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In order to be an image of God, the spirit must turn to what is eternal, hold it in spirit, keep it in memory, and by loving it, embrace it in the will. - Edith Stein (That's what we do in prayer.)
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Daily Readings
Is 55:10-11; PS 34:4-5,
6-7, 16-17, 18-19 Mt 6:7-15 Jesus said to his disciples: “In praying, do not babble like the pagans, who think that they will be heard
because of their many words. Do not be like them. Your Father knows what you need before you ask him. “This is how you are to pray: Our Father who
art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but
deliver us from evil. “If you forgive men their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you do not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive your
transgressions.”
Praying the Daily Gospels: A Guide to Meditation, by Philip St. Romain, 2018 (3rd ed.) Matthew 6: 7-15: The Lord’s Prayer This most famous of
all prayers is rather a formula for prayer. Its movements include acknowledgment and praise of God as creator, hope for the kingdom, affirmation of the importance of life on earth, petition for our needs, and requests for forgiveness of sin and protection from evil. This passage concludes with a sobering reminder that our experience of God’s forgiveness is contingent on our own willingness to forgive. • Spend a few moments with each line of the Lord’s Prayer, adding your own prayers to each verse. When you ask for your daily bread and for forgiveness of your sins, be specific in your requests.
Treatise on the Love of God, by St. Francis de Sales (1567-1622) ____________ BOOK IV: OF THE DECAY AND RUIN OF CHARITY Chapter 7: That we must . . . humbly acquiesce in God's most wise providence. Behold, Theotimus, the most holy way of philosophising on this subject. Wherefore I have always considered that the learned modesty and most wise humility of the seraphic Doctor S. Bonaventure were greatly to be admired and loved, in the discourse which he makes of the reason why divine providence ordains the elect to eternal life. "Perhaps," says he, "it is by a foresight of the good works which will be done by him that is drawn,
insomuch as they proceed in some sort from the will: but distinctly to declare which good works being foreseen move God's will, I am not able, nor will I make inquiry thereupon: and there is no other reason than some sort of congruity, so that we might assign one while it might be another. Wherefore we cannot with assurance point out the true reason nor the true motive of God's will in this: for as S. Augustine says: 'Although the truth of it is most certain, yet is it far removed from our
thoughts.' So that we can say nothing assuredly of it unless by the revelation of him who knows all things. And whereas it was not expedient for our salvation that we should have knowledge of these secrets, but on the contrary, it was more profitable that we should be ignorant of them, to keep us in humility, God would not reveal them, yea the holy Apostle did not dare to inquire about them, but testified the insufficiency of our understanding in this matter when he cried out: O the depth of the
riches of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God!" Could one speak more holily Theotimus of so holy a mystery? Indeed these are the words of a most saintly and prudent Doctor of the Church.
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