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"So love is the way to Christian enlightenment and there is no other. This love has a twofold thrust: love of God and love of neighbour. In either case it is ecstatic. That is to say, my consciousness expands and I go out of myself--I go out to all men and women who have ever lived or ever will love, to the whole material universe of moons and stars and planets, to every blade of grass and every grain of
sand, to every living creature, and to the great mystery at the centre of all, the great mystery we call God--and God is love."
- William Johnston, Letters to Contemplatives
(This depth of openness actualizes the full range of our human potential. Resolve to love so fully this day.)
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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.”
USCCB Lectionary
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Praying the Daily Gospels: A Guide to Meditation, by Philip St. Romain,
2018 (3rd ed.)
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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.
Paperback, Kindle and eBook
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Treatise on the Love of God, by St. Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
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BOOK I: CONTAINING A PREPARATION FOR THE WHOLE TREATISE
Chapter 11: That there are two portions in the soul, and how
Now this superior part can reason according to two sorts of lights; either according to natural light, as the philosophers and all those who have reasoned by science did; or according to supernatural light, as do theologians and Christians, since they establish their reasoning upon faith and the revealed word of God, and still more especially those whose spirit is conducted by
particular illustrations, inspirations, and heavenly motions. This is what S. Augustine said, namely, that it is by the superior portion of the soul that we adhere and apply ourselves to the observance of the eternal law.
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