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"In the name of Jesus Christ, who was never in a hurry, we pray, O God, that You will slow us down, for we know that we live too fast. With all of eternity before us, make us take time to live—time to get acquainted with You, time to enjoy Your blessings, and time for each other." - Peter Marshall
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Daily Readings
Acts 5:17-26
Psalm 34:2-3,
4-5, 6-7, 8-9 John 3:16-21 Jesus said to Nicodemus:
‘God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son,
so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost
but may have eternal life.
For God sent his Son into the
world
not to condemn the world,
but so that through him the world might be saved.
No one who believes in him will be condemned;
but whoever refuses to believe is condemned already,
because he has refused to believe in the name of God’s only Son.
On these
grounds is sentence pronounced:
that though the light has come into the world
men have shown they prefer darkness to the light
because their deeds were evil.
And indeed, everybody who does wrong
hates the light and avoids it,
for fear his actions should be
exposed;
but the man who lives by the truth comes out into the light,
so that it may be plainly seen that what he does is done in God.’
Praying the Daily Gospels: A Guide to Meditation, by Philip St. Romain, 2018 (3rd ed.) John 3:16-21 (Jesus sent to save, not
judge) Many people believe that Gods judgment works as a positive endorsement for, or negative decision against, us. Jesus' teaching about light and darkness reminds us that judgment means that God will honor the choices we have freely made. Those who reject Jesus and the way to God he reveals will be allowed to experience the darkness of soul they have chosen. God gives us freedom to respond to his love or to
reject him. If this were not true, we could not share in God's love. * Verse 20 implies that those who hate the light are ashamed and afraid to change. Is there anything from your past of which you are ashamed and believe that God has not forgiven? Ask for forgiveness. * Is it easy for you to change attitudes and behaviors that conflict with the way of
love? Pray for the grace to change.
Treatise on the Love of God, by St. Francis de Sales (1567-1622) ____________ BOOK VI: OF THE EXERCISES OF LOVE IN PRAYER
Complacency for St. Francis de Sales means contentment to simply be with God, to rest in God. Chapter 1: A description of
mystical theology, which is no other thing than prayer.
Love desires secrecy; yea, though lovers may have nothing secret to say, yet they love to say it secretly: and this is partly, if I am not mistaken, because they would speak only for themselves, whereas when they speak out loud it seems no longer to be for themselves alone; partly because they do not say common things in a common manner, but with touches which are particular,
and which manifest the special affection with which they speak. The language of love is common, as to the words, but in manner and pronunciation it is so special that none but lovers understand it. The name of a friend uttered in public is no great thing, but spoken apart, secretly in the ear, it imports wonders, and the more secretly it is spoken the more delightful is its signification. O God! what a difference there is between the language of the ancient lovers of the Divinity,--Ignatius,
Cyprian, Chrysostom, Augustine, Hilary, Ephrem, Gregory, Bernard,--and that of less affectionate theologians! We use their very words, but with them the words were full of fire and of sweets of amorous perfumes; with us they are cold and have no scent at all.
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