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Be patient, not only with respect to the main trials which beset you, but also under the accidental and accessory annoyances which arise out of them. We often find people who imagine themselves ready to accept a trial in itself who are impatient of its consequences.
- Franois de Sales (1567-1622), Introduction to the Devout Life
(What trials and possible consequences of these difficulties confront you these days? How might God be found in the midst of these? What lessons to be learned?)
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IS 48:17-19; PS 1:1-2, 3, 4 AND 6
MT 11:16-19
Jesus said to the crowds:
"To what shall I compare this generation?
It is like children who sit in marketplaces and call to one another,
'We played the flute for you, but you did not dance,
we sang a dirge but you did not mourn.'
For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they said,
'He is possessed by a demon.'
The Son of Man came eating and drinking and they said,
'Look, he is a glutton and a drunkard,
a friend of tax collectors and sinners.'
But wisdom is vindicated by her works."
USCCB lectionary
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Reflection on the Scripture |
"He is like a tree planted near running water, that yields its fruit in due season." —Psalm 1:3
The Lord wants to teach us what is good for us. He desires to lead us on the way we should go this Christmas (Is 48:17). If we hearken to His commandments, this Christmas we will be "like a river,...the waves of the sea," and the sand of the seashore (Is 48:18-19). We will be full of life and extremely fruitful. If we obey the Lord, this Christmas we will fulfill in an exceptional way the Lord's first recorded words to the newly created human race: "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth"
(Gn 1:28, RSV-CE).
This Christmas, the Lord may fulfill as never before in our lives His promise: "I came that they may have life and have it abundantly" (Jn 10:10, RSV-CE). In our contraceptive, abortifacient culture of death, we will be spiritually pregnant. What better way to enter into the celebration of Christ's birth! "God is not the God of the dead but of the living" (Lk 20:38). This Christmas, "choose life, then, that you and your descendants may live, by
loving the Lord, your God, heeding His voice, and holding fast to Him. For that will mean life for you" (Dt 30:19-20).
Prayer: Father, use my life to build a civilization of love and life.
Promise: "Happy the one who follows not the counsel of the wicked nor walks in the way of sinners, nor sits in the company of the insolent, but delights in the law of the Lord." —Ps 1:1-2
Presentation Ministries
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Abandonment to Divine Providence
- by Jean-Pierre de Caussade
CHAPTER II. THE DIVINE ACTION WORKS UNCEASINGLY FOR THE SANCTIFICATION OF SOULS.
SECTION I.The Divine Action.
The divine action, although only visible to the eye of faith, is everywhere, and always present.
Pursue then without ceasing, ye faithful souls, this beloved Spouse who with giant strides passes from one extremity of the heavens to the other. If you be content and untiring nothing will have power to hide Him from you. He moves above the smallest blades of grass as above the mighty cedar. The grains of sand are under His feet as well as the huge mountains. Wherever you may turn, there you will find His footprints, and in
following them perseveringly you will find Him wherever you may be.
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