One Minute Reflection – 30 July – “Is not this the carpenter’s son? ”– Matthew 13:55

One Minute Reflection – 30 July – “Month of the Most Precious Blood”– Readings: Leviticus 23: 1, 4-11, 15-16, 27, 34b-37; Psalms 81: 3-4, 5-6, 10-11ab; Matthew 13: 54-58 and the Memorial of St Peter Chrysologus (c 400-450) Father & Doctor of the Church

“Is not this the carpenter’s son? ”– Matthew 13:55

REFLECTION – “For if I do not understand the nature placed at my service, I discern Your goodness from the mere fact that it is there to serve me. I perceive that I do not even understand myself but I wonder at You all the more… You have given me intellect, life and human feeling, the source of so many joys, yet I do not begin to understand how I began to be…
So it is through failing to understand what surrounds me, that I grasp what You are and, it is through perceiving what You are, that I come to adore You. That is why, in what concerns Your mysteries, my incomprehension lessens not a bit my faith in Your omnipotence… Your eternal Son’s birth exceeds even the idea of eternity – it is prior to the times everlasting. Before any other thing that exists, He was Son proceeding from You, O God and Father. He is true God… You have never existed without Him… Before ever time was, You are the eternal Father of Your Sole Begotten One.”… St Hilary (315-368) Bishop of Poitiers, Father and Doctor of the Divinity of Christ of the Church

PRAYER – “So long as I enjoy that breath of life granted to me by You, Holy Father, Almighty God, I will proclaim You as God eternal but also as Father eternal.
Never will I set myself up as judge of Your almighty power and mysteries;
never will I set my limited understanding before the true appreciation of Your infinity; never will I claim You to have existed beforehand without Your Wisdom, Power and Word, God the Only-Begotten, my Lord Jesus Christ.
For even though human language is weak and imperfect when it speaks of You,
this will not inhibit my mind to the point of reducing my faith to silence,
for lack of words able to express the mystery of Your being…” (St Hilary)
Lord God, You hold out the light of Your Word to those who do not know You. Strengthen in our hearts the faith You have given us, so that no trials may quench the fire Your Spirit kindled within us. Grant that the prayers of Your faithful St Peter Chrysologus, may assist us to grow in love. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, with the Holy Spirit, one God forever, amen.