This is an excerpt from Fr. Jerome Magat's new book, Honoring the Covenant: Daily Mass Meditations for Busy Married Couples. We are featuring excerpts from the book for the first four days of Advent.
About the book: Couples are incredibly busy—so busy that there’s always a temptation to make spiritual growth an afterthought or a future project once the children have left or retirement sets in. And even for married persons who are open to spiritual growth, the tendency is to focus upon praying as individuals, not on praying as a couple. To remedy this gap, Honoring the Covenant contains meditations that are simple, direct, and practical. They are designed for couples who want to make time to pray together and are seeking brief and meaningful insights into the Gospel reading of the day vis à vis their married life.
Today's Gospel: Luke 10: 21-24
Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said,
"I give you praise, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
for although you have hidden these things
from the wise and the learned
you have revealed them to the childlike.
Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will.
All things have been handed over to me by my Father.
No one knows who the Son is except the Father,
and who the Father is except the Son
and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him."
Turning to the disciples in private he said,
"Blessed are the eyes that see what you see.
For I say to you,
many prophets and kings desired to see what you see,
but did not see it,
and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it."
Meditation
Rejoicing in the Spirit, Jesus distinguishes between worldly wisdom and divine wisdom. He reveals that it is in the childlike, in their utter dependence on the Father, that divine wisdom can be actualized. As the sacrament of the Father, Jesus reminds us that we can only know the Father through Him. This knowledge is less about factual knowledge regarding things about the Father and more about knowledge that tends towards encounter and communion with Him.
Questions
Do I rejoice in the Holy Spirit and the life of holiness the Spirit calls me to live? Do I rejoice in knowing Jesus, even as I continually labor to know Him more profoundly? Am I wise and learned in those things that matter to God?
Prayer
Lord, grant me the grace to desire to be wise and learned in the things of the Spirit. May I see worldly wisdom as but a servant to divine wisdom and those things necessary for my salvation.
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Bio: Fr. Jerome Magat, SThD, is a longtime friend of Theology of Home. He is a priest of the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia. While a parochial vicar, he founded the Guadalupe Free Clinic of Colonial Beach in 2005, the diocese's first free medical clinic for the poor, of which Theology of Home is a proud supporter. He is a faculty member of St. Patrick Seminary in Menlo Park, California.