A. Back ground:
Today is the last sunday(before the lent) in ordinary times. Again ordinary times commenced after easter, as sunday No11,(after easter there are few specific celebrations) on 14/6/2015.
These 6 sundays we focused on
(1) Our life is similar to shadow Trinity
(Happy-father, son-U'r behevior,10 commandments with no enemies, Holy spirit- habits to develop your knowledge-daily rosary)
(2) You are subject to earth bound needs. Earth bound means you can walk on the earth.(In moon you cannot do so!). This indicates your natural tendency for money,power and desires. When you balance earth bound needs without craving to it, you can go against gravitation). Fornication(sin against your flesh) appears to be major impediment to handle spiritual Happiness
(3) You clean your teeth daily as a habit. Similarly you have to develop good habits to gain physical+mental fitness. Daily walking/exercise or praying Rosary.
In order to develop a habit, you should develop following characteristics
(A)Be interested on the subject
(B)identify daily fixed time with a fixed location(state probability does not vary with time)
(C) have a happy mind(peaceful then worry less then happy), before implementing your habit
(D)have a fixed action plan of implementing your action, during this habit!.(Don't do any other action or thinking any other matter during this time) If you are doing exercise don't change the patterns of the exercise or if you are praying rosary you don't change for a decade 10 hail mary's, but you reflect in different ways.
(4)Once you are in a habit of praying, you start contemplating,deviations in your life with reference implementation of 10 commandments, identifying whether you are angry with anybody, start correcting your behavior as the first step. This will help you to develop a peaceful mind. Next step is handing over your fears and worries to Holy Mary/or your favorite saint to lead a worry less mind.
(5)When you develop worry less mind you are trained to avoid anger and laziness. Then identify other 5 vices pride,lust,envy,avarice,
Today, it talks about Leprosy in your head. Mainly Pride. It is similar to salt. When you put correct amount of salt you can enjoy a meal. Little or too much salt will hamper your taste. When you enjoy the meal with correct amount of salt, don't forget God, who were instrumental of creating you and allow you to enjoy this meal. There are 2 aspects(1) put the correct amount salt(2) appreciate God in providing this action and allowing you to enjoy your meal.
Similarly, if you forget God, in your enjoyment you develop leprosy in your head that is Pride
B. Preamble for today's reading:
B.1 THE DEADLY ROOTS IN THE HEART
The 7 deadly vices(anger, sloth,pride,envy, lust, avarice, gluttony) are normally the strong roots of our wrongly acquired experiences of the external senses and spiritual faculties,deeply embedded in our will. Initially when every sense experience is enjoyed and accepted with attachment without upward orientation of God, it resides in the spirit/will like, a person getting addicted to drugs.
A repeated sense experience naturally gets rooted in the will and become stronger over years like a drug addict who cannot live without drugs. These roots when they give out fresh shoots and fruits become vices.
These vices if not surrendered to God in prayer can be gradually detrimental to growth in the spiritual life. One of the main fruit of such roots are Pride(leprosy of the head)
B.2 PRIDE
It is too great an admiration of oneself. Pride has 7 evil consequences:
(1)Boasting
(2)Love of publicity
(3)Hypocrisy( a way of behaving in which you pretend that you have better moral principles than you actually do)
(4)Hardheadedness( practical and able to make difficult decisions without letting your emotions affect your judgment)
(5)Discord(formal disagreement or quarreling between people)
(6)Quarreling
(7)Disobedience
When all these 7 inclinations grow in our dealings with God and neighbor,we must understand that our prayer in NO PRAYER but a prolonged practice of Pride.
THE DEVIL BALLONES OUR PRIDE TO MAKE US LOSE EVENTUALLY TO OUR OWN EGOISM.
Authentic prayer requires Humility. Any form of Pride in life and prayer must be overcome first of all through personal efforts. Therefore, in the higher stages of prayer the Lord himself will purify us through spiritual trials or through physical trials.
PRIDE IS THE ENEMY OF ANY PROGRESS IN PRAYER. If the ultimate goal of prayer is TOTAL SURRENDER TO GOD, there ought to be many surrender on our part of all our actions, thoughts and also ongoing surrender in our relation with God.
In our pride when we do not listen to the spirit who invites us to discern(understand something only after looking at it) the purpose and the Goal of prayer, we greatly neglect the primary task of overcoming evil.
St paul's words to Galatians are apt here: "let the spirit direct your lives, and you will not satisfy the desires of the human nature. For what our human nature wants is opposed to what the spirit wants. These two are enemies, and this means that you cannot do what you want to do. If the spirit leads you, then you are not subject to law"(Gal 5:16-18)
WHEN THE LORD TAKES THE INITIATIVE IN PRAYER WE OUGHT TO BE PASSIVE. IT IS IN PASSIVE PRAYER THAT THE LORD STRENTHENS OUR WILL TO OVERCOME THIS UNWANTED TENDENCY TO PRIDE. HE THROUGH HIS GRACE INTRODUCED US TO PROFOUND HUMILITY.
Todays reading:
Book of leviticus(Lv 13:1-2.44-46) says"..The man is leprous: he is unclean...:he is suffering from leprosy of the head...As long as the disease lasts he must be unclean.
Paul(1 cor10:31-11:1) says"..never do anything offensive to anyone..to be helpful to everyone at all times,.."
Mk(1:40-45) says"A leper came to Jesus and pleaded...'If you want to'..'You can cure me',..Jesus.. touched him..he was cured..sternly ordered'..say nothing to anyone..'..,but..telling the story everywhere,..,..Jesus could no longer go openly into any town.."
Reminds that inordinate craving for earth bound desire make U unclean.1st be clear about with what action U become unclean.(Going against 10 coms:no mental power to pardon:7vices(Anger,sloth,
D, Conclusions:
Today, last sunday before lent season, high lights, how Pride is hampering to implement God's will in your life. Pride is silence leprosy(like cancer) in the head, that will make your fear and sorrow increase. Pride blocks the God's will to be implemented by you. Church going people and priests are always attack with this disease!
GBU
For more pl visit:
http://
http://www.sundayreading.net/
Or
http://holymaryreflection.
