One Minute Reflection – 17 February – Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C – Gospel: Luke 6:17-26
“Blessed are you when men hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and cast out your name as evil, on account of the Son of man! Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets.” …Luke 6:22-23
REFLECTION – “O that we could take that simple view of things, as to feel that the one thing which lies before us is to please God! What gain is it to please the world, to please the great, nay even to please those whom we love, compared with this? What gain is it to be applauded, admired, courted, followed—compared with this one aim, of not being disobedient to a heavenly vision? What can this world offer comparable with that insight into spiritual things, that keen faith, that heavenly peace, that high sanctity, that everlasting righteousness, that hope of glory, which they have, who in sincerity love and follow our Lord Jesus Christ?
Let us beg and pray Him, day by day, to reveal Himself to our souls more fully, to quicken our senses, to give us sight and hearing, taste and touch of the world to come – so to work within us, that we may sincerely say, ‘You shall guide me with Your counsel and after that receive me with glory. Whom have I in heaven but You? and there is none upon earth that I desire in comparison of You. My flesh and my heart fails but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever.'”…Blessed John Henry Newman (1801-1890) Sermon on Divine Calls (Plain Sermons)
PRAYER – Holy Father, You have given Yourself to us in the Face of Your Divine Son. You have given Him to us to be our food and our portion. You have consoled us with His presence on the Altar of Offering and washed us with His blood, day by day, You have sacrificed Him to save us. Grant us Your grace, we pray, that day by day, we may be strengthened and made holy by this Holy Food you grant us. May our Holy Mother, be our protection on this journey and may her prayers and the prayers of your saints, grant us courage. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour, in the union of the Holy Spirit, one God with You, for all eternity, amen.
AnaStpaul 