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TODAY’S WORD…

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Jesus said,

“Healthy people don’t need a doctor – sick people do.

I have come to call not those who think they are righteous,

but those who know they are sinners and need to repent.”

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– Luke 5:31-32 (NLT)

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REFLECTION…

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Jesus comes to offer His Kingdom to all – His mission is universal.

Salvation is open to all men and women, without discrimination.

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Jesus comes for all, for we are all sick and we are all sinners.

We must all seek God’s mercy and forgiveness in order to have life

and to reach salvation.

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Mankind is not divided into two categories: those who are already justified by their own efforts, and sinners.

All of us need God, every day.

Those who may think they do not need God will not be given strength;

they will go on being overshadowed by their interior death or their sickness.

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Having defects is not bad.

to believe that we have no defects is bad.

What is bad is not having defects – we all have defects –

but making a pact with them and ceasing to fight.

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The words of Our Lord, who presents Himself to us as a Doctor,

move us to acknowledge our that is not right with us

and to ask humbly and confidently for forgiveness of our sins

and for the sins of all those who seem to want to remain far from God.

If we turn to Jesus with humility, faith and love,

He will always have mercy on us

and on those who we try to bring closer to Him.

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Christ is the one who cures all our infirmities.

We are all at least a little sick

and this is why we all need Christ.

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We must go to Him as the sick person goes to the doctor,

admitting what is really wrong with us,

and wanting to be cured.

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We must go to the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation,

where we will find our Divine Physician waiting.

The medicine of Confession not only heals,

but it brings with it great peace and immense joy.

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We can be certain that God will always encourage us

and help us to begin again.

Christ, the Physician, cures us

and then helps us to continue struggling against the virus of sin.

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QUOTE…

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“He is our physician,

and He heals our selfishness, if we let His grace penetrate to the depths of our soul.

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Jesus has taught us that the worst sickness is hypocrisy,

the pride that leads us to hide our own sins.

We have to be totally sincere with Him.

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We have to tell the whole truth,

and then we have to say: “Lord, if you will” – and You are always willing – “You can make me clean.”

You know my weaknesses;

I feel these symptoms;

I suffer from these failings.

We show him the wound, with simplicity,

and if the wound is festering, we show the pus too.

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Lord, you have cured so many souls;

help me to recognise you as the Divine Physician,

when I have You in my heart

or when I contemplate Your presence in the tabernacle.”

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– St. Josemaria Escriva

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REPETITIVE PRAYER FOR TODAY…

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Jesus my Saviour, my healer, forgive me.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

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… … … … … … … … … … … …… …

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Note: The main source of today’s REFLECTION is the seven-volume work

“In Conversation with God” by Padre Francisco Fernández Carvajal.