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Post by Elizabeth on Jul 2, 2019 3:54:36 GMT
JULY 1 One Teacher: Christ
Avoid being called "Teacher." Only One is your teacher, the Messiah. Let Him therefore speak to you interiorly, in that place where no one can enter into your heart. On second though, let there be no one in your heart - let Christ be there. Let His unction spread in your heart, lest it be a heart thirsting in the wilderness and having no fountains to be quenched. - Sermon on 1 John 3, 13
Prayer. Thou have accompanied me on my path, O Truth, teaching me what to avoid and what to desire. - Confessions 10, 40
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Post by Elizabeth on Jul 2, 2019 16:41:08 GMT
JULY 2 Love the Whole Christ
Extend your love over the whole earth if you desire to love Christ, for Christ's members are all over the earth. If you love but a part, you are divided, you are not under the Head. What good is it for you to believe and blaspheme Him in the Body! - Sermon on 1 John 10, 7
Prayer. Behold, O Lord, we are Thy little flock. We belong to Thee. - Confessions 10, 36
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Post by Elizabeth on Jul 3, 2019 23:34:41 GMT
JULY 3 Who Are the Proud?
Who are the proud? Those who do not perform penance and confess their sins in order to be healed through humility. Who are the proud? Those who attribute to themselves the few good qualities they to possess and endeavor to diminish the mercy of God. Who are the proud? Those who, while attributing to God the good they accomplish, insult others for not performing such works and raise themselves above. - Commentary on Psalm 93, 15
Prayer. This is my glory, Lord my God, that I might proclaim to Thee forever that there is nothing from myself for me. All good things come from Thee, for Thou are God, all things in all. - Commentary on Psalm 29, 13
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Post by Elizabeth on Jul 4, 2019 22:16:55 GMT
JULY 4 Let Our Lives Be Good
Bad times! Troublesome times! This is what people are saying. Let our lives be good and the times will be good. For we make our own times. Such as we are, such are the times.
What can we do? Maybe we cannot convert masses of people to a good life. But let the few who do hear live well. Let the few who live well endure the many who live badly. - Sermon 30, 8
Prayer. O Truth, light of my heart, let not my shadows speak to me. Let me not be my own life, for I lived badly on my own power and was deadly to myself. In Thee, however, I live again. It is Thee Who speak and converse with me.
- Confessions 12, 10
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Post by Elizabeth on Jul 6, 2019 2:26:23 GMT
JULY 5 Think Lowly
Do you wish to be great? Then begin from what is slightest. Do you plan to construct a high and mighty building? Then think first about the foundation of humility. When people plan to erect a lofty and large building, they make the foundations all the deeper. But those who lay the foundation are forced to descend into the depths. - Sermon 69, 2
Prayer. Lord, my God, how great Thou are, and yet Thou make Thy home in the humble of heart! It is Thee Who lift up the downtrodden, and Thou Who are their grandeur. - Confessions 11, 31
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Post by Elizabeth on Jul 6, 2019 15:56:44 GMT
JULY 6 The Love of God and the Church
Love your father, but not more than you love your God. Love your mother, but not more than the mother that gave you birth to eternal life. Futhermore, from this same love of your parents see how much you ought to love God and the Church. For if so much love is owed to those who begot you to a life that must end with your death, how much more grateful love is owed to those who begot you for an eternal destiny! - Sermon 344, 2
Prayer. Cling to the Lord with love, that your life may grow in the last days. Hold fast as well to the faithful, great, certain, and everlasting promises of God and to the unshakable and ineffable gift of His forbearance. - Letter 248, 1
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Post by Elizabeth on Jul 7, 2019 22:27:12 GMT
JULY 7 Lord, Save Me
Great virtue is needed to struggle with happiness. We must learn to tread upon the world and remember to trust Christ. And if you begin to sin, say: "Lord, I am perishing; save me," so that you may not perish. For only He can deliver you from the death of the body, He who died in the body for you. - Sermon 26, 9
Prayer. Lord our God, make us blessed by Thee, because we shall not lose Thee. When we remain true to Thee, we shall neither lose Thee nor be lost ourselves. - Sermon 113, 6
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Post by Elizabeth on Jul 8, 2019 21:06:22 GMT
JULY 8 The Power of Words
Note that if I think of what I am going to say, the word already exists in my heart. But if I want to speak to you, I am concerned to render present to your heart what is already in mine.
Then, seeking a way to let the word that exists in me reach you and dwell in you, I have recourse to my voice. its sound communicates my word and its meaning to you. When it is finished it vanishes. But my word, is now in you, without it ever having left me. - Sermon 293, 3
Prayer. I ask Thee, my God, to reveal me to myself. - Confessions 10, 1
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Post by Elizabeth on Jul 9, 2019 15:21:18 GMT
JULY 9 The Prayers of the Martyrs
At this table we do not commemorate the martyrs in the same way as we commemorate others who now rest in peace, so as to include them in our prayers. Rather, we commemorate them in order that they may pray for us and help us to follow in their steps. The martyrs practiced that perfect love which Christ said could not be surpassed. They offered their brothers and sisters the same kind of meal as they themselves had received from the table of the Lord. - Sermon on John 84, 2
Prayer. O Body of Christ, holy Church, let all thy bones say, "Lord, who is there like Thee?" - Commentary on Psalm 34, 14
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Post by Elizabeth on Jul 10, 2019 21:34:08 GMT
JULY 10 See God in Your Neighbor
You who do not yet see God will, by loving your neighbor, make yourself worthy of seeing Him. By loving your neighbor, you cleanse your eyes so you can see God. Love your neighbor, then, and see within yourself the source of this love of neighbor. There you will see God insofar as you are able. - Sermon on John 17, 8
Prayer. O Lord, my God, pay heed to my prayer. Look with mercy on my desire, which is not concerned with myself alone but with my neighbor's good as well. - Confessions 11, 2
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Post by Elizabeth on Jul 12, 2019 1:56:43 GMT
JULY 11 The Toil of Righteousness
Most people would desire - if it were possible - to obtain at once the joys of lovely and perfect wisdom, without the endurance of toil in action and suffering. However, that is impossible in this mortal life. In the disciple of the human, the toil of doing the work precedes the delight of understanding the truth. - Against Faustus 22, 52
Prayer. Lord, Thou truly gave me free will, but without Thee my effort is worthless. Thou give help since Thou are the One Who created, and Thou do not abandon Thy creation. - Commentary on Psalm 26(2), 17
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Post by Elizabeth on Jul 13, 2019 3:07:26 GMT
JULY 12 A Gradual Knowledge
Since the flame that was to burn us up entirely had not yet flared up, my friends and I thought that the glow emanating from Philosophy and our way of life that warmed us slowly was the greatest there could be. Suddenly some substantial books appeared and started up an incredible blaze in me. It was more powerful than I can bring myself to believe.
After this, how could honor, human pomp, desire for empty fame, or the consolations of this dying life move me! Swiftly, I turned completely in upon myself. - Against the Academics 2, 2
Prayer. Thou, Who always are, both before we were and before the world existed, have become for us a refuge in which we have turned to Thee. - Commentary on Psalm 89, 3
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Post by Elizabeth on Jul 14, 2019 3:12:24 GMT
JULY 13Leaders Are Servants The first thing good superiors must release is that they are the servants. They should not consider it beneath their dignity to be servants to many. Indeed, the Lord of lords did not consider it beneath His dignity to be servant to us. - Sermon 340 A, 1
Prayer. Put to flight my foolishness, Lord, that I may know know Thee. Show me the road I must travel that I may see Thee. Thus aided, I hope I shall do all Thou have commanded me.
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Post by Elizabeth on Jul 15, 2019 21:35:53 GMT
JULY 14 Admitting One's Weakness
Remember, you will be faulted not because you are ignorant against your will but because you neglect to seek out what it is that makes you ignorant. No one has ever been deprived of the ability to know the importance of finding out what it is damaging to be ignorant of . Neither have any been deprived of the ability to know that they should confess their weakness. - Free Will 3, 19
Prayer. I have gone astray, and I have remembered Thee. I heard Thy voice behind me calling me to return. And now I return with excitement and desire to Thy fountain. - Confessions 12, 10
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Post by Elizabeth on Jul 15, 2019 21:39:34 GMT
JULY 15 Prayer without Much Speaking
Unquestionably, it is not reprehensible or useless to pray at length when one is free. This means when the obligations of other good and necessary works do not prevent us - although even then we must always pray by the aspirations of the heart. But to pray at length does not mean, as some think, to pray with much speaking. Continual longing is not the same as much speaking. - Letter 130, 19
Prayer. O Lord, my God, let my soul praise Thee that it may love Thee. and let it recount to Thee Thy mercies that it may praise Thee for them all. - Confessions 5, 1
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