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Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of the faithful!
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   20050905

The Catholic Calendar for Monday, September 5, 2005
The Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time


Scripture from today's Liturgy of the Word:
Colossians 1:24--2:3
Psalm 62:6-7, 9
Luke 6:6-11

A reflection on today's Sacred Scripture:

In today's First Reading there is a little phrase which has always baffled me. St. Paul says he is filling up what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ. I always thought there was nothing lacking in Christ's suffering; so, why Paul's strange words? I finally just decided it was something I just didn't understand, and moved on.

Today, when I was required to read this passage from Colossians, it began to be clear that Paul was not saying that there was anything missing or lacking in the suffering of Christ, but that there are things in the world that were still in need of Christ's saving help. It was these situations that were lacking, lacking because there was no knowledge or acceptance of the redemption won by Christ's suffering. Paul went on to say that he would fill up those areas in his own flesh by making God present, by preaching and teaching the sacrificial love of God.

When it finally occurred to me what Paul was saying, it made me realize that we too are called to fill up what is lacking, by bringing into focus the suffering of Christ so that all might know the extent they are loved and deemed precious in God's eyes. We are to show compassion and love, forgiveness and understanding. We are to heal those who are afflicted and burdened. We are to be like Jesus who, in today's Gospel, publicly mended the man with the withered hand, in spite of Pharisaical criticism.

Let us then look around to see those situations in our own sphere of influence, where there are those who lack what they need; and let us fill it up by bringing to them the love of our suffering and yet triumphal Lord.

- Donna Raye Nelson,
OCDS
(drn3rd at hotmail dot com)

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