Message of 1-25-11
Published: Sun, 01/23/11
- resources for prayer and spiritual growth
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MESSAGE OF THE DAY
Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time, and always
start with the person nearest you.
- Mother Teresa
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LECTIONARY READINGS FOR THE DAY
http://www.nccbuscc.org/nab/
Acts 22:3-16; Ps 117:1bc, 2; Mk 16:15-18
R. (Mark 16:15) Go out to all the world and tell the Good News.
Praise the Lord, all you nations;
glorify him, all you peoples!
For steadfast is his kindness toward us,
and the fidelity of the Lord endures forever.
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REFLECTION ON THE GOSPEL
- from http://www.dailyscripture.net/
Jesus' last words to his apostles point to his saving mission and
to their mission to be witnesses of his saving death and his
glorious resurrection and to proclaim the good news of salvation to
all the world. Their task is to proclaim the good news of
salvation, not only to the people of Israel, but to all the
nations. God's love and gift of salvation is not just for a few, or
for a nation, but it is for the whole world - for all who will
accept it. The gospel is the power of God, the power to forgive
sins, to heal, to deliver from evil and oppression, and to restore
life. Do you believe in the power of the gospel?
"Lord Jesus, through the gift of your Holy Spirit, you fill us with
an indomitable spirit of praise and joy which no earthly trial can
subdue. Fill me with your resurrection joy and help me to live a
life of praise and thanksgiving for your glory. May I witness to
those around me the joy of the gospel and the reality of your
resurrection."
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SPIRITUAL READING
"The Way of Perfection"
- by Teresa of Avila (1515-1582)
(Treats of how the necessities of the body should be disregarded
and of the good that comes from poverty.)
A great deal has been written about this virtue (poverty) which I
cannot understand, still less express, and I should only be making
things worse if I were to eulogize it, so I will say no more about
it now. I have only spoken of what I have myself experienced and I
confess that I have been so much absorbed that until now I have
hardly realized what I have been writing. However, it has been said
now. Our arms are holy poverty, which was so greatly esteemed and
so strictly observed by our holy Fathers at the beginning of the
foundation of our Order. (Someone who knows about this tells me
that they never kept anything from one day to the next.) For the
love of the Lord, then, [I beg you] now that the rule of poverty is
less perfectly observed as regards outward things, let us strive to
observe it inwardly. Our life lasts only for a couple of hours; our
reward is boundless; and, if there were no reward but to follow the
counsels given us by the Lord, to imitate His Majesty in any degree
would bring us a great recompense.
These arms must appear on our banners and at all costs we must keep
this rule -- as regards our house, our clothes, our speech, and
(which is much more important) our thoughts. So long as this is
done, there need be no fear, with the help of God, that religious
observances in this house will decline, for, as Saint Clare said,
the walls of poverty are very strong. It was with these walls, she
said, and with those of humility, that she wished to surround her
convents; and assuredly, if the rule of poverty is truly kept, both
chastity and all the other virtues are fortified much better than
by the most sumptuous edifices.
- Chapter 2
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