1.22.13

Lectio: Mk 3.1-6

Meditatio: "Looking around at them with anger and grieved at their hardness of heart, he [Jesus] said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.. He stretched out his hand and his hand was restored’." Mk 3. 5

O God, You gave us the ability to love so that we could imitate You for You are Love.

I remember the religious elite would not allow "love" to guide their interpretations of the Law and prohibited healing on the Sabbath declaring it work; and plotted to put Jesus to death for healing on the Sabbath..

Grant that I may never harden my heart with legalism but keep it soft with love.

I ask these and all things through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with the

Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.

Contemplatio: Keep silence and remain in recollection for a few minutes.

Operatio: reflect on "hardness of heart"; unfeeling; stubborn, unloving. In prayer seek the grace for a heart filled with love and always allow love to guide our actions for all of the laws and the prophets are summed up in the great Law of love.

Tomorrow's reading: Mk 3.7-12

P.S. Today is the National Day of Prayer for the Protection of the unborn. Do pray that the evil of abortion may soon be history and the life of the unborn as well as the life of all be respected and cherished.