Scripture is intended to be a provocation to conversion; this means
we let it in, instead of fighting it off;
think about it, instead of making it fit what we already think;
relate to it as a different way of seeing that finds its clarity and culmination in the way Christ sees.
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“Where have you laid him?”
They said to him, “Sir, come and see.” And Jesus wept. (Jn 11,34-35)
Jesus had asked the blind to see him, really,
and the works he does.
He weeps now, at their asking
that he come and see.
He joins himself to those who must be asked to see, asking no more of us than he is willing himself to do.
He will see
with freshly wetted eyes death binding one he loves.
But He sees more than the rest of us at the tomb,
face to face with why he will accept betrayal,
and the fleshy opened eyes of a man alive.
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Glorificar a Dios y participar de su propia gloria son, a fin the cuentas, la misma cosa. Denominan el fin de la gracia recibida mediante la obra de Cristo, la cual glorifica al Padre.
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We do not participate in the grace of Christ simply by willing it, or because we decide we want to. Christ moves to us first, repentance follows, and from there our desire is quickened to move towards him. The union with him is consummated in the sacraments. He acts. Be at peace:
Christ Crucified and Risen is the Church’s definitive hermeneutic:
of Scripture,
of human life,
of creation,
of history.
This is so because Christ, the WORD Incarnate, shares his life with us and thus reveals and vindicates the sense of all the parts. To this the Apostles testify.
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Creation, an act of light bringing,
a created shining of God’s interior begetting,
yet we get it wrong,
seeing only darkly into light’s appearing;
so comes the Word stooping to within our peering:
and to eyes used to darkness shows himself in the bright of his dark Cross-bearing.
Jn 9,5 ff: “While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
When he had said this, he spat on the ground
and made clay with the saliva,
and smeared the clay on his eyes,…
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Confirmación, Parroquia de San Pedro:
El Espíritu Santo inclina nuestros corazones a los asuntos de Jesús, y así nos hace agentes del Reino de Dios; nos hace comunidad distinta, practicando la justicia y la misericordia, honrando a Dios, como nos enseña el Señor Jesus.
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Jn 9,39 ff
“I came into this world for judgment, so that those who do not see might see, and those who do see might become blind.” Some of the Pharisees who were with him heard this and said to him, “Surely we are not also blind, are we?”
It is presumption to think we see and understand Christ well enough. We do not. We impose our pettiness and prejudices on him and say we have seen enough, and then say how wonderful it is that he is like us. Blind guides. We should admit our blindness and weep to be able to see.
Mt 6,23: And if the light in you is darkness, how great will the darkness be.
Ps 50,21: You do this, and should I keep silence?
Do you think that I am like you?
Ps 51,12: Create a pure heart for me, O God; renew a steadfast spirit within me.
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Exodus 23,9
“You shall not oppress a stranger; you know the heart of a stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.”
God desires a people who, once freed from the oppression of Pharaoh, will resist the temptation to act like Pharaoh once they have the power to do so.
1 Cor 10,11: “These things happened to them in figure, and they have been written down as a warning to us, upon whom the end of the ages has come.”
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Jn 4,10 ff. If you knew the gift of God
and who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
Augustine: “He presents himself as one in need and who will receive, and as one who gives and will satisfy.”*
By the consistency of the figure, Christ asking for water today because he is thirsty is Christ who gives the water of eternal life to those who respond to him.
Matthew 25:37
“Lord, when did we see you thirsty and give you something to drink?”
*Eget quasi acceptúrus, et áffluit tamquam satiatúrus. (Tract 15 on John)
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Mt 23,10: «You have but one master, the Christ.
The greatest among you must be your servant.»
The voice of Christ to which a Catholic owes obedience is most often heard in the unexpected encounter with someone whose very circumstance petitions our assistance.
This is why he accepted to be one who, on the way to his death, required someone to help him carry his Cross.
His servanthood aims to teach us how to hear a call to serve.
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En Cristo la plenitud se muestra sacramentalmente; es decir, a través de su cuerpo.
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Mt 4,1 ff: Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. He fasted for forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was hungry. The tempter approached and said to him, «If you are the Son of God,..»
Seems that in Mt 4, the devil is obsessed with tempting Jesus to prove the Father loves him on the world’s terms. Meanwhile, Jesus is serenely focused on showing that he loves the Father on the Father’s terms. This encapsulates the revolution of humanity renewed by grace.
Jn 14,30-31
I will no longer speak much with you, for the ruler of the world is coming. He has no power over me, but the world must know that I love the Father and that I do just as the Father has commanded me. Get up, let us go.
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Bacon, there it is, that’s it, that’s Fat Tuesday.
Vespers, Compline, etc and like everything is normal until the day Noah entered the ark; go to sleep.
Tomorrow, we might hear a voice: “Repent!”
I pray it comes as a whisper, otherwise it will do me no good.
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Augustine on Psalm 60: Hæc ergo Christi posséssio, hæc Christi heréditas, hoc Christi corpus, hæc una Christi Ecclésia, hæc únitas, quæ nos sumus, clamat a fínibus terræ.
“Esta es la posesión de Cristo; esta, la herencia de Cristo; este, el Cuerpo de Cristo; esta, la única Iglesia de Cristo, esta unidad que somos, clama desde los confines de la tierra.»
“This is the possession of Christ; this, Christ’s inheritance; this, the Body of Christ; this, the one Church of Christ; this unity which we are, cries out from the ends of the earth.”
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Words and Things 