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I insist again: your foundation must not consist of prayer and contemplation alone: unless you acquire the virtues and practice them, you will always be
dwarfs; and no worse fate may befall you than making no progress, for you know that to stop is to go back -- if you love, you will never be content to come to a standstill."
- St. Teresa of Avila {1515-82}, The Interior Castle
(What virtues do you need to give more attention to? How could these help you to deepen your
growth?)
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ECCL 1:2-11; PS 90:3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 14 AND 17BC LK 9:7-9 Herod the tetrarch heard about all that was happening,
and he was greatly perplexed because some were saying,
“John has been raised from the dead”;
others were saying, “Elijah has appeared”;
still others, “One of the ancient prophets has arisen.”
But Herod said, “John I beheaded.
Who then is this about whom I hear such things?”
And he kept trying to see him.
Praying the Daily Gospels: A Guide to Meditation, by Philip St. Romain, 2018 (3rd ed.) Luke 9: 7-9 (Herod's paranoia) If modern psychology has taught us anything, it is that we cannot escape the problems of life by burying our feelings. King Herod illustrates this truth. Guilt-ridden because he ordered the execution of John the Baptist, he begins to believe that John has risen in the person of Jesus. * Are there crises and tragedies in
your past with which you have not yet finished dealing? If so, are you willing to seek help to work your way through them? * When was the last time you became angry at someone? How did you resolve the conflict? What did you do with your feelings of anger? (If you did nothing with them, know that conflicts with this person will probably
return.)
Treatise on the Love of God, by St. Francis de Sales (1567-1622) ____________ BOOK III: OF THE PROGRESS AND PERFECTION OF LOVE Chapter 3: How a soul in charity makes progress in it Do we not often see, Theotimus, that sound and robust people must be provoked to employ their strength and power well; and, as one would say, must be drawn by the hand to the work? So God having given us his charity, and by it the force and the means to gain
ground in the way of perfection, his love does not permit him to let us walk thus alone, but makes him put himself upon the way with us, urges him to urge us, and solicits his heart to solicit and drive forward ours to make good use of the charity which he has given us, repeating often, by means of his inspirations, S. Paul's admonitions: See that you receive not the grace of God in vain. Whilst we have time, let us work good to all people. So run that you may obtain. So that we are often to think that he repeats in our ears the words which he used to the good father Abraham: Walk before me and be perfect. |
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