​READ

41 “A certain creditor had two debtors; one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42  When they could not pay, he forgave them both. Now which of them will love him more?”  (Luke 7:41–42, RSV2CE)

44 Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house, you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. 46 You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment.  (Luke 7:44–46, RSV2CE)

47 Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little.” 48  And he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” 49 Then those who were at table with him began to say among themselves, “Who is this, who even forgives sins?” 50  And he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”  (Luke 7:47–50, RSV2CE)

REFLECTION 

You have to know who you are in relation to the perfect God. A SINNER. This is what brings you to your knees in need of the Holy Divine Savior. 

The woman knew who she was in relation to God. Before the woman had her sins forgiven she was doing acts of service (works showing faith) to Jesus because of her love of who He is (she believed). She believed, loved, served (showing  her faith by works). 

Simon did not see who he was in relation to God. He only saw who he was in relation to someone else. Because of that skewed perception he did not love Jesus very much since he thought he was better than others. He may have believed but he did not see a need as much as the woman did very cognizant of her sinful state. 

Neither person can pay the debt of sin. Both can be forgiven. But if you only see your relation to another person you think you’re not that bad. Both are just as desperate. Until you see yourself as a debtor unable to pay at all, you will not love much or serve much.

Her Faith saved her (love and works showing faith).  

I have to stop using others as a measuring rod. Jesus is the measure. I am a speck of dirt and He is the Almighty. I owe a debt of sin I cannot pay and am desperate for forgiveness. 

RESOLUTION 

Jesus help me stay humble in my knowledge of who I really am, I am a sinner. It is hard for me to keep that knowledge in my mind because I hate my sin, I do not want to offend or be separated from you. Help me Jesus, I believe you, I love you, I want to serve you! Teach me to stop looking around and keep my eyes on loving you and others for love of you. 

REST

Thank you for taking my sins. Thank you for wanting to forgive me. Thank you for washing me clean in your blood. I am yours. Save me. Glory to You my God! Amen. 

​The motive for love rests solely in God, whose child every person is. It is God who wishes to be discovered and loved in every person, even if sin has disfigured the divine image, and if, in order to find it again, we have to dig through the coarseness of an ungrateful nature, or through error and the debris of evil. 

“The aspect under which our neighbor is to be loved, is God,” says St. Thomas, “since what we ought to love in our neighbor is that he may be in God”, which is equivalent to loving his belonging to God as a creature and as a child; also to acknowledging and loving his right to share in the redemption, to belong to the Mystical Body of Christ, to possess eternal life and blessedness. 

By the simple fact that every man is a creature of God, he is called to enjoy these blessings, and if he is not yet enjoying them, then theological charity loves him in view of them, and takes steps that he may attain them. Love is never only sympathy and human affection or pure philanthropy; it is loving from the motive of God and in line with his command.

Is this not the way God has loved us? “God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us” (Rom 5:8). God did not wait to love us until we were without sin, nor did Christ wait for us to be his friends before he gave his life for us.

To love our neighbor with the love of charity is to love you, my God, in man, and man in you; it is to love you alone for the love of yourself, and to love the creature for love of you. 

​A person’s knowledge of himself and of God is the key to freedom from condemning others. This freedom is given either by grace or as the result of struggle, internal work. And condemnation happens because we on the one hand do not tend towards deep self-knowledge, and on the other haven’t gotten to the level of repentance. 

Condemning is an expression of our pride, through which we claim for ourselves the possibility to judge another person.

Looking into oneself is the beginning of a spiritual process. The conscience gives a person knowledge about himself, and when he sees himself, he sometimes even gets to the point of hating, thinking: “I hate myself like this!”. Yes, you have approached self-knowledge. It’s bitter, but this knowledge may be the most important and significant thing in life, because it is the point of departure for repentance, for the possibility of the rebirth, for a qualitative change of your relationship to yourself and the whole world, and first of all, to your Creator. 

The carnal opposes the spiritual; this is the law of inner warfare. This is why people choose a more natural and simple path, as it would seem: looking around, judging others and not yourself. They don’t recognize that they are causing great damage to themselves… 

When a person sees clearly, he begins to understand that  God does not condemn anyone. The Gospel of John says directly: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. (Jn. 3:16–17) There is an idea connected with the Messiah, that He will be vested with kingly authority and come to judge the peoples, as one having authentic Divine judgment. But here it turns out that God came not to judge us, but to save! This mystery is really amazing, it surprises us! And if God doesn’t judge, then who can judge? 

Therefore, condemning is an erroneous attitude of our consciousness, an erroneous idea that we have authority. And if God Himself refuses this authority? The Scriptures say that the Father gives the power of judgment to the Son, and the Son says, “I have not come to judge you.” 

But at the same time, the Lord does not hide that there will be a righteous judgment. 

There’s a fine line between judging actions and judging a person, and it’s hard not to cross it! For it is said: don’t condemn the person himself, as the image and likeness of God. The Holy Spirit does not accept it when we take for ourselves the authority to make a harsh assessment of another. Yes, maybe his foolish, disgraceful action is worthy of condemnation, but don’t condemn the person himself! Tomorrow, he may correct himself, walk the path of repentance, change; that potential is not taken from a person until his last breath. We don’t know the fullness of God’s Providence for him, nor how dear he is to God—for Christ poured out His blood for all of us, redeemed all and judged no-one. Therefore, we ourselves simply have no right to judge! 

A principled attitude is needed, saying: “No, Lord. You are the only Judge, You are the only Lover of Mankind, You do not wish death unto anyone and did not pronounce judgment on even the most terrible sinners. Even being crucified, You prayed: ‘Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.’” 

​God accepts me as I am (In Christ) as long as I, in my will, will to overcome sin.

One with Christ we have made this offering; God has accepted it as it is we whom he loves who offer it in union with his beloved Son. Despite all that is in us which prevents us being wholly ourselves, God accepts our will to overcome that which is sinful and false, weak and inconsistent. He loves us and accepts us for what we really are and what in eternity we shall fully become. This acceptance is the pledge of our resurrection.

​God loves you absolutely, but He cannot approve sin—so when you are not following, His response is not “He hates you,” but “He opposes the evil and calls you back,” because He wills your salvation

​The Mass is a gift. Our offering of bread and wine is transformed into the risen body of Christ and given to us in the Eucharist. 

What we receive is not a dead body, a thing, however holy, but the living and risen Christ who has gone beyond death to life. 

By our Communion we take this risen body and resurrected life into ourselves so that our body ‘of this lowliness’ is gradually transformed into the ‘body of his brightness’. Risen life grows in us as we receive Risen Life itself. When we receive Communion we receive what is beyond death.

 The body of Christ is the food for our journey to God, it is the ‘manna from heaven’ which saves us from starvation and gives us strength to go forward into the unknown. But it is also the end of the journey; as by God’s indwelling grace we are already in eternity, so we now feed on eternal food, the fruit of the Tree of Life in Paradise. Immortality is ours, for ‘he who eats this bread will live for ever’.

​READ

29 (When they heard this all the people and the tax collectors justified God, having been baptized with the baptism of John; 30 but the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the purpose of God for themselves, not having been baptized by him.)  (Luke 7:29–30, RSV2CE)

REFLECTION

Man justifies God by accepting the plan God has for him. 

God has called us all to be born again as true sons and daughters not just his creatures. We were born naturally without the grace like our first parents. God reaches out with divine help to nudge us in the direction of himself. 

If we accept the gift and purpose of God for us, we are baptized, become his child, and follow after Him by grace indwelling from within. 

If we reject the gift and purpose of God for us, baptism and becoming his child, we remain without grace indwelling. 

justify, meaning to prove, explain, or show that something is right, reasonable, or valid

RESOLUTION

I have been baptized. I am born again. I am your daughter. I, with firm purpose, choose to accept the gift of life you are offering. I accept the plan you have for me. I accept the divine life of grace you are giving me. Please help me follow your direction and live how you created me to be. 

REST

Thank you for loving me My God. Thank you for calling me to become your child not just your created creature. Thank you for wanting fellowship and intimacy with me. Thank you for having a good plan for me. Thank you for grace of the divine life that makes it possible. Thank you for being the Perfect Father. I will rest in your care. I love you! Amen.