06 Mar Fulfilled (Mt 5:17) by Dave DiNuzzo Sr.
Welcome God now with this LIFE Group Devotion (FB), provided by LIFE Runners (FB). Leaders. Guest Authors.
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“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.” ~ Mt. 5:17 (full readings)
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Dave’s Reflections: The fifth chapter of St. Matthew’s Gospel is one of my favorite chapters in scripture. We read of Jesus giving the Sermon on the Mount, which gives us a true playbook of how to live (the Beatitudes), especially in the modern world that may, because of our faithfulness to God’s law, bring about much suffering, pain, persecution, and heartache. The Sermon on the Mount is Jesus’ “kickoff” into public ministry, and He chose important words to share with His listeners. We should be ‘poor in spirit’, and should ‘mourn’, and be ‘gentle’, and ‘hunger and thirst for righteousness’, we should be ‘merciful’, we should be ‘pure in heart’, and ‘peacemakers’, and when persecutions come along, we should rejoice in the fact that ‘the kingdom of Heaven is ours’! These characteristics are radically counter-cultural, but in them we find truth and fulfillment. In the Gospel reading Jesus speaks of the fulfillment of the Law. Is it any wonder, that in a culture that devalues human life and struggles so mightily to uphold the dignity of the human person that our culture would carry on without these beatitudes? Our world seems to think that the Law is there to oppress, and that only through refutation of the Law can a person be free. Jesus preached a message of true freedom by way of the Law, not to hold us down or oppress us, but to allow us to fully live in Him and experience the ultimate personal fulfillment. Let us pray that our world realizes the power of the Beatitudes and of God’s Law.
*Dave DiNuzzo Sr. is husband to Catherine (a Catholic counselor), the father of four children, and the Director of Programming for The King’s Men, a lay Catholic apostolate working to build up men into leaders, protectors, and providers. He is an author, speaker, volunteer firefighter, and member of The King’s Men LIFE Runners chapter.
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Faith Challenge: We are now one month into Lent. Examine your Lenten devotions (hopefully you have done more than just “give up” something for the sake of “giving up” something) and determine if the last part of Lent is preparing you for Christ’s Passion and death. Commit or re-commit to daily growth so as to grow closer to the Lord, and as Christ Himself exemplified, unite any suffering you may be feeling to His suffering on the Cross.
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Counter-Culture News: LifeSiteNews, LifeNews, American Family, Vatican, Project Rachel.
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Our Prayers: Prayer to end abortion. LIFE Runners Creed. Add Prayers. Pray with meals, bedtime, wake up, etc. Consider mid-week Family Rosary (17 min). Let’s pray now.
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Feast Day: Servant of God Sylvester of Assisi.
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Faith Quote: “Why are those who are notoriously undisciplined and unmoral also most contemptuous of religion and morality? They are trying to solace their own unhappy lives by pulling the happy down to their own abysmal depths.” ~ Servant of God, Fulton J. Sheen
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Through Christ our Lord,
Dave