Daily Retreat 05/29/08
2008 May 29 Thu: Ordinary Weekday
1 Pt 2: 2-5. 9-12/ Ps 99(100): 2. 3. 4. 5/ Mk 10: 46-52
From today’s readings: “Once you were no people but now you are God’s people.... Come with joy into the presence of the Lord..... Jesus, son of David, have pity on me....”
Being Fed and Built
As Christians, our following of Christ is an ever ongoing journey - there’s no point in our lives at which we can claim to have definitively arrived, and reached the high point of faith. Rather, there’s always room for deepening our faith and growing in holiness. In his first letter, Peter writes that we should, “like newborn infants, long for pure spiritual milk so that through it you may grow into salvation, for you have tasted that the Lord is good.”
One of the surest signs of spiritual disease thus is complacency - the presumption that we’re basically good enough, and so there’s no need for a hunger and thirst to always be growing in holiness. But if we have little or no desire for ever greater closeness with God, that’s proof enough that our lives are focused on secular pursuits, which is why Scripture warns us “to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against the soul.”
For in fact, after the foundation of true Christian faith is laid, the real lifelong work of building up begins, so we should, “like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of His own, so that you may announce the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.”
1 Pt 2: 2-5. 9-12/ Ps 99(100): 2. 3. 4. 5/ Mk 10: 46-52
From today’s readings: “Once you were no people but now you are God’s people.... Come with joy into the presence of the Lord..... Jesus, son of David, have pity on me....”
Being Fed and Built
As Christians, our following of Christ is an ever ongoing journey - there’s no point in our lives at which we can claim to have definitively arrived, and reached the high point of faith. Rather, there’s always room for deepening our faith and growing in holiness. In his first letter, Peter writes that we should, “like newborn infants, long for pure spiritual milk so that through it you may grow into salvation, for you have tasted that the Lord is good.”
One of the surest signs of spiritual disease thus is complacency - the presumption that we’re basically good enough, and so there’s no need for a hunger and thirst to always be growing in holiness. But if we have little or no desire for ever greater closeness with God, that’s proof enough that our lives are focused on secular pursuits, which is why Scripture warns us “to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against the soul.”
For in fact, after the foundation of true Christian faith is laid, the real lifelong work of building up begins, so we should, “like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of His own, so that you may announce the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.”
posted by FrPitstick | 5/28/2008
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