“To attain spiritual enlightenment and become
a person of recollected interior life, you should take one or the other of
holy Scripture and, for as long a period as possible, concentrate on that
alone all your power of attention and meditation; then the light of
understanding will be revealed to you.”
Pg. 150, The Way of a Pilgrim, Billy
Reading 1 (Wis 9:13-18)
Who can know God’s counsel, or who can conceive what the
LORD intends? For the deliberations of mortals are timid, and unsure are
our plans. For the corruptible body burdens the soul and the earthen
shelter weighs down the mind that has many concerns. And scarce do we
guess the things on earth, and what is within our grasp we find with
difficulty; but when things are in heaven, who can search them out? Or who
ever knew your counsel, except you had given wisdom and sent your holy
spirit from on high? And thus were the paths of those on earth made
straight.
Responsorial Psalm (Ps 90:3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 14-17)
R. In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.
You turn man back to dust,
saying, “Return, O children of men.”
For a thousand years in your sight
are as yesterday, now that it is past,
or as a watch of the night.
You make an end of them in their sleep;
the next morning they are like the changing grass,
Which at dawn springs up anew,
but by evening wilts and fades.
Teach us to number our days aright,
that we may gain wisdom of heart.
Return, O LORD! How long?
Have pity on your servants!
Fill us at daybreak with your kindness,
that we may shout for joy and gladness all our days.
And may the gracious care of the LORD our God be ours;
prosper the work of our hands for us!
Prosper the work of our hands!
R. In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.
Reading II (Phmn 9-10, 12-17)
I, Paul, an old man,
and now also a prisoner for Christ Jesus,
urge you on behalf of my child Onesimus,
whose father I have become in my imprisonment;
I am sending him, that is, my own heart, back to you.
I should have liked to retain him for myself,
so that he might serve me on your behalf
in my imprisonment for the gospel,
but I did not want to do anything without your consent,
so that the good you do might not be forced but voluntary.
Perhaps this is why he was away from you for a while,
that you might have him back forever,
no longer as a slave but more than a slave, a brother,
beloved especially to me, but even more so to you,
as a man and in the Lord. So if you regard me as a partner, welcome him as
you would me.
Gospel (Lk 14:25-33)
Great crowds were traveling with Jesus,
and he turned and addressed them,
“If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother,
wife and children, brothers and sisters,
and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.
Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me
cannot be my disciple. Which of you wishing to construct a
tower does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see
if there is enough for its completion?
Otherwise, after laying the foundation
and finding himself unable to finish the work
the onlookers should laugh at him and say,
‘This one began to build but did not have the resources to finish.’
Or what king marching into battle would not first sit down and
decide whether with ten thousand troops he can successfully oppose another
king
advancing upon him with twenty thousand troops?
But if not, while he is still far away, he will send a delegation to ask
for peace terms. In the same way,
anyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my
disciple.”
Lectio Divina
for CP Groups
Contemplative Outreach of Dallas |