“LOOKING AROUND AT THEM WITH ANGER AND GRIEVED AT THEIR HARDNESS OF HEART, JESUS SAID TO THE MAN, “STRETCH OUT YOUR HAND.” MK 3:1-6
Humbly submit your will to God (Thy Will be done) and consecrate yourself to the Sacred Heart of Jesus through Mary and Joseph.
Prayer Prompt before reading MK 3:1-6: Come, Holy Spirit, teach me how to pray, interpret the Scriptures for me so that I may know the Truth about who God the Father and God the Son are so that I may know who I am.
The Pharisees are upset with Jesus because they see Him as a violator of the Sabbath. Now they are just looking to catch Him so they can persecute Him. The Pharisees have become more caught up in themselves and the observance of the Law then having compassion, loving, and forgiving the people. Jesus grieves at their, “hardness of heart” because God is love and Jesus is God. A person being right (holding strictly to the Law) is not more important than the relationship (love).
I have been the Pharisee many times. It may have been with my brothers growing up, when my parents wouldn’t let me do what I wanted, or when it seems like the effort in my marriage isn’t 50/50. I start to get angry and seek out ways to get back at them. Many times I am just tired or I have too much pride to ask for help. I sometimes struggle to compromise.
Over time I have learned that my parents were looking out for my best interest and I am not doing near as much as my wife. Be careful not to judge or feel sorry for yourself. Jesus is the perfect example of the suffering servant.
There may be many opportunities throughout the day to offer things up for grace or to invite Christ into a difficult part of your day. Be careful not to have a hard heart with those God has put closest to that heart, but be filled with compassion and love ready to forgive like the Lord is for you.
Today’s challenge: Don’t look for ways to put someone down to get back at them. Don’t be a Pharisee and forget the most important lesson of Jesus, compassion towards others no matter what day of the week it is or whatever the law is that may forbid it.
Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children, Jan. 22nd
Please pray for all pre-born babies, their parents, and for those who have had an abortion. Please pray for doctors and nurses and all who work at abortion facilities that they may have a change of heart. Please pray for all lawmakers to make laws to protect life and over turn laws that don’t.
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, I love you very much. I beg you to spare the life of the unborn baby [baby’s name] that I have spiritually adopted who is in danger of abortion. Amen.
— Venerable Fulton Sheen
Be a servant, be a saint today!
#Christian YODO (You Only Die Once; We will live again!)
this stood out to me “There may be many opportunities throughout the day to offer things up for grace or to invite Christ into a difficult part of your day.”