Do all for love of Jesus

FRIENDS and SERVANTS of the WORD

23 MAY 2024   THURSDAY 7 ORDINARY TIME

WORD of the DAY 
Jesus said to his disciples: “Anyone who gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ, amen, I say to you, will surely not lose his reward. “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were put around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed than with two hands to go into Gehenna, into the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut if off. It is better for you to enter into life crippled than with two feet to be thrown into Gehenna. And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. Better for you to enter into the Kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into Gehenna, where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched. Everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good, but if salt becomes insipid, with what will you restore its flavor? Keep salt in yourselves and you will have peace with one another.” (Mark 9:41-50)

How shall I live this Word?   

This gospel speaks of small gestures of gratuitousness, of what can scandalize and of the need not to lose the taste salt when it corrodes. Do I act in the name of Jesus? Do I act generously? Am I sure that the only reward I want and can receive is from the Lord? My being, my soul and body, my mind, my heart, my words, my gestures, have they been or are they the cause of scandal? How can I remedy it? Has my life lost the charm of my first love and now is tasteless? There are many questions. Find a space, perhaps before the Eucharistic Jesus, and let His Word illuminate you.

To be salt. Help me to bring the taste of the Gospel, that my presence may fill others with peace and serenity; that when I offer even a glass of water in Your name, I may do so with joy. Give me a pure and upright heart that is not a stumbling block for anyone. Amen.

The voice of Saint Francis de Sales

“You see, Teotimo, a glass of water or a piece of bread that a good soul gives to a poor person for love of God, is certainly a little thing, almost unworthy of consideration according to human judgment. God, however, rewards it and immediately makes one grow in charity. The goat skins which were first presented in the Tabernacle were well received and were placed next to the other offerings. And the small acts that arise from charity are pleasing to God and are placed among the merits. For as in Happy Arabia not only the aromatic plants but all the others are fragrant, participating in the happiness of that land, so in the charitable soul not only the great works in themselves, but even the little ones, experience the virtue of holy love and its good smell come before the majesty of God, who, seeing them, increases the holy charity. I say that God does this, because it is not charity that produces its increases, as trees make their branches grow and by its own virtue a tree grows from another. Faith, hope and charity are virtues that have their origin in the divine goodness and draw from it their growth and perfection… It is therefore God who makes this growth, considering the use we make of his grace. So, small good works, even if done with some negligence and without employing all the forces of our charity, do not cease to please God and have value before God and, though alone, they could not increase the charity they already have because they are of lesser virtue than she, divine Providence, which takes into account everything, welcomes them and immediately rewards them with an increase in charity for this world and with an increase in glory in heaven.”

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