Wednesday January 24, 2024

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“We are closer to Christ when we embrace our crosses.”

Good News Reflection for:

Wednesday of the 3rd Week of Ordinary Time
Memorial of Saint Francis de Sales, bishop and doctor of the Church
January 24, 2024

Today’s Prayer:

May Your Word, Lord, reach me, and may nothing from my flesh or from my daily walk prevent it from bearing the fruit You wait from me. Amen.

Subscribe to Today’s Saint Quote & Prayer:
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Today’s Readings:

2 Samuel 7:4-17
Ps 89:4-5, 27-30
Mark 4:1-20
bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/012424.cfm
USCCB Podcast of the Readings:
bible.usccb.org/podcasts/audio/daily-mass-reading-podcast-january-24-2024

Finding God’s love in fertile soil

In today’s Psalm, the Lord says, “Forever I will maintain my love for my servant.” For you! Can you feel it? Do you believe it always, even when times are hard and he’s apparently not responding to your prayers?

Our reactions to life’s happenings reveal how much we truly believe that God loves us and cares about us in all things and no matter what. Let’s look at why this happens, using the different types of soils in our Gospel reading today.

Sometimes we listen to the truth only on the surface (the path), because we’ve been hardened by falsehoods. We hear the truth, but the winds of distraction or turmoil or false impressions blow it away. For example, we hear that God forgives us when we repent, but we have a hard time admitting our sins, because when we were children we didn’t understand the love behind the punishments that our parents meted out. Thus today we’d rather fool ourselves into thinking that a sin is not a sin in order to avoid what is really a wrong image of God the Father.

Sometimes we accept the truth joyfully, but we forget it when hit by hardships or persecution (the rocky ground). We feel God’s love only while life is easy. When the rocks stub our toes, we forget about God’s love and we try to deal with the problems our own way: We get rid of the person who’s hurting us, or we jump to solutions without praying for discernment, or we get angry with God instead of connecting our sufferings to the Cross of Christ.

Sometimes we listen only half-heartedly to the truth. We let worldliness, anxieties, cravings, etc., (the thorns) choke it off. We know about God’s love, but we neglect to quiet down long enough to bask in it. We get too busy with our own agendas, too busy solving problems, too busy rushing into decisions and the fulfillment of our desires. We fail to wait on God’s perfect timing and wisdom.

And sometimes we allow the truth to penetrate into the depths of our hearts (the rich soil), and it bears much fruit. Think about the richness of your soil. Notice what’s growing in your daily circumstances. What decisions and behaviors are producing God’s love and nourishing others? Here is where you truly believe that God loves you.

To let the truth sink in deeply, we have to dig out the falsehoods that we believe and we have to learn why they are false. We have to realize that every trouble can strengthen us and that we are closer to Christ when we embrace our crosses instead of dumping them in an elusive search for an easier life. We have to identify our worldliness, let it go, and keep our eyes on Jesus.

© 2024 by Terry A. Modica

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