One Minute Reflection – 7 April – “The Month of the Resurrection and the Blessed Sacrament” – Monday in Passion Week – Ferial Day – Jonas 3:1-10 – John 7:32-39 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/
“And God saw, by their actions, how they turned from their evil ways and the Lord, our God, had mercy upon His people.” – Jonas 3:10
REFLECTION – “Let us therefore repent, and pass from ignorance to true knowledge, from foolishness to wisdom, from unrighteousness to righteousness, from godlessness to God. The enjoyment of many other good things comes from this, to which God Himself alludes, speaking by Isaiah: “There is an inheritance for those who serve the Lord” (54:17). Not gold and silver, nor that which moth destroys and thieves steal (Mt 6:19) but the inestimable treasure of salvation … This is the inheritance with which God’s eternal covenant invests us, assuring us of His gifts and thus, our tenderly loving Father ceases not to exhort, to train, to love and to save us. “Become righteous” says the Lord. “All you who are thirsty, come to the water and you who have no money, come buy without money and drink” (Is 55:1). He invites us to the purifying bath, to salvation, to illumination … The Saints of the Lord shall inherit the glory of God and His power, a glory which “eye has not seen, nor ear heard, and which has not entered the human heart” (1Cor 2,9)…
You have this Divine Promise of grace; you have heard, on the other hand, of the threats of punishment – by these two ways the Lord saves … Why do we delay? Why do we not receive the free gift? Why do we not choose the better part? … “Behold,” He says, “I have set before you death and life” (Dt 30:15). The Lord tries to make you choose life. He counsels you like a father …
To whom shall the Lord say, “Yours is the Kingdom of Heaven”? (Mt 5:3) It is yours if you want it, if your choice is set upon God. It is yours, if you will only believe and follow the essence of the message, just as the Ninevites obeyed the message of the Prophet and obtained a gracious salvation thanks to their sincere repentance, instead of the destruction which threatened them!” – St Clement of Alexandria (c150-c215) Father, Theologian and Philosopher, Professor who taught at the Catechetical School of Alexandria. Among his pupils were Origen and Alexander of Jerusalem. (Against the Heathen Ch 10 ).
PRAYER – Grant, we beseech Thee, Almighty God, that we, who have celebrated the Paschal Feast, may, by Thy bounty, retain its fruits in our daily habits and behaviour. Through Jesus Christ, Thy Son our Lord, Who lives and reigns with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen (Collect).
AnaStpaul 