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Post by Elizabeth on Jul 16, 2019 16:47:01 GMT
JULY 16 Your Good Name
Conscience and good name are but two different aspects of truthfulness. conscience is for your own sake; good name for the sake of your neighbors. All who are solidly established in their own conscience but do not care about their good name become callous, particularly if they are in a position of leadership. - Sermon 355, 1
Prayer. I thank Thee, O Lord, my joy and my glory, my hope and my God. I thank Thee for Thy gifts to me. Keep them unharmed for me: they will be the making of me, and I shall be with Thee for my being is Thy gift. - Confessions 1, 20
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Post by Elizabeth on Jul 18, 2019 2:39:13 GMT
JULY 17 Even in Waging War Be A Peacemaker
Peace should be the object of our desire and war looked upon as a necessity to the end that God may deliver us from the need for war and preserve us from the need for war and preserve us in peace. Peace is not sought in order to rouse people to war, but war is waged that peace may be obtained. Therefore, even in waging war be a peacemaker. In this way, by conquering those whom you combat you may lead them back to the blessings of peace. - Letter 189, 6
Prayer. Lord God, give us peace - for Thou have 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 Jul 18, 2019 18:11:36 GMT
JULY 18 Not by Walking But by Loving
We approach God not by walking but by loving. The purer our love for Him toward Whom we are striving, the more present to us will He be. To Him, therefore, Who is everywhere present and everywhere whole, we must proceed not by our feet but by our moral virtues - judged not by the object of our knowledge but by the object of our love. - Letter 155, 13
Prayer. Le my soul rouse itself, Lord, from weariness, lean on Thy creation, and hobble toward Thee Who made it all. For in Thee we are remade and find true strength. - Confessions 5, 1
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Post by Elizabeth on Jul 20, 2019 0:58:06 GMT
JULY 19 Special Times for Prayer
Let us desire continually, and thus let us pray continually. But at certain hours we ought to recall our minds from other cares and business, in which desire itself is almost somehow cooled down, to the very business of prayer. We must admonish ourselves by the words of our prayer to fix attention upon that which we desire. - Letter 130, 10
Prayer. May I seek Thee, Lord, by praying to Thee, and let me pray to Thee by believing in Thee. Thou have been preached to us. My faith prays to Thee, Lord, the faith Thou gave me and inspired in me by the Incarnation of Thy Son and the mission of Thy preacher. - Confessions 1, 1
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Post by Elizabeth on Jul 20, 2019 23:04:39 GMT
JULY 20 Two Kinds of People
Essentially, there are two kinds of people, because there are two kinds of love. One is holy the other is selfish. One is subject to God; the other endeavors to equal Him. One is friendly; the other is envious. One wishes for the neighbor what it would wish for itself; the other wishes to subject the neighbor to itself. One guides the neighbor in the interests of the neighbor's good; the other guides the neighbor for its own interests. - The Literal Meaning of Genesis 11, 15
Prayer. Lord, Thou are delightful food for the pure of heart. - Confessions 13, 21
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Post by Elizabeth on Jul 21, 2019 18:43:23 GMT
JULY 21 The Devil's Entry: Cupidity and Fear
Now the devil does not seduce or influence anyone unless he finds that person already somewhat similar to himself. He finds someone coveting something, and cupidity opens the door for the devil's suggestion to enter. The devil finds someone fearing something, and he advises that person to flee what is feared. By these two doors, cupidity and fear, the devil gains entry. - Sermon 12, 11
Prayer. Lord, Thou have saved my soul from the constraint of fear, so that it may serve Thee in the freedom of love.
- Commentary on Psalm 30 (1), 8
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Post by Elizabeth on Jul 23, 2019 2:38:44 GMT
JULY 22 Our End
Our prayer is "Make known to me, O Lord, my end." The end is where we are going to stay. When we left our houses, our end was to come to church. Again, from here each one of us has the end of going home. We end in the place we are going to. So now here we all are, engaged in life's pilgrimage, and we have an end we are going toward. Toward what are we going? Toward our home country. What is our home country? Jerusalem, mother of the faithful, mother of the living!
- Sermon 16A, 9
Prayer. Thou, the Omnipotent and the Good, care for each of us as if each was Thy sole care, and for all as for one alone!
- Confessions 3, 11
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Post by Elizabeth on Jul 23, 2019 16:33:46 GMT
JULY 23 Love, the Guardian of Virginity
Hence, it is God alone Who both gives virginity and protects it. And God is Love! Love, therefore, is the guardian of virginity, but humility is the dwelling-place of this guardian. He indeed dwells there Who said that the Holy Ghost rests on the humble, the peaceful, and the one who fears His words. Humble spouses more easily follow the Lamb than proud virgins. - Holy Virginity 51, 52
Prayer. Walk along the path of sublimity with the feet of humility. - Holy Virginity 52, 53
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Post by Elizabeth on Jul 24, 2019 16:04:35 GMT
JULY 24 The Needs of the Church over Contemplation
If the Church should request your services, do not accede to this request out of a desire to get ahead, nor refuse it moved by pleasureful idleness. Obey God, rather, in simplicity of heart, submitting yourselves humbly to Him Who directs you. Neither should you prefer your peaceful leisure to the needs of the Church. If there were no people to minister to her as she gave birth, not even you would have found a way to have been born. - Letter 48, 2
Prayer. Lord, those are Thy best servants who wish to shape their life on Thy answers rather than shape your answers on their wishes. - Confessions 10, 26
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Post by Elizabeth on Jul 25, 2019 18:11:05 GMT
JULY 25 My Purpose Is to Reach My God
Fervently, I seek my God in the material things of heaven and earth, and I do not find Him. I seek the reality of Him in my own soul, and I do not find it. Yet I am determined to seek my God. In my yearning to understand and look into the invisible things of God by means of created things, I pour out my soul within me. I have no other purpose henceforth but to reach my God. - Commentary on Psalm 41, 8
Prayer. I call upon Thee, my God, my Mercy, my Creator. I had forgotten Thee, but Thou held me ever in Thy sight.
- Confessions 13, 1
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Post by Elizabeth on Jul 27, 2019 1:52:43 GMT
JULY 26 Hungry for God
Additionally, I sought for something to love, for I was in love with love. There was a hunger within me from a lack of inner food, which is none other then Thyself, my God. Yet that hunger did not make me hungry. I had no desire for incorruptible food. This was not because I was already filled with it but because the more I was empty of it the more it was loathsome to me. - Confessions 3, 1
Prayer. O God, be my inheritance; I love Thee totally. With all my heart, with all my mind I love Thee. - Sermons 334, 3
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Post by Elizabeth on Jul 28, 2019 2:54:15 GMT
JULY 27 Two Cities
There are two cities, the city of the godly and the city of the ungodly. These have been with us since the human race began, and they will continue till the end of the world. For the time being, as far as outward appearances go, they are indistinguishable, but their aspirations are very different. On the Day of Judgment they will be separated bodily for all to see. - Catechetical Instructions 31
Prayer. O God my Father, I am seeking Thee, not making statements about Thee. Help me and guide me.
- Confessions 9, 17
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Post by Elizabeth on Jul 28, 2019 19:22:13 GMT
JULY 28 Love Reaches Out
Moreover, this is the rule of love: the good that we desire for ourselves we desire for our neighbor also; and the evil that we are unwilling to undergo we wish to prevent from happening to our neighbor. All who love God will have such a desire toward everybody. - True Religion 87
Prayer. O Lord, my God, let my soul praise Thee that it may love Thee. Let it recount to Thee Thy mercies that it may praise Thee for them all. - Confessions 5, 11
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Post by Elizabeth on Jul 29, 2019 23:45:11 GMT
JULY 29 Chaste Fear
Just from the fact that you try to avoid evil, you improve yourself, and you begin to desire what is good. When you begin to desire what is good, there will be a chaste fear in you. That fear by which you fear being cast into hell with the devil is not yet chaste, since it does not come from the love of God but from fear of punishment. But when you fear God in the sense that you do not wish to lose Him, you embrace Him, and you desire to enjoy Him. - Sermon on John 9, 5
Prayer. Lord, I now love Thee alone, I follow Thee alone, and I seek Thee alone. I yearn to be possessed by Thee.
- Soliloquies 1, 1
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Post by Elizabeth on Jul 30, 2019 16:46:46 GMT
JULY 30 The Common Store
We lived in the bishop's house like those spoken of in the Acts of the Apostles: No one possessed anything personally, but they had all things in common. We sold our possessions and gave to the poor, so that we would live from the common store. And common to all of us would be the exceedingly great property, God Himself. - Sermon 355, 2
Prayer. Lord, whatever Thou give me is too little for me. Be Thyself my inheritance! I love Thee without reserve: with all my heart and all my soul and all my mind. Of what value is anything Thou give that is not Thyself? - Sermon 334, 3
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