Message of 3-22-11
Published: Sun, 03/20/11
- resources for prayer and spiritual growth
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MESSAGE OF THE DAY
Those blessed ones of thine... shall rejoice according as they
shall love; and they shall love according as they shall know. How
far they will know thee, Lord, then! and how much they will love
thee!
- St. Anselm (1033-1109), "Discourse on the Existence of God"
(Love and knowledge complement each other; to know God is to love
God, and to love God is to know God.)
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LECTIONARY READINGS FOR THE DAY
http://www.nccbuscc.org/nab/
Is 1:10, 16-20; Ps 50:8-9, 16bc-17, 21 and 23; Mt 23:1-12
R. (23b) To the upright I will show the saving power of God.
"Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you,
for your burnt offerings are before me always.
I take from your house no bullock,
no goats out of your fold."
"Why do you recite my statutes,
and profess my covenant with your mouth,
Though you hate discipline
and cast my words behind you?"
"When you do these things, shall I be deaf to it?
Or do you think that I am like yourself?
I will correct you by drawing them up before your eyes.
He that offers praise as a sacrifice glorifies me;
and to him that goes the right way I will show the salvation of
God."
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REFLECTION ON THE GOSPEL
- from http://www.dailyscripture.net/
Humility is the queen or foundation of all the other virtues
because it enables us to see and judge correctly, the way God sees.
Humility helps us to be teachable so we can acquire true knowledge,
wisdom, and an honest view of reality. It directs our energy, zeal,
and ambition to give ourselves to something greater than ourselves.
Humility frees us to love and serve others selflessly, for their
sake, rather than our own. Paul the Apostle gives us the greatest
example and model of humility in the person of Jesus Christ, who
emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, and ...who humbled
himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross
(Philippians 2:7-8). Do you want to be a servant as Jesus served
and loved others? The Lord gives grace to those who humbly seek him.
"Lord Jesus, you became a servant for my sake to set me free from
the tyranny of selfish pride and self-concern. Teach me to be
humble as you are humble and to love others generously with
selfless service and kindness."
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SPIRITUAL READING
"The Way of Perfection"
- by Teresa of Avila (1515-1582)
(Continues the subject begun in the first chapter and persuades the
sisters to busy themselves constantly in beseeching God to help
those who work for the Church. Ends with an exclamatory prayer.)
Oh, Eternal Father! Surely all these scourgings and insults and
grievous tortures will not be forgotten. How, then, my Creator, can
a heart so [merciful and] loving as Thine endure that an act which
was performed by Thy Son in order to please Thee the more (for He
loved Thee most deeply and Thou didst command Him to love us)
should be treated as lightly as those heretics treat the Most Holy
Sacrament today, in taking it from its resting-place when they
destroy the churches? Could it be that [Thy Son and our Redeemer]
had failed to do something to please Thee? No: He fulfilled
everything. Was it not enough, Eternal Father, that while He lived
He had no place to lay His head and had always to endure so many
trials? Must they now deprive Him of the places to which He can
invite His friends, seeing how weak we are and knowing that those
who have to labour need such food to sustain them? Had He not
already more than sufficiently paid for the sin of Adam? Has this
most loving Lamb to pay once more whenever we relapse into sin?
Permit it not, my Emperor; let Thy Majesty be appeased; look not
upon our sins but upon our redemption by Thy Most Sacred Son, upon
His merits and upon those of His glorious Mother and of all the
saints and martyrs who have died for Thee.
- Chapter 3
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