August 20

“How many flourishing works has vanity or jealousy rendered sterile!”

-Emil Neubert, SM, STD

 

Today’s Reflection:

Ouch! Ponder deeply this statement. Ask the Lord to reveal how vanity or jealousy may be an obstacle to the good work to which you have been called and make a firm commitment to change.

“For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.

For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,’ that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, ‘Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,’ that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the organs in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single organ, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘ have no need of you,’ nor again the head to the feet, ‘I have no need of you.’ On the contrary, the parts of the body which seem to be weaker are indispensable, and those parts of the body which we think less honorable we invest with the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so adjusted the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior part, that there may be no discord in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, then healers, helpers, administrators, speakers in various kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? But earnestly desire the higher gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way.”

-1 Corinthians 12: 12-28

Consider your gifts. How are you putting them to work for the body of Christ and souls? How are you helping others to shine in their giftedness?

“Frequently draw near to Mary. She is like a most secluded sanctuary where you feel penetrated by the spirit of recollection as soon as you enter. For in her presence you live no longer amid the agitation of earth but

in the peace of heaven.

-Emil Neubert, SM, STD

Contemplate Mary in the Gospels. How does her life speak to the interior versus the exterior life?

“Good works should be nothing but an overflow from the inner life. Active works must begin and end in the interior life, and in it, find their means. The active and interior lives are completely interdependent.”

-Dom Chautard

When you are in a state of grace, Christ lives in you. Habitual attention to His presence breaths life into everything you do, including good works. Take time to ponder this great mystery and enter this place within where Jesus desires to meet you.

“If you wish to learn how to serve men for their own sake, and for the sake of Christ, draw near to our Blessed Mother.”

-Emil Neubert, SM, STD

Consider your motives. Is it really Christ’s interests and the interest of souls you are seeking, or your own?