11th Sunday Ordinary Time (6-12-16)

6-17-16
2045

Being a lector is a privilege - and fun.  I'm pretty good at it.  Having a duty at Mass makes it likely that I'll go to Mass - before, I didn't need an external reason; it was a duty I embraced and an act of service plus a recognition of my relationship with God (and Church?)

Three readings and a homily.  Liturgy of the Word.  Why bother having one reading or two of the three if it's not mentioned in the homily?  It's annoying to be overlooked by the Preacher - in this case Deacon Martini, our most recently ordained/assigned to St Paul Deacon.  His sermons are the best of the three preachers we have at St Paul - tho that is not saying much at all, at all!  This Sunday, he preached from the Gospel, LK 7:36 - 8:3, without mentioning the OT or the NT additional readings.  ... . The woman who washed Jesus' feet with her tears, wiped them with her hair, put her oil of them.  For which, Jesus forgave her sins.  The heart of Deacon's sermon.  A genuine offering, I'm confident written by him (another Deacon readily admits he simply lifts a pre-written sermon to read to us):  expressing his own feeloughts.  ... . He emphasized his encouragement for us to go to Confession:  with good reasons, offered from his authentic care for us.

Still, like most Catholic sermons, Deacon spoke from his head, an intellectual look at the Gospel story, a logical effort at persuasion.  He did connect but not at all on an emotional level. ... . and, without mentioning the  other two readings, which would have bolstered his attempt to get us to go to Confession, with reasons of the heart/soul.  (and, would have thrown a bone to the lectors, suggesting that our preparation and reading made a contribution as well as justified all the work we put into it.)

2 Sam 12:7-10, 13

A not unfamiliar OT story, even to those of us who are not much of a Bible Reader.  The Lord reminds David that He gave David EVERYTHING David has - more than any man would be happy with, grateful for.  Nathan passes on The Lord's admonition to David for his taking his man Uriah's wife and getting Uriah killed.  David rejected The Lord.  The Loving Lord is bewildered:  sad:  and Just! - David will suffer a consequence commensurate to the hurt he did to The  Lord.  But, David confesses that he has sinned. (tho the passage does not report that David promised to sin no more.)  So, The Lord forgives David. ... .

Seems easy enough to weave this into an admonition to go  to confession because God Loves us, is generous to us, and we sin against Him anyway.

Gal  2:16, 19-21

My reading.  Paul is not easy to read aloud for others to grasp cold.  The message - we are not justified by the law but by the Love of Jesus - is well known to adult Catholics - especialy to those in the South, with any Protestant friends at all. ... . 

I have been crucified with Christ;
yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me;
insofar as I now live in the flesh,
I live by faith in the Son of God
who has loved me and given himself up for me.

Seems to me, this passage could be woven into Deacon's exhortation to Confession - a pleading from the Heart, if not Deacon's heart, then Paul's. ... .

St Moling d. 697 and Father's Day eve eve

06/17/20016
2000

Before, I had a target audience.  Now, having reason to believe I have no sons, my writings are pure solipsistic.  I've thrown away almost all pen and pencil writings.   I'm still emptying boxes into the trash preliminary to my next move, which will be optimally light, sans baggage whether paper or psychological; and soonish.  videbimus. 

Moling. d 697

Bishop of Ferns, the successor of St. Aidan. Born in Wexford, Ireland, he is also listed as Dairchilla, Molignus, Moling, or Myllin. Moling was a monk at Glendalough and then founded an abbey at Achad Cainigh, which became Teghmollin, or Tech Molin, St. Mullins. He was buried there.  

River Barrow, one of the three sisters, rivers in SE Ireland.

Whatever is known of Molling is lost (?) or inconsequential.  He is the successor of St Aidan, about whom much is extant.  We are known by whose company we keep or whom we choose to be our patron.  Whom we are with is, possibly, more important than whom we are.

I tried on my new sport coat yesterday.  snug across my paunch.  Today, I resolved, is my last day to stuff myself.  The discipline of exercise and minimal eating is a renewed commitment - to delete the paunch and improve the blood test numbers that seem to please Dr Reed.  Videbimus.

On a plane tomorrow at 6am to Chicago for Father's Day (a $1,000 event) with Ken and Dad.  Got Dad Chicago Cubs jersey and cap plus a Bangor and Aroostook train car.  Maybe this is the year for the Cubs.  and the B&A car was a fortuitous find:  thus, history and future.

Ora Pro Me....

Aunt Catherine....

Good Morning

111030
1116

This morning I went to OLG to check out the ministry fair and get in on the free pancake breakfast for stewardship. The coffee was good; there’s not much harm that can be done to pancakes; and the sausage paddies were cold. Maybe a dozen people from the 0700 Mass took advantage of the food fare. The visiting Vincentian missionary got his breakfast; the in residence priest chortled by with his fat-buttoned cassock and his biretta. [With a pastor from South America and a newly ordained American from the diocese this menagerie of priests makes me feel like I’m in some foreign church.]

The OLG ministry fair was nicely set up in the gym – neat as a pin. There were six women in small clusters talking to each other. There was one other person there like me strolling around to look at the posters. At least the last time St Paul did its ministry fair, each ministry was staffed by at least one person, usually more than two.

There’s no doubt that the parish will raise the couple of million being sought to expand the physical plant and improve the grounds. I walk through an event hoping to be recruited, even greeted. Almost never the former; rarely the latter. Must be something about me!

I also see the dozens of little ways to improve the event. So why don’t I volunteer? I am not participant at the parish I’m registered for now that it’s a bus ride and 40 minute walk to the church. That’s just the current reality, not an excuse. Never have I been grounded with any degree or sense of permanence or prospect of sticking around: thus, why participate; I’m passing through.

And to stick around is only to accumulate more negative outcomes by my presence.

This morning, on the walk back from OLG, I considered my decision to stay put in my current shack for two years as a major commitment to time and place. That’s barely three percent of my current life. Two years is nothing! Now. Used to be a very long time. It’s the same as looking at my body, touching my midsection, and still seeing, as Susan Crowley said to her mother, ‘the big fat Billy Nolan.’ The inertia of my life is to pass through. Maybe this round will be different?

My Aunt Catherine died Thursday night. I found out from my father, her older, by three years, brother, Friday evening. Been a winnowing year for the Nolan Sibs – Frank, the oldest. Arthur, the youngest. And Arthur’s wife only a couple months after him. Now Catherine. Of the original nine there’s now my father, Helen, Mary, and Walter, who, my father says, “has his own health issues” and may not get to Catherine’s wake. My cousin David also died this year. (Of the 32 cousins, the oldest has died (making me now the second oldest) plus six others, including my brother Jimmy in 1967 at the age of five.)

Aunt Catherine and Uncle Jimmy were the closest family to ours growing up. Their oldest two were about the same age as me and my brother and the four of us (plus the younger three there) spent lots of time playing together. Uncle Jimmy died 1964 with their youngest child in utero. Aunt Catherine raised her brood herself, with lots of help from her sister Helen (two peas in a pod their entire lives) and the rest of the clan pitching-in in their way.

Aunt Catherine is a model of motherhood and aunthood. She personifies family and clan: the epitome of Nolan. I have more than a few feeloughts of her that are embedded in my soul, that are essential parts of who I am. I feel a great loss, a deep sorrow – and have greater gratitude for who I am because of her.

I am a lector at next Sunday’s mass. In the end-of-liturgical-year theme, my reading is from 1 Thes 4 (13-14 here) - We do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, about those who have fallen asleep, so that you may not grieve like the rest, who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose, so too will God, through Jesus, bring with him those who have fallen asleep.

Grieve AND hope. Both solidify the presence of Aunt Catherine in my being. Also, in the participation of the wake and funeral, we renew our family ties, sharing our grief and hope. No doubt Aunt Catherine is among the All Saints whom we celebrate Tuesday. More/better reason to be the nephew she would be proud of.

The story of Aunt Catherine’s last months/days/hours is beyond the lesson JPII gave us as he lived his pontificate to the minute he stepped across the threshold; and the lesson the Church gave us as we lived with him, an aging man, Papa, our saintly pope. My cousins, Aunt Catherine’s siblings, et al. as well as the woman herself lived her life/their lives/our lives in a way that is more than lesson, it is life, it is holiness, it is The Way.

I wish that I could look forward to anything resembling Aunt Catherine’s experience. For myself. With my father. (It did not happen with my mother, either, who died a dozen plus years ago.) There’s no talk about the pending realities of my father’s death and mine. (Though, at 86, he’s likely to die first. Although, one son has already died before him. ) Not even the slightest talk with him or my brother. At least there are wills in place. Of course, not talking is wholly a function of my not talking regardless of the people possibly on the other side of the conversation. I do not recommend to anyone this state of affairs. And yet, I do not have the gumption to get into another state….

Please pray for my aunt. Do pray for your family’s deceased. Doing so minimally makes their presence in your life more real, more lasting, more effective, more holy.

AMDG
wtn
1207

Oct 31 Alphonsus Rodriguez, S.J. b. 1532 d. 1617 c. 1888

Good Morning,

111026
1335

October 30

St Alphonsus Rodriguez b. 1532 d. 1617 bl. 1885 c. 1888

Lay brother. One of my friends in the novitiate was a brother. A DJ from Providence. Vocations of all types come any time from any where. Be open to your call – always. One of the holiest men at the novitiate was one of the brothers in the infirmary. He made that rotation a personal and religious joy. I guess I could be an acceptable brother at this late stage?

Alphonsus Rodriguez was born in Segovia, Spain, on July 25, 1532, the son of a wealthy merchant. It makes a difference in one’s life who your parents are, what resources they have for your upbringing and how they can open doors into your future. [Rejecting one parent altogether is one way to cut your nose to spite your face. It lessens your opportunities not to mention disses the gifts God has given you.]

Alphonsus Rodriguez was prepared for First Communion by Blessed Peter Favre, S.J., a friend of Alphonsus' father. I do not remember who ‘prepared’ me for my first communion. It was what I did. All first graders did it. Everyone in my family went to communion and this was my turn to join them. I am sure that the good sisters at St Patrick’s school drilled us in the mystery and the faith and the facts of the Sacrament. I am sure that we practiced not only the entire ceremony but also in the particulars of receiving the host on our tongue as we knelt at the altar rail. I feel the same reverence and piety in the procession to get the host in my hand. But I experience a greater piety when I kneel down and receive it on my tongue. Ora pro me.

Alphonsus Rodriguez was introduced to the Jesuits in his home from his earliest childhood. I don’t remember a priest ever coming to our home. I do remember Aunt Monica! Sister Anita Rosaire! The woman was the personification of holiness, of Church, of religiosity. If I have a vocation it is mostly due to her. If I am religious, Aunt Monica gets much of the credit. Every Catholic home should be visited by the priests and religious of the parish and community. But Alphonsus Rodriguez grew up with the nascent Society of Jesus in his home!

Bl. Fr. Peter Favre, S.J. was an influence on Alphonsus Rodriguez’s faith formation. Alphonsus Rodriguez’s father brought this Jesuit priest, this friend of the family, into their home. Both of these men must have made a huge impact on the boy’s religious education, his prayer, his piety. [Rejecting one parent also loses you all the friends and contacts that God gave to the parent to give to you!]

While studying with the Jesuits at Alcala, Alphonsus had to return home when his father died. In Segovia he took over the family business, was married, and had a son. Of course Alphonsus Rodriguez studied with the Jesuits. By the time he was of age, the Jesuits were part of his spiritual DNA. I came to the Jesuits by chance. (God’s chance? Was my father kept in Portland so I’d have to go to Cheverus? God’s plan plays out in his way, his time. Except, of course, for that free will thing.]

Alphonsus Rodriguez’s son died, as did two other children and then his wife. He must have felt like Job! How did Alphonsus take care of his family and community as well as his relationship with God while his children and his wife were taken away from him? Would it not be worth our while to know that. The fact that he came through this is certainly encouraging. How did he do it? How did he help his children and wife bear up with their losses. How does he help us do it?

At the age of twenty-six he married Mary Francisco Suárez, a woman of his own station, and at thirty-one found himself a widower with one surviving child, the other two having died previously.

Alphonsus sold his business and applied to the Jesuits. His lack of education and his poor health, undermined by his austerities, made him less than desirable as a candidate for the religious life, but he was accepted as a lay brother by the Jesuits on January 31, 1571, 39 years old….

Lack of education? Raised by a wealthy family, initially educated by Jesuits. A man who successfully took over the family business. But to be a Jesuit priest still today requires the man to be educated enough to be eligible for Holy Orders plus to be an educator of the children of the rich; to establish the best universities. So the Society accepted this (high society/rich) man as a lay brother. Alphonsus Rodriquez so wanted to be a Jesuit, to travel the Society of Jesus as the path to be closest to Jesus, that he accepted the role of lay brother.

Alphonsus Rodriquez practiced austerities – to the extent that he harmed his health. We should practice austerities, to better purify ourselves in our pursuit of oneness with God.

Alphonsus Rodriquez underwent novitiate training and was sent to Montesion College on the island of Majorca. There he labored as a hall porter for forty-six years. I wish I stuck in any one place for four years which would then become twenty-four and maybe a lifetime of service. Might this be the place: this ‘new’ apartment? Sticking it out has its own merits.

Alphonsus Rodriguez exerted a wondrous influence on many. Not only the young students, such as St. Peter Claver, but local civic and social leaders came to his porter's lodge for advice and direction. Look for the holy man among you! He’s there. In plain sight. Open your eyes and see. Listen. Be brave and approach. Ask for advice and direction. Discern. Then do. Find your own Alphonsus Rodriguez!

Obedience and penance were the hallmarks of his life, as well as his devotion to the Immaculate Conception.

I left the novitiate because I could not see myself being obedient. Probably my worst decision in my life. Obedience is the hallmark of Love – love for God, love of self, love of all of our loved ones. Disobedience is a rejection of love.

Probably Alphonsus Rodriguez’s penance, including his austerities, had to do first of all to his sins of disobedience. I wish I were more sincere with my penance. I wish I were more austere. Ora pro me.

Alphonsus Rodriguez experienced many spiritual consolations, and he wrote religious treatises, very simple in style but sound in doctrine. We read some passages from his work. I recommend Simple! Simple being not elite or academic or intellectual. The man spoke about his relationship with God. How do you relate with God? Alphonsus has some suggestions.

Alphonsus died after a long illness on October 31, 1617, and his funeral was attended by Church and government leaders. He was declared Venerable in 1626, and was named a patron of Majorca in 1633. Alphonsus was beatified in 1825 and canonized in September 1888 with St. Peter Claver.

AMDG
wtn
1437

Oct 31 St Erth 6th c.

Good Morning

111024
1317

October 31

St Erth 6th century

Sixth century is the 500’s – about a century after Patrick died. Erth took his missionary journey back to England from whence Patrick came.

St Erth was an Irish missionary to Cornwall, England. As the bird flied, it’s 200 miles from Cork to Cornwall. If he trudged to the narrowest neck between Ireland and England then down to Cornwall, it’s about twice that. How does a guy decide to be a missionary? How did he pick Cornwall? Did he just get tired of walking? Did he get to the southwest tip of England and decide far enough?

Erth evangelized the local area.

So, what do we take away from this bio blurb? That our Church needs Irish missionaries? Is the downward trend of religiosity in America due to the loss of FBIs?

AMDG
wtn
1325

Oct 30 John Slade d. 1583

Good Morning

111024
1245

How to win repeat business – notice when a regular is not there and mention you missed him when he eventually shows up. Watch Cheers’ reruns for more lessons.


October 30
Bl John Slade d. 1583 bl. 1929

Martyr of England. Almost redundant with Catholic of England, especially in the sixteenth century. And then, for the Irish – moreso.

He was a native of Manston, Dorchestershire, and was educated at Oxford.
With fifty words for the bio, it’s understandable that they jump from birth to college. No mention of parents or family; no mention of childhood influences; no mention of the foundational developmental experiences of youth. Without knowing something about these how do we bring the lessons to our children? [OK, I admit. This information is available in the causes for sainthood. I’m not the guy with the talent to reach into the Latin texts. If I win the lottery I’ll sponsor someone to do that.]

John Slade denied King Henry VIII’s supremacy in religious matters.
Now that’s separation of Church and State! A separation Henry VIII and his successors abolished – in part to get the Church out of the State business.

John Slade was arrested for not taking the Supremacy Pledge. There’s a difference. Which was it? In the end, it would not matter.

John Slade was hanged, drawn, and quartered at Winchester. Alls he had to do was take the pledge. Say a few words. Admit that the King was in charge of his country’s religious life, too. That loyalty and faithfulness were inseparable. How can you be loyal to your family and faithful to your God and the One True Church when the former rejects the latter? A martyr of England was killed by England. A martyr to your faith within your mother’s household is being killed by your mother – NOT your rejecting her.

John Slade was beatified in 1929.

AMDG
wtn
1303

Oct 28 St Jude - his epistle

Good Morning

111023
1247

Going from the bio of Jude to his letter as copied from the USCCB website.


THE LETTER OF JUDE

This letter is by its address attributed to “Jude, a slave of Jesus Christ and brother of James” (Jude 1). Since he is not identified as an apostle, this designation can hardly be meant to refer to the Jude or Judas who is listed as one of the Twelve (Lk 6:16; Acts 1:13; cf. Jn 14:22).

[So our US bishops disagree with so many others that the author of this epistle is the Jude Thaddaeus the Apostle? Does it matter who the author is? But of course it does. But how?]

The letter is addressed in the most general terms to “those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept safe for Jesus Christ” (Jude 1), hence apparently to all Christians.

[Is not all scripture addressed to all? However, the specific intent of the author, in addition to whom the author actually is, helps us better understand the Word that is meant for us. Knowing more helps us love more and do better.]

But since its purpose is to warn the addressees against false teachers, the author must have had in mind one or more specific Christian communities located in the unidentified region where the errors in question constituted a danger. The errors envisaged seem to reflect an early form of gnosticism, opposed to law, that points rather to the cultural context of the Gentile world.

[The Catholic Encyclopedia online gives us 12,600+ word about gnosticism. Ya think it’s an important heresy to know about? Da! Not only for its historical and contextual benefit but because gnosticism is embedded in our world too. Know it so you can see it when it rears its beautiful, seductive head. Know your own faith so you can not only reject gnosticism but also refute it…]

From Catholic Encyclopedia online: A more complete and historical definition of Gnosticism would be: A collective name for a large number of greatly-varying and pantheistic-idealistic sects, which flourished from some time before the Christian Era down to the fifth century, and which, while borrowing the phraseology and some of the tenets of the chief religions of the day, and especially of Christianity, held matter to be a deterioration of spirit, and the whole universe a depravation of the Deity, and taught the ultimate end of all being to be the overcoming of the grossness of matter and the return to the Parent-Spirit, which return they held to be inaugurated and facilitated by the appearance of some God-sent Saviour.

Between Jude and 2 Peter, most scholars believe that Jude is the earlier of the two.

This little letter is an urgent note by an author who intended to write more fully about salvation to an unknown group of readers, but who was forced by dangers from false teachers worming their way into the community to dash off a warning against them and to deliver some pressing Christian admonitions.

The letter is justly famous for its majestic closing doxology (24–25).
24. To the one who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you unblemished and exultant, in the presence of his glory,
25. to the only God, our savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord be glory, majesty, power, and authority from ages past, now, and for ages to come. Amen

[Must admit – didn’t ring any bells for me. I suppose because I’ve maybe read Jude’s letter twice in my life: plus the rare times it’s used at Mass.]

Address and Greeting.

1. Jude, a slave of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept safe for Jesus Christ:
2. may mercy, peace, and love be yours in abundance.

Occasion for Writing.

3. Beloved, although I was making every effort to write to you about our common salvation, I now feel a need to write to encourage you to contend for the faith that was once for all handed down to the holy ones.

[Contend for the faith, i.e., The Faith, handed down once for all – all people, all time. A gift. Accept it. Embrace it. Assimilate it. Live it. Contend for it!]

4. For there have been some intruders, who long ago were designated for this condemnation, godless persons, who pervert the grace of our God into licentiousness and who deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

[It would seem that godless, perverts, licentious, and deniers of Jesus would be easy enough to recognize and reject. Obviously not. Not then and not now. One reason to read the Bible, the Fathers, today’s teachers – read, meditate, study, do our own writing. To know the Truth to be better able to recognize the devil, The Untruth.]


The False Teachers. [And what happened(s) to them. So, don’t be like them!]

5. I wish to remind you, although you know all things, that [the] Lord who once saved a people from the land of Egypt later destroyed those who did not believe.

[Pharaoh’s unconquerable army wiped out. Whose side are you on? Hellfire and brimstone? Or a matter of fact reminder that there are chaff as well as wheat, goats as well as sheep.]

6. The angels too, who did not keep to their own domain but deserted their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains, in gloom, for the judgment of the great day.

[I will remember Carol Kay affectionately and admiringly forever. The woman introduced me to a love of literature unbounded. She got me to read and read some more: with relish. My favorite paper as an undergrad argued that Satan was the “hero” of Paradise Lost: contrarian that I was (is?).]
[Where will you stand on Judgment Day? Or, better, on every judgment day?]

7. Likewise, Sodom, Gomorrah, and the surrounding towns, which, in the same manner as they, indulged in sexual promiscuity and practiced unnatural vice, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.

[Anyone for indulging in sexual promiscuity? Of course! And a few unnatural vices for variety? Sure! And the example of Sodom and Gomorrah – a punishment of eternal fire? Or worse, an eternity separated from the One Who loves you? Ah, there are choices. See the Charley Brown comic I’ve framed. There are choices and every choice has its consequences. It’s a package deal. Jude reminds us of the entire package. Pascal’s wager if you will….]

8. Similarly, these dreamers nevertheless also defile the flesh, scorn lordship, and revile glorious beings.
9. Yet the archangel Michael, when he argued with the devil in a dispute over the body of Moses, did not venture to pronounce a reviling judgment upon him but said, “May the Lord rebuke you!”
10. But these people revile what they do not understand and are destroyed by what they know by nature like irrational animals.
11. Woe to them! They followed the way of Cain, abandoned themselves to Balaam’s error for the sake of gain, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.
12. These are blemishes on your love feasts, as they carouse fearlessly and look after themselves. They are waterless clouds blown about by winds, fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead and uprooted.
13. They are like wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shameless deeds, wandering stars for whom the gloom of darkness has been reserved forever.

[How heroic are those who scorn lordship and revile glorious beings? When we see merit in the evil doers, Jude suggests other images – blemishes on your love feast; waterless clouds (especially wanton over the desert), waterless clouds blown about by winds; fruitless trees – twice dead and uprooted (and thrown on the fire!); wild waves of the sea; wandering stars for whom the gloom of darkness has been reserved forever. Love the metaphors and similes! Picture yourself as any one of these when you consider joining the followers of Cain and Balaam.]

14. Enoch, of the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied also about them when he said, “Behold, the Lord has come with his countless holy ones
15. to execute judgment on all and to convict everyone for all the godless deeds that they committed and for all the harsh words godless sinners have uttered against him.”
16. These people are complainers, disgruntled ones who live by their desires; their mouths utter bombast as they fawn over people to gain advantage.

Exhortations.

17. But you, beloved, remember the words spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ,

[How do you remember what the apostles said? Read the Bible. Attend Mass. Talk about them with your friends. The apostles are a source of strength only to the degree that you know them. Talk with them. Listen to them.]

18. for they told you, “In [the] last time there will be scoffers who will live according to their own godless desires.”

[We live by God’s will – like Jesus did – or by our own godless desires. There are two choices; mutually exclusive choices.]

19. These are the ones who cause divisions; they live on the natural plane, devoid of the Spirit.
20. But you, beloved, build yourselves up in your most holy faith; pray in the holy Spirit.

[Pray. Pray Always. Pray in the Spirit who has been given to us by Jesus.]

21. Keep yourselves in the love of God and wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.

[So how do we keep ourselves in the love of God? The commandments are the place to start. The original ten. Love the law. Embrace the law. Then Jesus’ commandments: “Love one another as I have loved you.” Love God with your whole heart! In a way similar to how you love your lover – do everything within your imagination to please her. Lover your neighbor as yourself. Keep yourself in the love of God.]

22. On those who waver, have mercy;

[The Quality of Mercy is NOT strained! Forgive seven times seven; seventy times seven. Do unto others as you would have them do onto you…..]

23. save others by snatching them out of the fire; on others have mercy with fear, abhorring even the outer garment stained by the flesh.
[Not only be merciful, be proactive. Reach into the fire and pull them out. What is ‘the fire?’ e.g., the scorn of ‘friends’ when you exhort someone to do good and right. Step up, into the fire, snatch your brother/sister from the fire. If they were a child about to touch the hot stove? If they were about walk into a burning building would you not snatch them away?]

Doxology.

24. To the one who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you unblemished and exultant, in the presence of his glory,
25. to the only God, our savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord be glory, majesty, power, and authority from ages past, now, and for ages to come. Amen.


AMDG
wtn
1427
(with the Jets-Chargers game on)