The Catholic Calendar for Wednesday, October 18, 2000
The Twenty-Eighth Week in Ordinary Time
St. Luke, evangelist
Details: www.christdesert.org/public_texts/martyrology/
Scripture from today's Liturgy of the Word:
2 Timothy 4:9-17
Psalm 145:10-13,17-18
Luke 10:1-9
Full text: http://www.nccbuscc.org/nab/index.htm
A reflection on today's Scripture:
Often we need feedback on how we are doing on our spiritual journey.
Sometimes we receive it in the form of consolations from God, but when
consolations are absent, we cannot deduce that God is inoperative in our
lives - indifferent to our efforts; distant and unconcerned by our
desolation. In such times it may be that God is closer to us than ever.
How then are we to know that 1. we are doing our part, i.e.: God's will,
and 2. that God has taken notice and is pleased?
In today's First Reading from the letter of Paul to the Galatians we are
given a "spiritual barometer" - a way to help us ascertain whether the
Holy Spirit and His freely offered seven-fold gifts are operative in our
lives. St. Paul said that the fruits of the Holy Spirit are "love, joy,
peace, patient endurance, kindness, generosity, faith, mildness and
chastity." To the degree that we are able to identify these effects of
the Holy Spirit in our lives, we might begin to understand how well we
have cooperated with God's free gift of grace.
So, why not start off your day with a new beginning: put up a list of
the fruits of the Spirit on your bathroom mirror. Read them daily and
gauge your spiritual growth in the terms given to us in God's Holy Word.
"Happy the man who follows not
the counsel of the wicked ...
but delights in the law of the Lord." Psalm 1:1-2 (Douay)
- Donna Raye Nelson, OCDS
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