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The primary object of prayer is to know God better; we and our needs should come second.
... Florence Allshorn (1887-1950), Notebooks [1957]
(How might you better pursue this focus?)
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Gn 15:1-12, 17-18; Psalm 105:1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 8-9
Mt 7:15-20
Jesus said to his disciples:
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing,
but underneath are ravenous wolves.
By their fruits you will know them.
Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?
Just so, every good tree bears good fruit,
and a rotten tree bears bad fruit.
A good tree cannot bear bad fruit,
nor can a rotten tree bear good fruit.
Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down
and thrown into the fire.
So by their fruits you will know them.”
Praying the Daily Gospels: A Guide to Meditation, by Philip St. Romain, 2018 (3rd ed.)
Matthew 7:15-20 (By their fruits...)
Now we come to the criterion for discerning truth: Examine the ‘fruits.” Where the fruits of self-indulgence abound in a person’s life, be aware of hypocrisy or false teaching (Galatians 5:19-21). Where the fruits of the Spirit adorn a person’s life, listen to what he or she has to say (Galatians 5:22-24).
• List some of the spiritual fruits that you believe family members/co-workers would say characterize you. List the spiritual fruits that you see in yourself.
• Do you know anyone whose life is characterized by the fruits of the Spirit? Resolve to spend more time with this person.
Treatise on the Love of God, by St. Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
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BOOK II: THE HISTORY OF THE GENERATION AND HEAVENLY BIRTH OF DIVINE LOVE
Chapter 11: That it is no fault of the divine goodness if we have not a most excellent love
O God! Theotimus, if we received divine inspirations to the full extent of their virtue, in how short a time should we make a great progress in sanctity? Be the fountain ever so copious, its streams enter not into a garden according to their plenty, but according to the littleness or greatness of the channel by which they are conducted thither. Although the Holy Ghost, as a spring of living water, flows
up to every part of our heart to spread his graces in it, yet as he will not have them enter without the free consent of our will, he will only pour them out according to his good pleasure and our own disposition and cooperation, as the Holy Council says, which also, by reason, as I suppose, of the correspondence between our consent and grace, calls the reception thereof a voluntary reception.
In this sense S. Paul exhorts us not to receive God's grace in vain. [96] For as a sick man, who having received a draught in his hand did not take it into his stomach, would truly have received the potion, yet without receiving it, that is, he would have received it in a useless and fruitless way, so we receive the grace of God in vain, when we receive it at the gate of our heart, and not within the
consent of our heart; for so we receive it without receiving it, that is, we receive it without fruit, since it is nothing to feel the inspiration without consenting unto it. And as the sick man who had the potion given into his hand, if he took it not wholly but only partly, would also have the operation thereof in part only, and not wholly,--so when God sends a great and mighty inspiration to move us to embrace his holy love, if we consent not according to its whole extent it will but profit
us in the same measure. It happens that being inspired to do much we consent not to the whole inspiration but only to some part thereof, as did those good people in the Gospel, who upon the inspiration which Our Lord gave them to follow him wished to make reservations, the one to go first and bury his father, the other to go to take leave of his people.
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