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Post by Elizabeth on Apr 17, 2019 3:54:44 GMT
APRIL 16 Christ's Resurrection
Know that our faith is strengthened by the resurrection of Christ. The passion of Christ represents the misery of our present life, while the resurrection of Christ gives us a brilliant glimpse of the happiness of the future life. Let us apply ourselves energetically in the present life, and hope in the future. Now is the time for the painful struggle; then will come the recompense. Those who are lazy about carrying out their work will be brazenly impudent if they expect the recompense. - Sermon 233, 1
Prayer. O death, whn you sized my lord, you then lost your grip on me.
-Sermon 233, 3
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Post by Elizabeth on Apr 18, 2019 2:14:36 GMT
APRIL 17 Be an Ant of God
Emulate the tiny ant; be an ant of God. Listen to the word of God and hide it in your heart. Collect plenty of food during the happy days of your spiritual summers. You will then be able to endure the difficult days of temptations during the winters of your soul. - Sermon 38, 6
Prayer. Lord, Thou art delightful food for the pure of heart.
-Confessions 13, 21
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Post by Elizabeth on Apr 18, 2019 16:33:38 GMT
APRIL 18 The Kiss of Peace
Directly after the Our Father, the words "Peace be with you" are said at Mass. A great sacrament lies in this kiss of peace. Let your kiss be the expression of a true love. Do not be Judas! Judas kissed Christ with his lips, while in his heart he was already plotting against Him.
-Sermon 229, 3
Prayer. Lord God, give us peace - for Thou hast given us all things - the peace of rest, the peace of the sabbath, the sabbath that has no evening. -Confessions 13, 35
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Post by Elizabeth on Apr 20, 2019 3:54:03 GMT
APRIL 19 Give What You Have
To give you all the bread that you can touch and see is something that I cannot do. But this word is your portion. I give you the nourishment on which I myself subsist. I am your fellow servant, not the father of the household. - Sermon 339, 4
Prayer. We did not exist when we were predestined, we were hostile when we were called, and we were sinners when we were justified. Then let us give thanks to God and not remain ungrateful. -Sermon 158, 3
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Post by Elizabeth on Apr 21, 2019 2:20:49 GMT
APRIL 20 Our Brother in Heaven
Wonderful is the fact that, even though Christ ascended above the heavens, He remains close to those who are still living on earth. Who is this One Who is so far away and yet so near? He is the One Who out of merciful goodness became our Brother! -Sermon 171, 1
Prayer. "That I might gaze upon the delight of the Lord": see what I love, see why I want to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. In it lies something wonderful to see, the delight of the Lord Himself awaiting our contemplation.
-Commentary on Psalm 26 (2), 8
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Post by Elizabeth on Apr 21, 2019 16:31:56 GMT
APRIL 21 Life-the Intermediate State
As a torrent gathers together from the rains, and overflows, roars, runs, and by running hastens down until it finally finishes its course, so is it with our mortal life. This human race is collected together from hidden sources and flows on, and at death travels again to hidden places. This intermediate state that is life roars and passes away. - Commentary on Psalm 109, 20
Prayer. Behold, O Lord, we are Thy little flock; we belong to Thee. - Confessions 10, 36
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Post by Elizabeth on Apr 22, 2019 18:20:54 GMT
APRIL 22 Inner Conflict
Controlling my will as he did, the enemy fashioned a chain out of it and bound me with it. A new will that had begun in me, to wish freely to worship Thee and find joy in Thee, O God, was not yet able to overcome that prior will, grown strong with age. Thus did my two wills--the one old, the other new, the first carnal, the second spiritual--struggle with one another, and by their conflict they laid waste my soul.
- Confessions 8, 5
Prayer. "Thou have proved my heart, Lord, and visited me by night": because my heart itself has been proved by the visitation of distress. - Commentary on Psalm 16, 3
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Post by Elizabeth on Apr 23, 2019 17:36:43 GMT
APRIL 23 The Choice id God's
Even if God's choice in this matter should be perceptible to some, I must admit that I am incapable of knowing. I just cannot find what criterion to apply in deciding which persons should be chosen to be saved by grace. I would instinctively choose those with better intelligence or less sins, or both; I should add, I suppose, a sound and proper education. And as soon as I decide on that, He will laugh me to scorn. - To Simplicianus , 2
Prayer. Lord, Thou value us, caring for us so much and thinking so much of us. Thou set us in order and know where to place us in the hierarchy of being. - Commentary on Psalm 143, 10
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Post by Elizabeth on Apr 24, 2019 15:45:50 GMT
APRIL 24 Turn Your Steps Homeward
Let us work hard every day at making progress toward God. If we are tested or tempted in our children or in our purses, let's not panic but place our hope in God. We are Christians, and our homeland is not here. Like good children, let us turn our steps homeward, that our course may be approved and guided to its conclusion. - Sermon 16A, 13
Prayer. Heal and open my eyes, Lord, that I may recognize Thy will. Put to flight my foolishness that I may know Thee.
- Soliloquies 1, 1
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Post by Elizabeth on Apr 26, 2019 2:09:17 GMT
APRIL 25 Christ's Example
Our Lord came down from life to suffer death; the Bread came down, to hunger; the Way came down, on the way to weariness; the Font came down, to thirst. Do you refuse to take work upon yourself? You must not seek what is for yourself; preach the truth! That is how you will come to eternity, and there find security. - Sermon 78, 6
Prayer. Lord, Thou strengthened me because I took refuge in Thee. And I took refuge because Thou freed me.
- Commentary on Psalm 17, 3
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Post by Elizabeth on Apr 27, 2019 2:34:58 GMT
APRIL 26 We Call Upon Thee
Since Christ has called, let Him be called upon. Say to Him: Thou have called us; we call upon Thee. We have understood Thy vocation; hear our invocation. Bring us to where Thou have promised. Perfect what Thou have begun. Do not abandon Thy own gifts; do not abandon Thy own field. Let Thy plants enter Thy barn! - Sermon on John 40, 10
Prayer. "Do not abandon me, and do not despise me, God my Savior": And do not despise a mortal for daring to seek eternity. For Thou, O God , heal the wounds of my sin. - Commentary on Psalm 26 (1), 9
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Post by Elizabeth on Apr 27, 2019 15:28:44 GMT
APRIL 27 Love Your Brothers and Sisters
Beg God for the gift to love one another. Love all people, even your enemies, not because they are your brothers and sisters but that they may become such. Love them in order that you may be at all times on fire with love, whether toward those who have become your brothers and sisters or toward your enemies, so that by being beloved they may become your brothers and sisters.
- Sermon on 1 John 10, 7
Prayer. To those who love Thee, O Lord, according to Thy command, Thou show Thyself and Thou are all they seek. Thus they do not fall away from Thee nor back into themselves. - Sermon 261, 1
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Post by Elizabeth on Apr 28, 2019 17:42:04 GMT
APRIL 28 Abiding in Christ
Jesus recommended to us His Body and Blood in bread and wine, elements that are reduced into one out of many constituents. What is meant by eating that food and taking that drink is this: to remain in Christ and have Him remaining in us. - Sermon on John 26, 11
Prayer. Thou are my strength, O Lord, so that I may stand firm in this world against all temptation. But if there are many who trouble me, Thou are my refuge. - Commentary on Psalm 70 (1), 5
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Post by Elizabeth on Apr 29, 2019 23:53:07 GMT
APRIL 29 Possessed by the Lord
Please understand: the resurrection of the body will be an end without end. The body will die no more, will experience no more sufferings, no more hunger and thirst, and no more afflictions. Neither will it become aged or ill. We shall be possessed by the Lord-His inheritance, and He will be ours. - Sermon 213, 9
Prayer. I have lifted up my soul to Thee, O Lord, as if I carried a jug to a fountain. Fill me, then, since I have lifted up my soul to Thee. - Commentary on Psalm 142, 15
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Post by Elizabeth on May 1, 2019 2:52:32 GMT
APRIL 30 The Beauty of Creation
Thou, Lord, created heaven and earth. They are beautiful because Thou are beauty. They are good because Thou are goodness. They exist because Thou are existence. However, they are not as beautiful or as good as Thee, nor do they have existence as Thou their Creator have it. Compared with Thee they are neither beautiful nor good, nor do they exist. - Confessions 11, 4
Prayer. My God, I shall run to another to be refreshed if I have been made by another. Thou are all I possess, because Thou are my God. Thou are not only the giver of my inheritance, but the inheritance itself.
- Commentary on Psalm 142, 17
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