|
Message of the Day
|
|
In recent times it has become fashionable in Christian spirituality to put great emphasis on service to our neighbour and to equate service with prayer. There is much truth in this idea, but it is a half-truth. There can be no substitute in the spiritual life for being alone with God. There must be that part of spirituality which is private and individual - secret between me and my God. It is that daily attempt to become increasingly aware
of the presence and the action of God in our lives and to know the growing desire within us for some kind of closeness to him.
- Basil Hume (What part of this message speaks to you?)
|
|
Readings of the Day
|
Isaiah 55:10-11; Psalm 34:4-5, 6-7, 16-17,
18-19 Matthew 6:7-15 Jesus said to his disciples: ‘In your prayers do not babble as the pagans do, for they think that by using many words they will make themselves heard. Do not be like them; your Father knows what you need before you ask him. So you should pray like this:
‘Our Father in heaven,
may your name be held holy,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, as we have forgiven those who are in debt to us.
And do not put us to the
test,
but save us from the evil one.
‘Yes, if you forgive others their failings, your heavenly Father will forgive you yours; but if you do not forgive others, your Father will not forgive your failings
either.’ USCCB lectionary
|
|
Reflection on the Scripture
|
“...so shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but shall do My will, achieving the end for which I sent it.” —Isaiah 55:11
In Lent, we imitate Jesus when He fasted for forty days in the desert (Mt 4:2). In Lent, we also imitate Jesus when He overcame the evil one by using the Scriptures (Mt 4:4, 7, 10). To use the Scriptures to fight against temptations, we must know and live the Scriptures. Thus, Lent is the time of making sure that our lives are founded on obeying the Lord’s scriptural revelations (see Mt 7:24) and that the Scriptures are fully integrated into our
lives. Prayer: Father, may I take the Scriptures “not as the word of men, but as it truly is,” Your word at work within us who believe (1 Thes 2:13). Promise: “Give us today our daily bread, and forgive us the wrong we have done as we forgive those who wrong us.” —Mt
6:11-12 Presentation Ministries
|
|
Spiritual Reading
|
|
|
|
The Practice of the Presence of God: The Best Rule of Holy Life, by Brother Lawrence (1611 - 1691). Christian Classics Ethereal Library.
https://ccel.org/ccel/lawrence/practice/practice First Letter
How the habitual sense of God’s Presence was found.
SINCE you desire so earnestly that I should communicate to you the method by which I arrived at that
habitual sense of GOD’s Presence, which our LORD, of His mercy, has been pleased to vouchsafe to me; I must tell you, that it is with great difficulty that I am prevailed on by your importunities; and now I do it only upon the terms, that you show my letter to nobody. If I knew that you would let it be seen, all the desire that I have for your advancement would not be able to determine me to it. The account I can give you is:
Having found in
many books different methods of going to GOD, and divers practices of the spiritual life, I thought this would serve rather to puzzle me, than facilitate what I sought after, which was nothing but how to become wholly GOD’s.
This made me resolve to give the all for the All: so after having given myself wholly to GOD, to make all the satisfaction I could for my sins, I renounced, for the love of Him, everything that was not He; and I began to live as
if there was none but He and I in the world. Sometimes I considered myself before Him as a poor criminal at the feet of his judge; at other times I beheld Him in my heart as my FATHER, as my GOD: I worshipped Him the oftenest that I could, keeping my mind in His holy Presence, and recalling it as often as I found it wandered from Him. I found no small pain in this exercise, and yet I continued it, notwithstanding all the difficulties that occurred, without troubling or disquieting myself when my
mind had wandered involuntarily. I made this my business, as much all the day long as at the appointed times of prayer; for at all times, every hour, every minute, even in the height of my business, I drove away from my mind everything that was capable of inter- rupting my thought of GOD.
Such has been my common practice ever since I entered into religion; and though I have done it very imperfectly, yet I have found great advantages by it. These, I
well know, are to be imputed to the mere mercy and goodness of GOD, because we can do nothing without Him; and I still less than any. But when we are faithful to keep ourselves in His holy Presence, and set Him always before us, this not only hinders our offending Him, and doing anything that may displease Him, at least wilfully, but it also begets in us a holy freedom, and if I may so speak, a familiarity with GOD, wherewith we ask, and that successfully, the graces we stand in need of. In
fine, by often repeating these acts, they become habitual, and the presence of GOD is rendered as it were natural to us. Give Him thanks, if you please, with me, for His great goodness towards me, which I can never sufficiently admire, for the many favours He has done to so miserable a sinner as I am. May all things praise Him. Amen.
Paperback and eBook versions
|
Please support this outreach with a tax-deductible donation. |
|
|
