Spiritual Diet

Mt 13:10-17

The disciples approached Jesus and said,
“Why do you speak to the crowd in parables?”
He said to them in reply,
“Because knowledge of the mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven
has been granted to you, but to them it has not been granted.
To anyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich;
from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away.
This is why I speak to them in parables, because
they look but do not see and hear but do not listen or understand.
Isaiah’s prophecy is fulfilled in them, which says:

You shall indeed hear but not understand,
you shall indeed look but never see.
Gross is the heart of this people,
they will hardly hear with their ears,
they have closed their eyes,
lest they see with their eyes
and hear with their ears
and understand with their hearts and be converted
and I heal them.

“But blessed are your eyes, because they see,
and your ears, because they hear.
Amen, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people
longed to see what you see but did not see it,
and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.”

{}{}{}{}{}{}{}

Great are the temptations of the world today! The things we hear and the things our eyes can see tell us how our generation seems to glorify self-success, to condone immoral values and permit violence and illicit relationships.

We are often told about how food nourishes us and makes us into the persons we are. But what do we eat? It is in this same respect that we often allow ourselves to partake of spiritual rubbish, in the form of today's filth-ridden media.

In this world full of filthy things, we ought to close our eyes and ears from the noise and profanity of today's world. In turn, we ought to listen to the One True Voice of Christ, and open the eyes of our heart to the Love of Christ.

As in how those who intend to lose weight cut back on certain food, we Christians are likewise called to be on a diet: restricting our soul food choices to those only coming from Christ.

You are what you eat. Never ever has this saying ever became this true.

{}{}{}{}{}{}{}

Today, the Church celebrates the feast of the incorruptible Saint Sharbel Maklouf. The following account is copied from American Catholic.

[...] Although this saint never traveled far from the Lebanese village of Beka-Kafra, where he was born, his influence has spread widely.
Joseph Zaroun Maklouf was raised by an uncle because his father, a mule driver, died when Joseph was only three. At the age of 23, Joseph joined the Monastery of St. Maron at Annaya, Lebanon, and took the name Sharbel in honor of a second-century martyr. He professed his final vows in 1853 and was ordained six years later.

Following the example of the fifth-century St. Maron, Sharbel lived as a hermit from 1875 until his death. His reputation for holiness prompted people to seek him to receive a blessing and to be remembered in his prayers. He followed a strict fast and was very devoted to the Blessed Sacrament. When his superiors occasionally asked him to administer the sacraments to nearby villages, Sharbel did so gladly.

He died in the late afternoon on Christmas Eve. Christians and non-Christians soon made his tomb a place of pilgrimage and of cures. Pope Paul VI beatified him in 1965 and canonized him in 1977. [...]

{}{}{}{}{}{}{}

Saint Sharbel Maklouf, pray for us.

{}{}{}{}{}{}{}

photo credits: http://www.american-pictures.com/genealogy/descent/photos/Isaiah.the.prophet.jpg, http://www.flickr.com/photos/odiosa/2468516233/, http://www.catholictradition.org/Eucharist/charbel-1a.jpg