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Grant me, O Lord my God, a mind to know you, a heart to seek you, wisdom to find you, conduct pleasing to you, faithful perseverance in waiting for you, and a hope of finally embracing you. Amen.
- Thomas Aquinas
(A good Advent prayer to pray this day.)
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Is 41:13-20; Psalm 145:1 and 9, 10-11, 12-13ab
Mt 11:11-15
Jesus said to the crowds:
“Amen, I say to you,
among those born of women
there has been none greater than John the Baptist;
yet the least in the Kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
From the days of John the Baptist until now,
the Kingdom of heaven suffers violence,
and the violent are taking it by force.
All the prophets and the law prophesied up to the time of John.
And if you are willing to accept it,
he is Elijah, the one who is to come.
Whoever has ears ought to hear.”
Praying the Daily Gospels: A Guide to Meditation, by Philip St. Romain, 2018 (3rd ed.)
Matthew 11:11-15 (Jesus praises John the Baptist)
The figure of John the Baptist is one revered by the Church. John was apparently one of the greatest of Jewish prophets, one believed by many to be the messiah. The Church has long considered John the forerunner of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. In today’s reading Jesus himself identifies John as the spirit of Elijah who had been prophesied to usher in the new age.
* The spirit of John the Baptist was a spirit of boldness and courage which Winston Churchill maintained made all other virtues possible. Are you courageous in standing up for the gospel?
* Pray for the grace to let go of fear in your life.
Treatise on the Love of God, by St. Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
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BOOK II: THE HISTORY OF THE GENERATION AND HEAVENLY BIRTH OF DIVINE LOVE
Chapter 16: How love is practices in hope
Now these divine promises and assurances, by a particular marvel, increase the cause of our disquiet, and yet, while they increase the cause, they undo and destroy the effects. Yea, verily, Theotimus; for the assurance which God gives us that paradise is ours, infinitely strengthens the desire we have to enjoy it, and yet weakens, yea altogether destroys, the trouble and disquiet which this desire brought unto
us; so that our hearts by the promises which the divine goodness has made us, remain quite calmed, and this calm is the root of the most holy virtue which we call hope. For the will, assured by faith that she has power to enjoy the sovereign good by using the means appointed, makes two great acts of virtue: by the one she expects from God the fruition of his sovereign goodness, by the other she aspires to that holy fruition.
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