Daily Mass Readings and Daily Meditation ”The Word Among Us” Thursday, 24 October 2013

Daily Mass Readings and Daily Meditation ”The Word Among Us”

Thursday, 24 October 2013

Meditation: Romans 6:19 I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh, for as you presented your members as servants to uncleanness and to wickedness upon wickedness, even so now present your members as servants to righteousness for sanctification. 20 For when you were servants of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 What fruit then did you have at that time in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 22 But now, being made free from sin, and having become servants of God, you have your fruit of sanctification, and the result of eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Messiah Yeshua our Lord.(Messianic WEB)

Saint Anthony Mary Claret, Bishop

Just as you presented the parts of your bodies as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness for lawlessness, so now present them as slaves to righteousness for sanctification. (Romans 6:19)

Imagine that. In the middle of a discussion about the fight against sin and temptation, Paul counseled his readers to look at themselves as slaves, ready to yield to a new master. What about fighting? What about aggressively taking up the battle against sin? Isn’t Paul missing the point?

Not at all. Paul is showing us the way to true victory. Rather than rushing headlong into conflicts and trying to overcome temptation on our own, we would be wiser to step back and submit ourselves to some of the truths that Paul considered central to the Christian life.

First, we should submit to God’s judgment against sin. In Jesus’ death, our Father has condemned our fallen nature and put it to death. If we step back from temptation, we can align ourselves with God’s judgment and claim in faith that sin’s mastery is ended, and we are set free.

Second, we should submit to the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. He is in us. He never abandons us. He is always watching over us, ever ready to help us and do battle for us whenever we call upon him. Submitting to his power can fill us with great confidence and courage.

Finally, we should submit to the new creation God has made us to be. We were made new in Baptism. We are no longer slaves to sin. We are children of God, with all the rights and privileges of a firstborn son and daughter.

Submitting to these truths is like leaning back into your Father’s arms. It’s true that you can’t see him yet, and you may not always feel his arms around you. But that’s why faith is so important. It convinces you that your Father is good. It assures you that he loves you enough to have given his only Son for your salvation. The next time you find yourself battling with sin, take a deep breath, and lean back into your Father’s love and redemption. That’s the way to freedom.

“Father, I submit myself to you. I place my faith in all that you have done for me through the cross. Teach me how to yield to you in every challenge.” AMEN!

Psalm 1:1 Blessed is the man who doesn’t walk in the counsel of the wicked,

nor stand on the path of sinners,

nor sit in the seat of scoffers;

2 but his delight is in the LORD’s* law.

On his Torah he meditates day and night.

3 He will be like a tree planted by the streams of water,

that produces its fruit in its season,

whose leaf also does not wither.

Whatever he does shall prosper.

4 The wicked are not so,

but are like the chaff which the wind drives away.

5 Therefore the wicked shall not stand in the judgment,

nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

6 For the LORD knows the way of the righteous,

but the way of the wicked shall perish.(Messianic WEB)

Luke 12:49  “I came to throw fire on the earth. I wish it were already kindled. 50  But I have a immersion to be immersed with, and how distressed I am until it is accomplished! 51  Do you think that I have come to give peace in the earth? I tell you, no, but rather division. 52  For from now on, there will be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. 53  They will be divided, father against son, and son against father; mother against daughter, and daughter against her mother; mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.” ✡(Messianic WEB)

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