Coloss. 1:1-8.
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,
and Timothy our brother, to the holy ones and faithful brothers in Christ in
Colossae: grace to you and peace from God our Father.
We always give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you have for all the holy ones because of the hope reserved for you in heaven. Of this you have already heard through the word of truth, the gospel, that has come to you. Just as in the whole world it is bearing fruit and growing, so also among you, from the day you heard it and came to know the grace of God in truth, as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow slave, who is a trustworthy minister of Christ on your behalf and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.
We always give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you have for all the holy ones because of the hope reserved for you in heaven. Of this you have already heard through the word of truth, the gospel, that has come to you. Just as in the whole world it is bearing fruit and growing, so also among you, from the day you heard it and came to know the grace of God in truth, as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow slave, who is a trustworthy minister of Christ on your behalf and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.
Ps 52(51):10.11.
I, like a green olive tree
in the house of God,
Trust in the mercy of God
forever and ever.
I will thank you always for what you have done,
and proclaim the goodness of your name
before your faithful ones.
in the house of God,
Trust in the mercy of God
forever and ever.
I will thank you always for what you have done,
and proclaim the goodness of your name
before your faithful ones.
Luke 4:38-44.
After Jesus left the synagogue, He entered the house
of Simon. Simon's mother-in-law was afflicted with a severe fever, and they
interceded with him about her.
He stood over her, rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up immediately and waited on them.
At sunset, all who had people sick with various diseases brought them to him. He laid his hands on each of them and cured them.
And demons also came out from many, shouting, "You are the Son of God." But he rebuked them and did not allow them to speak because they knew that he was the Messiah.
At daybreak, Jesus left and went to a deserted place. The crowds went looking for him, and when they came to him, they tried to prevent him from leaving them.
But he said to them, "To the other towns also I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God, because for this purpose I have been sent."
And he was preaching in the synagogues of Judea.
Commentary of the day :
He stood over her, rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up immediately and waited on them.
At sunset, all who had people sick with various diseases brought them to him. He laid his hands on each of them and cured them.
And demons also came out from many, shouting, "You are the Son of God." But he rebuked them and did not allow them to speak because they knew that he was the Messiah.
At daybreak, Jesus left and went to a deserted place. The crowds went looking for him, and when they came to him, they tried to prevent him from leaving them.
But he said to them, "To the other towns also I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God, because for this purpose I have been sent."
And he was preaching in the synagogues of Judea.
Commentary of the day :
I have been contacted by people through Twitter lately asking me to defend my belief in an invisible God. Its impossible to prove the existence of God to a person who is intent on covering their eyes. I will save my 'proofs' of God's existence for another blog. But I just allude to St Paul's words quoted today where he praises God for giving people faith. Because faith is a gift that God gives to any who ask. He wont force it on it people who don't want it. Hence, they will never see because they don't want to.
I can look in the eyes of any animal and know it has a divine Creator. How else could such complexity as bi-ocular vision just happen? The colours of the iris, the dilating pupils, the emotion communicated.. didn't all just happen by accident of nature or a collision of electrons.
Catechism of the Catholic Church § 309-310
"Simon's mother-in-law was
afflicted with a severe fever"
If God the Father almighty, the Creator of the ordered and good world, cares
for all his creatures, why does evil exist? To this question, as pressing as it
is unavoidable and as painful as it is mysterious, no quick answer will
suffice. Only Christian faith as a whole constitutes the answer to this
question: the goodness of creation, the drama of sin and the patient love of
God who comes to meet man by his covenants, the redemptive Incarnation of his
Son, his gift of the Spirit, his gathering of the Church, the power of the
sacraments and his call to a blessed life to which free creatures are invited
to consent in advance, but from which, by a terrible mystery, they can also
turn away in advance. There is not a single aspect of the Christian message
that is not in part an answer to the question of evil.
But why didn't God create a world so perfect that no evil could exist in it? With infinite power God could always create something better (St Thomas Aquinas). But with infinite wisdom and goodness God freely willed to create a world "in a state of journeying" towards its ultimate perfection. In God's plan this process of becoming involves the appearance of certain beings and the disappearance of others, the existence of the more perfect alongside the less perfect, both constructive and destructive forces of nature. With physical good there exists also physical evil as long as creation has not reached perfection.
But why didn't God create a world so perfect that no evil could exist in it? With infinite power God could always create something better (St Thomas Aquinas). But with infinite wisdom and goodness God freely willed to create a world "in a state of journeying" towards its ultimate perfection. In God's plan this process of becoming involves the appearance of certain beings and the disappearance of others, the existence of the more perfect alongside the less perfect, both constructive and destructive forces of nature. With physical good there exists also physical evil as long as creation has not reached perfection.
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