Thursday - September 07, 2017
Spread love everywhere you go: first of all in your own house. Give love to your children, to your wife or husband, to a next door neighbor... Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God's kindness; kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile, kindness in your warm greeting.
~~Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta
TODAY'S READINGS
September 7, 2017
Thursday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 434
Reading 1COL 1:9-14
Brothers and sisters:From the day we heard about you, we do not cease praying for you
and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of God's will
through all spiritual wisdom and understanding
to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord,
so as to be fully pleasing, in every good work bearing fruit
and growing in the knowledge of God,
strengthened with every power, in accord with his glorious might,
for all endurance and patience,
with joy giving thanks to the Father, who has made you fit to share
in the inheritance of the holy ones in light.
He delivered us from the power of darkness
and transferred us to the Kingdom of his beloved Son,
in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Responsorial PsalmPS 98:2-3AB, 3CD-4, 5-6
R. (2) The Lord has made known his salvation.The LORD has made his salvation known:
in the sight of the nations he has revealed his justice.
He has remembered his kindness and his faithfulness
toward the house of Israel.
R. The Lord has made known his salvation.
All the ends of the earth have seen
the salvation by our God.
Sing joyfully to the LORD, all you lands;
break into song; sing praise.
R. The Lord has made known his salvation.
Sing praise to the LORD with the harp,
with the harp and melodious song.
With trumpets and the sound of the horn
sing joyfully before the King, the LORD.
R. The Lord has made known his salvation.
AlleluiaMT 4:19
R. Alleluia, alleluia.Come after me, says the Lord,
and I will make you fishers of men.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
GospelLK 5:1-11
While the crowd was pressing in on Jesus and listening to the word of God,he was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret.
He saw two boats there alongside the lake;
the fishermen had disembarked and were washing their nets.
Getting into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon,
he asked him to put out a short distance from the shore.
Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat.
After he had finished speaking, he said to Simon,
"Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch."
Simon said in reply,
"Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing,
but at your command I will lower the nets."
When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish
and their nets were tearing.
They signaled to their partners in the other boat
to come to help them.
They came and filled both boats
so that the boats were in danger of sinking.
When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at the knees of Jesus and said,
"Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man."
For astonishment at the catch of fish they had made seized him
and all those with him,
and likewise James and John, the sons of Zebedee,
who were partners of Simon.
Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid;
from now on you will be catching men."
When they brought their boats to the shore,
they left everything and followed him.
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Attaining Full Knowledge of God's Will
In our first reading today, Saint Paul says that we should be filled with knowledge of God's will and have allspiritual wisdom and understanding. This eliminates doubts about the right decisions to make. It prevents misinterpretations of the signs he gives. It enables us to think with the mind of Christ, replacing what we assume to be right with what the Holy Spirit, who dwells within us, knows is right.
God usually doesn't give us knowledge of the future, but he does always give us knowledge of his will. He never wants us to be confused about his will. He wants us to have his wisdom and his understanding so that we can walk in a manner that imitates Jesus. But how can we accomplish such complete knowledge on this side of heaven's door?
Notice that Paul connects "every good work bearing fruit" with "growing in the knowledge of God." The more we do good works -- imitating Jesus -- the more we grow in knowledge of God, and we gain more understanding of his will, and it becomes easier to imitate Jesus. Instead of waiting to understand God's will before we act in a Christ-like manner, we should first choose to do it, because the activity builds understanding.
Normally though, we hesitate when we're unsure of God's will. It seems wise to do nothing until his will becomes clear to us. Waiting is better than going off in the wrong direction or making a mistake, right?
If discernment about God's will doesn't come quickly, it could be because God is saying, "Wait, slow down, don't move ahead until I make my directions clear to you." Or it could mean that we're not seeing what God has placed right in front of our faces; we're not hearing his voice because our will disagrees with his will and we don't want to believe the truth, or because fear is telling us a false message about it.
God's will is always summed up in one, simple directive that Jesus emphasized: Love. Love God with all your heart, mind and soul, and love everyone else as you love yourself. To get out of hesitancy mode and step forward in God's will, we must do something -- we must do what love would do. We must make a decision that will bear good fruit. If it honors God, if it is loving to others, and if it will benefit our eternal souls, we should step forward in faith trusting that the good work we do IS God's will.
If this accidentally leads us away from his perfect, preferred plan, we can be pleased that at least we're not sinning. God is certainly very pleased with that! In our act of doing good, even if we make a mistake in interpreting God's will, we discover God's will. We learn from doing. We learn from the good fruits that are produced by our efforts and we also learn from our mistakes.
If we truly desire to do God's will and follow his guidance, we are directable. He gently but firmly steers us back into the plan that he designed. Even our mistakes become blessings!
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God Bless You.....
The mother of Jesus promised St. Dominic that, “one day through the rosary & the scapular I shall save the world!”
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