Message of 12-29-11

Published: Thu, 12/29/11


A Daily Spiritual Seed
- resources for prayer and spiritual growth


Message of the Day

Souls are made sweet not by taking [ill tempers] out, but by putting something in--a great Love, a new Spirit, the Spirit of Christ. Christ, the Spirit of Christ, interpenetrating ours, sweetens, purifies, transforms all. This only can eradicate what is wrong, ... renovate and regenerate, and rehabilitate the inner self. Will-power does not change us. Time does not change us. Christ does. Therefore "Let that mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus."
   - Henry Drummond (1851-1897), The Greatest Thing in the World

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Lectionary Readings of the Day
   http://www.usccb.org/calendar/index.cfm?showLit=1&action=month

1 Jn 2:3-11;    Ps 96:1-2a, 2b-3, 5b-6;    Lk 2:22-35

R. (11a) Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice!

Sing to the LORD a new song;
sing to the LORD, all you lands.
Sing to the LORD; bless his name.

Announce his salvation, day after day.
Tell his glory among the nations;
among all peoples, his wondrous deeds.

The LORD made the heavens.
Splendor and majesty go before him;
praise and grandeur are in his sanctuary.

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Reflection on the Gospel
- from http://www.dailyscripture.net/

Simeon blessed Mary and Joseph and he prophesied to Mary about the destiny of this child and the suffering she would undergo for his sake. There is a certain paradox for those blessed by the Lord. Mary was given the blessedness of being the mother of the Son of God. That blessedness also would become a sword which pierced her heart as her Son died upon the cross. She received both a crown of joy and a cross of sorrow. But her joy was not diminished by her sorrow because it was fueled by her faith, hope, and trust in God and his promises. Jesus promised his disciples that "no one will take your joy from you" (John 16:22). The Lord gives us a supernatural joy which enables us to bear any sorrow or pain and which neither life nor death can take way. Do you know the joy of a life fully surrendered to God with faith and trust?

"Lord Jesus, may I recognize your visitation and be prepared for your action in my life today, just as Simeon Anna were prepared and ready to respond to your visitation and action in their day."

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Spiritual Reading
    - Imitation of Christ, by Thomas A. Kempis

The Disciple

Oh, how clean those hands should be, how pure the lips, how sanctified the body, how immaculate the heart of the priest to whom the Author of all purity so often comes. No word but what is holy, none but what is good and profitable ought to come from the lips of the priest who so often receives the Sacrament of Christ. Single and modest should be the eyes accustomed to looking upon the Body of Christ. Pure and lifted up to heaven the hands accustomed to handle the Creator of heaven and earth. To priests above all it is written in the law: "Be ye holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy."

   - Book 4, Chapter 11

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