Reading 1 Ez 37:1-14
and led me out in the Spirit of the LORD
and set me in the center of the plain,
which was now filled with bones.
He made me walk among the bones in every direction
so that I saw how many they were on the surface of the plain.
How dry they were!
He asked me:
Son of man, can these bones come to life?
I answered, “Lord GOD, you alone know that.”
Then he said to me:
Prophesy over these bones, and say to them:
Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD!
Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones:
See! I will bring spirit into you, that you may come to life.
I will put sinews upon you, make flesh grow over you,
cover you with skin, and put spirit in you
so that you may come to life and know that I am the LORD.
I prophesied as I had been told,
and even as I was prophesying I heard a noise;
it was a rattling as the bones came together, bone joining bone.
I saw the sinews and the flesh come upon them,
and the skin cover them, but there was no spirit in them.
Then the LORD said to me:
Prophesy to the spirit, prophesy, son of man,
and say to the spirit: Thus says the Lord GOD:
From the four winds come, O spirit,
and breathe into these slain that they may come to life.
I prophesied as he told me, and the spirit came into them;
they came alive and stood upright, a vast army.
Then he said to me:
Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel.
They have been saying,
“Our bones are dried up,
our hope is lost, and we are cut off.”
Therefore, prophesy and say to them: Thus says the Lord GOD:
O my people, I will open your graves
and have you rise from them,
and bring you back to the land of Israel.
Then you shall know that I am the LORD,
when I open your graves and have you rise from them,
O my people!
I will put my spirit in you that you may live,
and I will settle you upon your land;
thus you shall know that I am the LORD.
I have promised, and I will do it, says the LORD.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 107:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9
Let the redeemed of the LORD say,
those whom he has redeemed from the hand of the foe
And gathered from the lands,
from the east and the west, from the north and the south.
R. Give thanks to the Lord; his love is everlasting.
They went astray in the desert wilderness;
the way to an inhabited city they did not find.
Hungry and thirsty,
their life was wasting away within them.
R. Give thanks to the Lord; his love is everlasting.
They cried to the LORD in their distress;
from their straits he rescued them.
And he led them by a direct way
to reach an inhabited city.
R. Give thanks to the Lord; his love is everlasting.
Let them give thanks to the LORD for his mercy
and his wondrous deeds to the children of men,
Because he satisfied the longing soul
and filled the hungry soul with good things.
R. Give thanks to the Lord; his love is everlasting.
Alleluia Ps 25:4b, 5a
Teach me your paths, my God,
guide me in your truth.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel Mt 22:34-40
When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees,they gathered together, and one of them,
a scholar of the law, tested him by asking,
“Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?”
He said to him,
“You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart,
with all your soul, and with all your mind.
This is the greatest and the first commandment.
The second is like it:
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”
HOW DRY I AM
"How dry they were!" –Ezekiel 37:2
Are you feeling spiritually dry? Do you feel that God is looking at your life and saying, "How dry you are"? At one time in my life I was constantly surrounded by spirit-filled people, but felt so dry and far from the Spirit that I'd given up hope of ever receiving His fullness (Jn 5:5ff). I was spiritually dry and I desperately needed living water (Jn 4:14). However, my life was fulfilling the saying: "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink." I wanted the Spirit and a few of His gifts, but I didn't want the Spirit to run my life.
"It is the Spirit that gives life" (Jn 6:63; Ez 37:5). It's the Holy Spirit that gives the ability to love God and neighbor with our all (Mt 22:37). I knew these truths, but I only wanted the Spirit to give me a half-life, not life to the full (Jn 10:10). I wanted new life, but didn't want a new lifestyle (see Mk 2:21-22).
For years, God soaked me with His sweet love through the Mass and the Bible. Eventually, I came to Jesus and begged Him to immerse me in the Holy Spirit (Jn 7:37-38; Mk 1:8), even if I had to change my entire life (see Mt 13:44). I received the Holy Spirit and was stunned to discover that I loved this new lifestyle.
Repent of stifling or saddening the Spirit, whether intentionally or unknowingly (1 Thes 5:19; Eph 4:30). Let God pour out His love in your heart through the Holy Spirit (Rm 5:5). "Receive the Holy Spirit" (Jn 20:22).
| PRAYER: | Jesus, You lavish the Church with unrationed outpourings of the Spirit (Ti 3:6; Jn 3:34). May we receive the Holy Spirit in a manner worthy of the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity. |
| PROMISE: | "I have promised, and I will do it."–Ez 37:14 |
| PRAISE: | St. John Eudes made a vow of chastity at the age of fourteen. He promoted devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus - the remedy for all spiritual dryness. |
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