? Then she touches on the relationship between teacher and pupil: The pupil is not above the teacher. Even if he learns everything, he will be like his teacher. Then follows the well-known and famous simile of the speck and the plank: Why do you see the mark in your brother’s eye but do not see the plank in your eye? And he concludes by pointing out the relationship between wood and fruit: There is no good tree that bears bad fruit, just as there is no wrong tree that bears good fruit. Every tree can be known by its fruit. From this flow of the Lord’s words, it is clear that everything He said applies to man. He says that a man bears fruit in the measure in which his heart is. A good man bears good fruit, an evil man rotten fruit. And just because man is fond of short speeches and few words, let us also try to look among these sentences for one introductory lesson and wisdom for us.

Let us note the circumstances under which Jesus uttered these words. In addition to the apostles, a large crowd from Judea and Jerusalem around Tyre and Sidon listened to him. The Beatitudes were spoken before them, the doctrine of love to enemies, and the philosophy of mercy and kindness. In these few sentences, the Lord expressed the core of his teaching while emphasizing what is most appealing, most necessary, and most demanding in it. Those who listened to him could not remain indifferent to such actual speech, and therefore various reactions began to awaken in their hearts. It was from this crowd that Jesus chose the foundation of the future Church – the apostles – and helped them, even more, to accept his teaching and become his witnesses.

The people who listened to him rightly questioned: How shall I live this teaching? What kind of witness of Christ should I become? How can I convince others, without violence, that this teaching is from God? Jesus, through the tangle of his thoughts, answers these questions when he paints a portrait of the disciple or spiritual teacher that every baptized person is obliged to be. He says that anyone who wants to proclaim his teaching must first know it and then be penetrated by it. If he is to point out to others their errors, he must first consider whether he is not committing similar or worse errors, which he must first correct. If he would like to be a master, he must avoid moralizing, and what he would like to impart to others must first be seen in him. Only then will he become a good tree. If he does not get rid of his faults, even the most beautiful words and heroic deeds will become harmful rather than helpful. And that is a wrong tree, bearing bad fruit.

The lesson we should take away from God’s word today, then, is to become a good tree with good fruit. And that is a lifelong journey, a tough and arduous one. It was also walked by the monk Pambos, about whom Socrates Scholastikos (380-450) writes. He could neither read nor write, so he came to another monk to learn a psalm from him. When he heard the first verse of the 39th Psalm: I will be careful of my conduct, lest I sin with my tongue, he wanted to avoid listening to the second verse. Going away, he said: That is enough for me! I must first learn to live this verse… When they met half a year later, and the monk wondered that he had not come to know the next verse, he replied that he still had not learned to live the words of this verse. And when after a long time another monk met him, he said to him: For 20 years I have been learning to live it by working hard on myself…

Today, let us ask for the strength to know our faith, love our faith, and become seers who know the precepts and keep them. Let us notice our imperfections more than the imperfections of others, all so that our lives may bear healthy fruit that will be rewarded when we meet Christ at the hour of our death. In this way, we will avoid a tragic event and pass from life on earth to live eternal.

Suppose we surrender ourselves wholly to God and allow Him to direct our steps. In that case, we may find after a time that without His help, without His guidance, without His counsel, we would not have successfully passed through the hardships and difficulties of life. He helps us remove various obstacles – especially pride, for it is most threatening. We cannot fight it alone. She is like cancer in our life that destroys and kills everything, that appears when we least expect it, and so on. It is insidious and often spreads silently and subtly.

The Christian reminds himself of what he must not do. After all, he is listening to Jesus. Pride typically takes the form of finish humility, speaks in a low voice, and can use everything to its advantage. Pride can destroy even good things. Why? Because that which is affected by the poison of satisfaction begins to build a shrine to pride, not God. Someone can succeed for many years in sanctifying himself, working in various fields… But if he tells himself that he has worked enough and is sure of heaven, he forgets that humility, humility, faithfulness to God bind a man to the last moment of his life.

Jesus clearly says: “Whoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone was hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea.” (Mk. 9:42).

Let us consider, can a man who is full of pride, though hidden under “humility,” be a witness for Christ? Is he not a reproach? Unless the Lord God transforms us, unless He touches our pride with the edge of His love until then, we will be anti-witnesses to those around us. Our behavior is Pharisaical behavior when we cannot truly love someone more than ourselves. We quickly get carried away with anger or shut down and remain silent when someone touches our self-love. Pride is the root of all evil and sin. For it puts man in a place that belongs to God, far worse than all other things, such as sins and other falls.

Consider the thief who is condemned to death, whom we call “good,” only when he acknowledged his guilt was he able to turn to Christ and receive from Him the forgiveness of his sins. In contrast, the Pharisees stood beneath the cross, feeling righteous, asking for a sign from the cross, asking for nothing, receiving no forgiveness. Every sin cries out for mercy from God; the pride of the Pharisees does not! It amazes me what kind of guys pride can satiate. It is not insignificant to remember that everyone who has tried to fight pride has found it challenging. It’s like the dragon in the fairy tale. If we can cut off one head of pride, we may find that there are already seven in its place. But life is not a fairy tale. Therefore, it is not possible to say that I have enough merit for heaven, that nothing can happen to me, that I am strong enough, and so on. He who does not know properly what he wants will very quickly end up where he does not want to be.

When the moralists and canoeists had to define what oral prayer is, they did not forgive themselves for solving the problems up to detail. They asked whether it must move the lips, or only tongue, whether the words must be heard, whether the prayer should be called oral. The breviary is prescribed in the form of “oral prayers.” On the contrary, those who address the questions too philosophically come easily to the conclusion that all prayer is oral. For man cannot think and not create at least a kind of inner words.
Therefore, it is better to remain with the word’s meaning, the known
ordinary speech. Oral prayer is the recitation of texts, composed in advance, aloud, or even silently. We have learned to memorize our Father, Hail, Hail Mary, etc. These words are without repeating them without change when we pray. We take in our hands a prayer book and read from it.

Objections to oral prayer.
Does the mechanical repetition of foreign words make sense?
After all, prayer is supposed to be personal, from the heart! There are several pastoral provisions in favor of oral prayers, such as the condemned article of Berthold of Rohrbach in 1356 that “the prayer of the ear is neither useful nor necessary, that It is not at all profitable for salvation, and that it is enough to pray with the mind, without sound or movement of the lips.” In the same way, she has condemned
the opinion of the Quietest that “the citation of books, preaching, oral prayers, the invocation of saints, and the like, are a hindrance to contemplation, to the prayer of the affections.” The Quietest referred to the text of the Gospel, which says that true prayer is in Spirit and truth (Jn 4:23).
Even in the Fathers’ writings, one could find many texts in their favor. They often urge us not to be content with just oral recitation. “Words before God can recite many men,” writes St. Augustine, “but only some know how to pray.” “Our heart cries to God by sound not by the flesh, but with elevated thoughts, with the harmony of the virtues. Faith cries aloud. Finally, then, we cry out in filial Abba, Father! (Gal 4:6) The Spirit of God Himself cries out in us.” (St. Augustine). St. Thomas Aquinas also collected the main objections that can be raised against oral prayer. It could be said that it is useless (for God knows the heart), that it is harmful because it attracts the mind to sensual things and that it is forbidden in the Gospel, where it says: Pray to thy Father in secret (Mt 6:6). In response, St. Paul emphasizes that the prayer of the Father is in the blessing of the Father (6).

In his answer to his Father, St. Thomas, above all, emphasizes the value of communal prayer. This should, however, would not be possible without oral expression. But even in private prayer, the utterance of words is an appropriate means of focusing the mind and lifting it to God. It is also for of the neighbor. Quickly to join with another who is devoutly and beautifully aloud praying. However, every help has a relative value. With v. Thomas, therefore, it seems to be harming the over-careful utterance of prayers just as much as artificial and flowery style. Thus we see that even St. Thomas doubts that oral prayer is the most perfect. It is, however, preparation for interior prayer.

Oral prayer
Psychological and dogmatic reasons for oral prayer excellent thoughts on verbal prayer can be read in the Russian spiritual writer Theophan Zatvornik. The Church values it because it is necessary for interior prayer; it is like a ladder by which one climbs higher. We cannot command the beginner: “Pray in your own words !” That would be something. This is similar to ordering someone who has not yet studied a language to speak, for example, French. He must first repeat memorized sentences; only then will he learn to speak fluently. Inner prayer is the fruit. The plant, however, must rather have leaves and flowers. “All the great teachers of prayer …have first laid down a kind of rule. They began by setting certain prayers, and only then when the time was right, did they begin to pray freely.” There is, of course, the danger of formalism, of mindless renunciation of other people’s words. This is not avoided by discarding form. “Do not throw away the forms,” writes Theophanes, “but revive them, give them spirit! ” But another reason, dogmatic, is also given. He who prays connects his words with the words of Christ praying to the Father. The Savior’s words are then powerful, being a force at work in the world, creating and transforming the face of the earth. In the complete sense of the word, this is true of the terms of the sacramental prayers (“I absolve you… ” “This is my body…”). However, they derive their power from the sacraments and other prayers, especially priestly prayers. As Gogol writes in his Meditations on the Divine Liturgy, these are a double-edged sword that intervenes in the struggle of life.

According to John of Kronstadt, then, “the holy words… are living water, flowing water; the word flows like water, the water then refreshes and revitalizes the body. The holy word also quickens, fills the world and the soul with joy, gentleness, pity for sins.” The problem of the power of the word in connection with prayer was of interest to Eastern theologians of this century, e.g., S. Bulgakov. The term is like an acoustic image of thought. Holy images then, in a mysterious way … weirdly, they present what they represent. Western authors also speak in favor of oral prayer.

Doing good is from God – yes or no? Good is pointed out in the movie “Warn,” even when the hero loses a leg. They save his life. Jesus says: “No one who works miracles in my name will …speak evil of me” (Mk. 9:40).

We realize the importance of Jesus’ words. Sin is not something that harms only in this world. We, after all, are to pass from this life to eternal life. And scandal and temptation and sin are the very things that take us away from this journey, that lead us more or less elsewhere than to the fullness of life with God. And when we persist in sin, when we give in to temptation, when we do not resist temptation, we close the gate to eternal life. And that is why the words about cutting off an arm, a leg, or plucking out an eye are so appropriate. We are more aware of absolute values before false ones. We need to choose the eternal over the temporal. To prefer friendship with God to fellowship with sin.

My mother has high diabetes. The doctors are talking about amputating her leg. Mother knows from talking to the doctors that she may lose her sight if she doesn’t. The children come to the hospital. The mother asks, “Will you take care of me if I am without a leg?” Tears fall down the cheeks of the adult children, and after a while, the son says: “Mom, always! At least you’ll see how you raised us, that we love you.”

Yes, God loves us, and He has the right to ask for such sacrifices as amputation and especially to be strict with His eyes… We should realize how the Divine Surgeon, Jesus, is doing us. It is by His permission that we endure hardships. These are for our good. Mortification, self-sacrifice, self-control when we act knowing God’s will, receive strength, grace, and grow in love for God. They help us rid ourselves of faults and habits and increase in resistance to sin.

It is good that we know what we want. Those who don’t know what they wish to do correctly will very quickly end up where they don’t want to be. Jesus warns us against false happiness. God made us with eyes, hands, and feet so that we would receive eternal rewards, not eternal punishment. Though we must often and hard to resist the temptations of sin, with Jesus, our destination is inevitable.

In the movie “Warn,” a man lost his leg, but his life was saved. With today’s Gospel, Jesus tells us of salvation to eternal life.