Message of 9-2-10
Published: Thu, 08/26/10
- resources for prayer and spiritual growth
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MESSAGE OF THE DAY
The less of self and self-will there is in anything we do, the
better. You must not amuse yourself with going from side to side,
when duty calls you straight on; nor make difficulties, when the
real thing is to get over them. Let your heart be full of courage,
and then say, "I shall succeed. Not I, but the grace of God which
is with me."
- St. Francis de Sales
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LECTIONARY READINGS FOR THE DAY
http://www.nccbuscc.org/nab/
1 Cor 3:18-23; Ps. 24:1bc-2, 3-4ab, 5-6; Lk 5:1-11
R. (1) To the Lord belongs the earth and all that fills it.
The LORD's are the earth and its fullness;
the world and those who dwell in it.
For he founded it upon the seas
and established it upon the rivers.
Who can ascend the mountain of the LORD?
or who may stand in his holy place?
He whose hands are sinless, whose heart is clean,
who desires not what is vain.
He shall receive a blessing from the LORD,
a reward from God his savior.
Such is the race that seeks for him,
that seeks the face of the God of Jacob.
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MEDITATION ON THE GOSPEL
from "Praying the Daily Gospels," by Philip St. Romain:
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- Luke 5: 1-11 (The apostles called.)
We often believe that our successes are due entirely to our own
efforts, hence we cultivate a self- righteous attitude that we
deserve God's favor. In today's reading Jesus teaches four
professional fishermen that without God's grace they cannot catch
even one fish. The fishermen respond by following their Lord.
- Work as if everything depended on you, and pray as if everything
depended on God," Ignatius of Loyola advised. How close is this to
your own attitude concerning work and grace?
- Spend some time with the passage "Do not be afraid. From now on
you will be catching people." Allow God's desire to minister
through you to pervade your entire being.
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SPIRITUAL READING
- "Imitation of Christ," by Thomas A. Kempis
The Voice of Christ
MY CHILD, beware of discussing high matters and God's hidden
judgments
-- why this person is so forsaken and why that one is favored
with so
great a grace, or why one man is so afflicted and another so
highly
exalted. Such things are beyond all human understanding and no
reason
or disputation can fathom the judgments of God.
When the enemy puts such suggestions in your mind, therefore, or
when
some curious persons raise questions about them, answer with the
prophet: "Thou art just, O Lord, and righteous are Thy
judgments"; and this: "The judgments of the Lord are true and
wholly righteous." My judgments are to be feared, not discussed,
because they are incomprehensible to the understanding of men.
In like manner, do not inquire or dispute about the merits of the
saints, as to which is more holy, or which shall be greater in
the
kingdom of heaven. Such things often breed strife and useless
contentions. They nourish pride and vainglory, whence arise envy
and
quarrels, when one proudly tries to exalt one saint and the other
another. A desire to know and pry into such matters brings forth
no
fruit. On the contrary, it displeases the saints, because I am
the
God, not of dissension, but of peace -- of that peace which
consists
in true humility rather than in self-exaltation.
- Chapter 58
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