Message of 1-10-12

Published: Tue, 01/10/12


A Daily Spiritual Seed
- resources for prayer and spiritual growth


Message of the Day

I compare the troubles which we have to undergo in the course of the year to a great bundle of fagots, far too large for us to lift. But God does not require us to carry the whole at once. He mercifully unties the bundle, and gives us first one stick, which we are to carry today, and then another, which we are to carry tomorrow, and so on. This we might easily manage, if we would only take the burden appointed for each day; but we choose to increase our troubles by carrying yesterday's stick over again today, and adding tomorrow's burden to the load, before we are required to bear it.
   - John Newton

(Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.  Mt. 6:34)

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

1 Sm 1:9-20;    Ps 116:12-13, 14-17, 18-19;    Mk 1:14-20

R. (17a) To you, Lord, I will offer a sacrifice of praise.

How shall I make a return to the LORD
for all the good he has done for me?
The cup of salvation I will take up,
and I will call upon the name of the LORD.

My vows to the LORD I will pay
in the presence of all his people.
Precious in the eyes of the LORD
is the death of his faithful ones.
O LORD, I am your servant;
I am your servant, the son of your handmaid;
you have loosed my bonds.

My vows to the LORD I will pay
in the presence of all his people,
In the courts of the house of the LORD,
in your midst, O Jerusalem.

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Reflection on the Gospel
  - from Praying the Daily Gospels
    http://www.liguori.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=6614

- Mark 1: 14-20 (Jesus begins his ministry)

Mark's account of Jesus' early proclamation gives us a preview of all that is to follow.  Jesus sees himself and his ministry as essential for the coming of God's reign.  He invites us to reform our lives if we, too, are to be citizens of this kingdom.

  • What is so good about the Good News? How is it different from other news?

  • What kind of man must Jesus have been to attract four fishermen away from their tasks? Picture the call of these apostles in your imagination.  Hear Jesus calling you, too, to follow him.

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    Spiritual Reading
    The Way of Perfection
      - by Teresa of Avila (1515-1582)

    (Continues to treat of mortification and describes how it may be attained in times of sickness.)

    However, I am quite sure that where there is prayer and charity among you, and your numbers are so small that you will be aware of each other's needs, there will never be any lack of care in your being looked after. Do not think of complaining about the weaknesses and minor ailments from which women suffer, for the devil sometimes makes you imagine them. They come and go; and unless you get rid of the habit of talking about them and complaining of everything (except to God) you will never come to the end of them. I lay great stress on this, for I believe myself it is important, and it is one of the reasons for the relaxation of discipline in religious houses. For this body of ours has one fault: the more you indulge it, the more things it discovers to be essential to it. It is extraordinary how it likes being indulged; and, if there is any reasonable pretext for indulgence, however little necessity for it there may be, the poor soul is taken in and prevented from making progress. Think how many poor people there must be who are ill and have no one to complain to, for poverty and self-indulgence make bad company. Think, too, how many married women -- people of position, as I know -- have serious complaints and sore trials and yet dare not complain to their husbands about them for fear of annoying them. Sinner that I am! Surely we have not come here to indulge ourselves more than they! Oh, how free you are from the great trials of the world! Learn to suffer a little for the love of God without telling everyone about it. When a woman has made an unhappy marriage she does not talk about it or complain of it, lest it should come to her husband's knowledge, she has to endure a great deal of misery and yet has no one to whom she may relieve her mind. Cannot we, then, keep secret between God and ourselves some of the ailments which He sends us because of our sins? The more so since talking about them does nothing whatever to alleviate them.

    - Chapter 11

    (Keep in mind that she is writing to sisters in a cloistered contemplative order.)

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