Our heart is restless until it rests in You.

 Welcome to my blog and peace be with you.

Today is the feast of St. Augustine who lived in the fourth century. Though at first, he lived a life of spiritual wandering, when he came to know Jesus, he found the meaning of life. He was a man of great intellect and holiness and his influence on Christianity throughout the ages has been immense. 

In his Confessions he proclaims in his prayer to God 'Our heart is restless until it rests in You.' Whoever we are, we will never have real peace until we rest in the embrace of God, because we have been made for that.

Friday 28 August 2020

The Feast of St. Augustine.

Our heart is restless until it rests in You.

 

Lord God, renew your Church

with the Spirit of wisdom and love

which you gave so fully to Saint Augustine.

Lead us by that same Spirit to seek you,

the only fountain of true wisdom

and the source of everlasting love.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.

Amen.

 

 

First reading

1 Corinthians 1:17-25

We preach a crucified Christ, the power and wisdom of God

Christ did not send me to baptise, but to preach the Good News, and not to preach that in the terms of philosophy in which the crucifixion of Christ cannot be expressed. The language of the cross may be illogical to those who are not on the way to salvation, but those of us who are on the way see it as God’s power to save. As scripture says: I shall destroy the wisdom of the wise and bring to nothing all the learning of the learned. Where are the philosophers now? Where are the scribes? Where are any of our thinkers today? Do you see now how God has shown up the foolishness of human wisdom? If it was God’s wisdom that human wisdom should not know God, it was because God wanted to save those who have faith through the foolishness of the message that we preach. And so, while the Jews demand miracles and the Greeks look for wisdom, here are we preaching a crucified Christ; to the Jews an obstacle that they cannot get over, to the pagans madness, but to those who have been called, whether they are Jews or Greeks, a Christ who is the power and the wisdom of God. For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength. THE WORD OF THE LORD

Prayerful reflection

God does not think as human beings think. Why not? One reason is, that he does not need our intelligence, or mental or physical strength. In fact, he doesn’t need us at all. Jesus did not save us by power and might, by a crusade of strength against Satan. Satan claimed to be equal with God. He grasped at being God to rule creation as he likes. He is a rebel from the very beginning. In every way he opposes God and would kill God if he could. Jesus is the opposite of Satan. Though he is God’s Son and equal with God in every way, in his humanity Jesus, out of love, surrenders to his Father. He loves and obeys his Father at whatever cost. He does not claim his divine dignity, though he has a right to it. Rather he empties himself and becomes the loving slave of God and obeys him in all things. Satan attacked him in every way he could.

Crucifixion was Satan’s ultimate weapon. It wasn’t simply death. Humankind has not devised a more degrading, humiliating, and torturous death than the Roman way of execution. They would destroy a man in every way before they destroyed his life. Being true to his Father cost Jesus the ultimate in human degradation and torture. Nonetheless he humbly accepted it. He would not rebel. He would not be even slightly disobedient. He would not look to his own comfort and welfare. He lived and died humbly, out of love, for his Father.

Looking on his Son, God overthrew Satan. Satan is now helpless before those who take refuge under the wings of Jesus, Son of God. (Matthew 23:37=38).

Following Jesus, involves total surrender to God’s will, out of love. It is a crucifixion of self. As a result, the Father will give us too the glory of the Resurrection.

 

 

Psalm 32(33):1-2,4-5,10-11

The Lord fills the earth with his love.

Ring out your joy to the Lord, O you just;

for praise is fitting for loyal hearts.

Give thanks to the Lord upon the harp,

with a ten-stringed lute sing him songs.

The Lord fills the earth with his love.

For the word of the Lord is faithful

and all his works to be trusted.

The Lord loves justice and right

and fills the earth with his love.

The Lord fills the earth with his love.

He frustrates the designs of the nations,

he defeats the plans of the peoples.

His own designs shall stand for ever,

the plans of his heart from age to age.

The Lord fills the earth with his love.

 

Gospel

Matthew 25:1-13

The wise and foolish virgins

Jesus told this parable to his disciples: ‘The kingdom of heaven will be like this: Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were sensible: the foolish ones did take their lamps, but they brought no oil, whereas the sensible ones took flasks of oil as well as their lamps. The bridegroom was late, and they all grew drowsy and fell asleep. But at midnight there was a cry, “The bridegroom is here! Go out and meet him.” At this, all those bridesmaids woke up and trimmed their lamps, and the foolish ones said to the sensible ones, “Give us some of your oil: our lamps are going out.” But they replied, “There may not be enough for us and for you; you had better go to those who sell it and buy some for yourselves.” They had gone off to buy it when the bridegroom arrived. Those who were ready went in with him to the wedding hall and the door was closed. The other bridesmaids arrived later. “Lord, Lord,” they said “open the door for us.” But he replied, “I tell you solemnly, I do not know you.” So stay awake, because you do not know either the day or the hour.’ THE GOSPEL OF THE LORD

Prayerful reflection

We must read this parable in the context of Matthew’s Gospel. He has told us that it is not those who call Jesus “‘Lord, Lord’ who will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but those who do the will of my Father in heaven.”  In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus likens good works to a light that shines before people. The girls who took oil are meant to be those who continue to fulfil their Christian responsibilities until the Lord calls them for the eternal wedding feast. Those who did not, are those who get tired of doing good and neglect the responsibilities given to them by God. Their lamps go out and are not ready to meet the Bridegroom, who is Jesus.

The Christian life is not simply a matter of spiritual faith. The faith we have in our hearts must show itself in faithful obedience to God. This means to fulfil perfectly with love the responsibilities of our state of life. Sanctity for married people, though in their hearts the same, will manifest itself in a different way from the sanctity of a monk or a hermit. St. Paul warns ‘never get tired of doing good.’

 

Let us pray.

Lord Jesus Christ,

who on the cross called the penitent thief into your kingdom,

in faith and trust and confessing our sins we implore your mercy,

that after our death

you will lead us rejoicing through the gates of paradise.

You live and reign for ever and ever.

Amen.