Message of 2-24-15

Published: Tue, 02/24/15

Message of the Day

“. . . it is inspiring to consider an Almightiness that transforms the works of evil into the hand-maidens of righteousness and converts the sinner into the saint. And it is this latter power which eternal Love possesses and exhibits. He persistently dwells in the sinner until the sinner wakes up in His likeness and is satisfied with it.”
- Charles H. Brent (1862-1929), With God in the World

(Waking up in God's love . . . Open your heart and mind this day.)

Daily Readings

IS 55:10-11; PS 34:4-7, 16-19; MT 6:7-15

R. From all their distress God rescues the just.

Glorify the LORD with me,

let us together extol his name.

I sought the LORD, and he answered me

and delivered me from all my fears.

Look to him that you may be radiant with joy,

and your faces may not blush with shame.

When the poor one called out, the LORD heard,

and from all his distress he saved him.

The LORD has eyes for the just,

and ears for their cry.

The LORD confronts the evildoers,

to destroy remembrance of them from the earth.

When the just cry out, the LORD hears them,

and from all their distress he rescues them.

The LORD is close to the brokenhearted;

and those who are crushed in spirit he saves.

USCCB Lectionary

Reflection on the Scriptures

"So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but shall do My will, achieving the end for which I sent it." –Isaiah 55:11

God's Word does not return void but achieves the end for which it is sent. Because God's Word is always "living and effective" (Heb 4:12), it is "more precious than thousands of gold and silver pieces" (Ps 119:72). Therefore, we should read and share God's Word daily (Acts 17:11), for ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ (Catechism, 133, St. Jerome).

This Lent, may God's Word find a home in your life. "Humbly welcome the word that has taken root in you, with its power to save you" (Jas 1:21). Like Jesus, use God's Word to resist the temptations of Satan (Lk 4:4, 8, 12). Abide in God's Word (Jn 8:31). Soak in it, and let yourselves be purified "in the bath of water by the power of the word" (Eph 5:26). Delight in the Word of the Lord and meditate on it day and night (see Ps 1:2). "Keep this book of the law on your lips. Recite it by day and by night, that you may observe carefully all that is written in it; then you will successfully attain your goal" (Jos 1:8). This Lent, prepare for Easter by taking a long walk with Jesus as He interprets for you "every passage of Scripture which [refers] to Him" (Lk 24:27). A Lent in God's Word is a Lent in God's will – a Lent of a lifetime.

PRAYER: Father, this Lent may Your Word burn in me and purify me (Lk 24:32).

PROMISE: "Give us today our daily bread, and forgive us the wrong we have done as we forgive those who wrong us." –Mt 6:11-12

- from mycatholic.com website

Spiritual Reading

Stages of Growth in Christian Prayer
- by Philip St. Romain
(based on the writings of St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross)

Infused Prayer

This is contemplative prayer, properly speaking. Here the soul is embraced by God without exercising the faculties. God communicates Spirit-to-spirit, as it were. Generally, contemplative prayer begins as a natural development from the life of active prayer, which helps to prepare the faculties of the soul to receive the gift of contemplation.

It should be known that the stages of contemplative union described during the following posts refer not only to experiences during times of prayer but also to times when one is not in formal prayer. They are states of being rather than prayer experiences, per se.

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