One Minute Reflection – 4 August – “Month of the Immaculate Heart” – Tuesday of the Eighteenth week in Ordinary Time, Readings: Jeremiah 30:1-2, 12-15, 18-22, Psalm 102:16-21, 29, 22-23, Matthew 15:1-2,10-14 and The Memorial of St John Vianney (1786-1859)
“Let them alone; they are blind guides [of the blind]. If a blind person leads a blind person, both will fall into a pit.” … Matthew 15:14
REFLECTION – “When, in these last days, the Word of God was born of Mary, clothed in flesh and revealed to the world, what was seen of Him was something other than the mind could discern. The appearance of His body was clear to all but knowledge of His divinity was only granted to some. Similarly, when the Word of God speaks to us through the Old Law and the prophets, He shows Himself beneath the veil of the appropriate garments.
In His incarnation He is clothed with flesh; in the Holy Scriptures He is clothed with the veil of the letter. The veil of the letter can be compared to His humanity and the spiritual sense of the Law, to His divinity. In the book of Leviticus we find the rites of sacrifice, the various sacrificial animals, the priestly liturgical service … blessed the eyes that discern the divine Spirit hidden beneath the veil …
“Whenever a person turns to the Lord the veil is removed … and, where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom,” says the Apostle Paul (2 Cor 3:16-17). Thus it is to the Lord Himself, the Spirit Himself, we must pray, that He will deign to remove every obscurity, so we can behold in Jesus, the wonders of the spiritual meaning of the Law, like the man who said: “Open my eyes that I may see the wonders of your Law (Ps 119[118]:18).” … Origen (c 185-253) Priest and Theologian, Church Father – Homily 1 on Leviticus
PRAYER – Lord God, light of the faithful and shepherd of souls, who gave blessed John Vianney to Your Church to feed Your flock by his teaching and form them by his example, grant that by his intercession, we may keep the faith which he taught and follow in the way he walked, through our Lord Jesus Christ, in union with the Holy Spirit. St John Vianney, pray for us, amen.
AnaStpaul 