[ Today's Readings ]
You have the words of eternal life.
We have come to believe
and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.”
Convince us, LORD. We believe. Heal our unbelief. We try to figure you out using our flesh when only the Spirit can get this.
And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven (see Matthew 16:17).
For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life (Second Corinthians 3:6).
Help us to realize who are are so that we can take you at your word. You are the risen LORD of glory. You have ascended to where you were before. You are seated at the right hand of the Father. May the Father draw us to you. May he grant us to believe in you. Concealed in bread and wine is the very same LORD seated on high in heaven.
When we walk in fear of you and have faith you build us up with the consolation of the Holy Spirit. He makes your power and presence available to us here now on earth even though your body is seated in heaven. He changes the elements of bread and wine to make you perfectly present to us. But he is more than capable of bringing your presence to other situations as well.
There he found a man named Aeneas,
who had been confined to bed for eight years, for he was paralyzed.
Peter said to him,
“Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and make your bed.”
This sort of healing is hard to believe. Yet the change of Peter that happens to make you present in this situation is no more amazing than what you the Spirit does every day in the mass.
Because it is you the Spirit makes present, and because you have conquered sin and death, there is no limit to what can happen if we believe.
Peter sent them all out and knelt down and prayed.
Then he turned to her body and said, “Tabitha, rise up.”
She opened her eyes, saw Peter, and sat up.
These are great gifts, to be sure. But none of them is so great as you yourself. How can we ever thank you enough? All you ask is that we receive your gift. You yourself become our thanksgiving.
How shall I make a return to the LORD
for all the good he has done for me?
The cup of salvation I will take up,
and I will call upon the name of the LORD
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