miércoles, abril 12, 2006
The Benefits of Intimacy With God
April 12 * Wednesday of Holy Week
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~"He who has dipped his hand into the dish with me is the one who will betray me." Matthew 26:23
If Judas asked the question, "It is not I, Lord, is it?" surely he would have had to look directly into the Savior's Eyes. Usually such intimacy produces trust and love. Although Judas held a particular place in the history of salvation, he also represents all who reject complete and trustful obedience to God, who look out only for themselves and who are afraid to look directly into God's Eyes.
We too are close enough to Jesus to share His table. We eat His Body and drink His Blood. When we look in those Eyes, we know something that Judas did not: even if we betray our Lord and Savior for "thirty pieces of silver," those Eyes of love will never stop looking into our hearts. That is the mysterious and mind-blowing reality that humanity learned only after the death and resurrection of Jesus. The betrayal of sin brings about the absolute proof of infinite compassion. God is mightier than our puny efforts at independence and our foolish attempts at power. So let us dip our hand into the dish with Jesus, that the closeness and the intimacy might melt away our selfish desires once and for all.
-- Sr. Kathryn James Hermes, F.S.P.
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Isaiah50:5-9*Psalm69:8-10,21-22,31,33-34*Matthew26:14-15
April 12 * Wednesday of Holy Week
-----------------------------------------------
~"He who has dipped his hand into the dish with me is the one who will betray me." Matthew 26:23
If Judas asked the question, "It is not I, Lord, is it?" surely he would have had to look directly into the Savior's Eyes. Usually such intimacy produces trust and love. Although Judas held a particular place in the history of salvation, he also represents all who reject complete and trustful obedience to God, who look out only for themselves and who are afraid to look directly into God's Eyes.
We too are close enough to Jesus to share His table. We eat His Body and drink His Blood. When we look in those Eyes, we know something that Judas did not: even if we betray our Lord and Savior for "thirty pieces of silver," those Eyes of love will never stop looking into our hearts. That is the mysterious and mind-blowing reality that humanity learned only after the death and resurrection of Jesus. The betrayal of sin brings about the absolute proof of infinite compassion. God is mightier than our puny efforts at independence and our foolish attempts at power. So let us dip our hand into the dish with Jesus, that the closeness and the intimacy might melt away our selfish desires once and for all.
-- Sr. Kathryn James Hermes, F.S.P.
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Isaiah50:5-9*Psalm69:8-10,21-22,31,33-34*Matthew26:14-15