Easter Tuesday
Ezekiel,
Chapter 3, Verse 9
Like
diamond, harder than flint, I make your brow. Do not be afraid of them, or be terrified by their
looks, for they are a rebellious house.
This verse is suggesting that Ezekiel needs to knock
heads or confront his adversaries. At times if we truly love a person, it may
be that we may need to confront them. Our love should will the real good of
another as other and take action to realize that good. To help make things go
right so that the person we love is ultimately becoming the best version of
themselves. This was the love of Christ.
According to John Maxwell[1]
leaders and followers of Christ need to allow God to shape them into being the
kind of person they need to be according to the situation. Maxwell suggests
that when we are approaching a new and different situation we should ask
ourselves the following questions using reason and not fear.
o
Do
the circumstances tell me it is time to move forward?
o
Are
others ready and willing to move?
o
Is
it the right time to make a change?
o
Do
I have a team that has the gifts and influence to lead?
o
Do
we have the opportunity to be successful?
o
Do
we possess the resources to move now?
o
Am
I the right person to lead the way?
If we can answer in the affirmative to the majority
of these questions God may be making our brow or will strong to make positive
changes in our lives and those around us.
Why does Jesus
greet His disciples with the words, “Peace be to you?”
1.
Because He came to restore to men that peace with God, with
themselves, with their neighbor, which sin had destroyed.
2.
Because peace is a mark of the children of God, as discord is of
sinners.
3.
Because peace is the greatest of all goods. Therefore it is that
He will have His apostles, after His example, give the greeting of peace on
entering a house.
4.
Finally, Because He desired to encourage His disciples to
confidence by His friendliness.
Why did Our Savior
retain the marks of His wounds after His resurrection?
·
To show that it was the same body which had been wounded during
His passion, and to show that He was really risen from the dead.
·
To teach us that we too shall, in like manner, rise with our
bodies.
·
To make known to us the greatness of His love, through which He
has graven us, as it were, on His hands and feet, and in His heart.
·
To impart to us confidence in His endless mercy, and to encourage
us to combat against the world, the flesh, and the devil.
·
To prepare a place of refuge, and an inexhaustible fountain of
consolation for all the miserable, afflicted, and tempted.
·
To terrify the impenitent, whom, on the Day of Judgment, He will
show how much He has suffered for them, and that they have been the cause of
their own destruction. Oh, let us endeavor to think often on the wounds of
Jesus, that we may thereby be encouraged to lead pious lives acceptable to God.
Aspiration
O Jesus, grant that the precious blood which flowed
from Thy wounds for me and all sinners may not be lost.
Instruction
on what we ought to believe concerning the Holy Scriptures.
“He opened their understanding,
that they might understand the Scriptures.” Luke xxiv. 45.
Is it free to
everyone to read and explain Holy Scripture according to his own opinion? No; that must be done with
submission and conformity to the teaching of the Church. Questions of faith
cannot be settled by appealing to the Holy Scriptures alone, since they
themselves are liable to be misunderstood. For this reason the Church has done
wisely in making the printing, reading, and explaining of Holy Scripture depend
upon the permission of lawful spiritual superiors.
What, therefore,
must one do who desires to read the Holy Scriptures?
§ He must read them,
only with the permission of the ecclesiastical superiors.
§ With the subjection
of his own opinion to the decisions of the Church, and the interpretation of
the holy fathers.
§ With suitable
preparation, by prayer and fasting, as St. Thomas of Aquinas did, and with
devotion and care.
See, the eyes of the lord are upon those who fear him, upon
those who hope for his kindness, to deliver them from death and preserve them
in spite of famine.
Daily Devotions
·
Manhood of
the Master-Day 3 week 10
·
Please
pray for me and this ministry
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