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Post by Elizabeth on Aug 17, 2019 3:12:25 GMT
AUGUST 16 The Beauty of Singing
Indeed, Lord, the days were not long enough as I found wonderful delight in meditating upon the depth of Thy design for the salvation of the human race. I wept at the beauty of Thy hymns, and I was powerfully moved at the sweet sound of Thy Church's singing. Those sounds flowed into my ears, and the truth streamed into my heart. My feeling of devotion overflowed, and the tears ran from my eyes, and I was happy in them. - Confessions 9, 6
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, 1
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Post by Elizabeth on Aug 18, 2019 2:08:04 GMT
AUGUST 17 The Force of Habit
Undeniably, we have the free power to do or not to do anything, before we are caught up in any habit. When we have used this freedom to do something, the sweetness and pleasure of the act holds our soul, and it is caught up in the sort of habit that it cannot break - by its own act of sin. If you want to see what I mean, start trying not to swear: then you will see how the force of habit goes its own way.
- Against Fortunatus 22
Prayer. Lord, Thou are never needy, yet Thou are pleased with gain. Thou are never covetous, yet Thou exact interest on all Thou give us. - Confessions 1, 4
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Post by Elizabeth on Aug 18, 2019 17:37:16 GMT
AUGUST 18 Perseverance into Old Age
Please forgive me if I have spoken too much. I am a long-winded old man, and ill health has made me anxious. As you see, I have grown old with the passing years. But for a long time now, this ill health has made an old man of me. However, if God is pleased with what I have just said, He will give me strength. I will not desert you. - Sermon 355, 7
Prayer. Lord, with Thy help we have done what Thou commanded. Reward us, now, as Thou promised. - Sermon 31, 6
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Post by Elizabeth on Aug 19, 2019 18:29:15 GMT
AUGUST 19 The Providence of God
God is the unchanging conductor as well as the unchanged creator of all things that change. When He adds, abolishes, curtails, increases, or diminishes the rites of any age, He is ordering all events according to His providence. This will hold good until the beauty of the completed course of time - whose parts are the dispensations suitable to each different period - shall have played itself out, like the great melody of some ineffable composer. - Letter 138, 1
Prayer. Instruct me, Lord, and command what Thou will. But first heal me and open my ears that I may hear Thy words.
- Soliloquies 1, 1
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Post by Elizabeth on Aug 20, 2019 17:33:43 GMT
AUGUST 20 Legitimate Human Longing
Even though I grieve that I do not see Thee, I take some comfort in my pain. I have no patience with that spurious "strength of character" that puts up patiently with the absence of good things. Do we not all long for the future Jerusalem? I cannot refrain from this longing; I would be inhuman if I could. Indeed, I derive some sweetness from my very lack of self-control. And in this sweet yearning I seek some small consolation. - Letter 27, 1
Prayer. Lord, show me the way I must travel that I may see Thee. - Soliloquies 1, 1
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Post by Elizabeth on Aug 22, 2019 2:34:26 GMT
AUGUST 21 Absence of Friends
One day, you yourself will begin to have to surrender some of the very dearest of those you have reared, to the needs of churches situated far from you. It is then that you will understand the pangs of longing that stab me on losing the physical presence of friends united to me in the most close and sweet intimacy. - Letter 84, 1
Prayer. As long as we are here, let us ask God not to deprive us of our prayer and His mercy, so that we may pray with perseverance and He may have mercy with His perseverance. - Commentary on Psalm 65, 24
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Post by Elizabeth on Aug 23, 2019 3:51:15 GMT
AUGUST 22 Sing with Human Reason Dear friends, sing the Psalm with human reason, not like birds. Thrushes, parrots, ravens, magpies, and the like are often taught to say what they do not understand. However, to know what we are saying was granted by God’s will to human nature. Hence, we who have learned in the Church to sing God’s words should be eager to do so. We should know and see with a clear mind what we have all sung together with one voice. - Commentary on Psalm 18, 2 Prayer. Give me strength to seek Thee, Lord, for Thou have already enabled me to find Thee and have given me hope of finding Thee ever more fully.- The Trinity 15, 51
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Post by Elizabeth on Aug 24, 2019 1:43:09 GMT
AUGUST 23 Talents Are for Others
Jesus said: "To the person who has, it shall be given." God will give more to those who use for others that which they have received. He will fill up and pile to the brim what He first gave.
Our reflections will be multiplied at His prompting. Thus, in our service of Him we will suffer no shortage but will rather rejoice in a miraculous abundance of idea. - Christian Doctrine 1, 1
Prayer. Lord, my knowledge and my ignorance lie before Thee. Where Thou have opened to me, let me enter. Where Thou have closed to me, open when I knock. - The Trinity 15, 51
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Post by Elizabeth on Aug 25, 2019 3:01:20 GMT
AUGUST 24 Praying for Others
Let me be helped by your prayers, so that the Lord may see fit to help me bear His burden. When you pray in this way, it is really for yourselves that you are praying. For what is the burden of which I am speaking but you? Pray for me, then, as I myself pray that you may not be burdensome. Support me so that we may bear one another's burden, thus fulfilling the law of Christ. - Sermon 340, 1
Prayer. Lord, those who are bowed down with burdens Thou lift up, and they do not fall because Thou are their support.
- Confessions 11, 31
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Post by Elizabeth on Aug 25, 2019 21:20:13 GMT
AUGUST 25 Vocations in a Monastery
Although good order reigns in my household, I am human and I live among humans. I would not dare to say that my home is better than the community of the Lord Christ, in which eleven faithful souls put up with the faithless thief Judas. Yet with great difficulty have I met persons better than those who have made progress in the monastery. - Letter 78, 8-9
Prayer. Thanks be to Him Who is desired before He is seen, Whose presence is felt, and Who is hoped for in the future.
- Sermon 24, 1
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Post by Elizabeth on Aug 26, 2019 21:31:32 GMT
AUGUST 26 The Inner Voice
Consider this great mystery. The sound of my words strikes the ears, and the Master is within! Do not suppose that any human is the teacher of another. We can admonish by the sound of our voice; but unless there is one Who teaches on the inside, the sound we make is futile. I, for my part, have spoken to all; but those to whom the Anointing within does not speak, those whom the Holy Ghost within does not teach, go back untaught. - Sermon on 1 John 3, 12
Prayer. Instruct me, Lord, and command what Thou will. But first heal me and open my ears that I may hear Thy words.
- Soliloquies 1, 5
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Post by Elizabeth on Aug 27, 2019 15:29:55 GMT
AUGUST 27 Caught Up in Ecstasy
Now, while my mother and I were thus talking of God's wisdom and pining for it, with all the effort of our hearts we did for one instant attain to touch it. Then we returned to the sound of our own tongue, in which words must have a beginning and an end. We said: If in the silence of all earthly things God alone spoke to us, not by them but by Himself, would not this constitute to "enter into the joy of the Master"? - Confessions 9, 10
Prayer. Lord, let those who understand, praise Thee. And let those who understand Thee not, praise Thee too.
- Confessions 11, 31
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Post by Elizabeth on Aug 28, 2019 23:21:31 GMT
AUGUST 28 For You I Am the Bishop
Believe me, brothers and sisters, if what I am for you frightens me, what I am with you reassures me. For you I am the bishop; with you I am a Christian. "Bishop," this is the title of an office one has accepted to discharge; "Christian," that is the name of the grace one receives. Dangerous title! Salutary name! - Sermon 340, 1
Prayer. Lord, whether prosperity smiles or adversity frowns, let Thy praise be ever in my mouth.
- Commentary on Psalm 138, 16
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Post by Elizabeth on Aug 30, 2019 2:35:48 GMT
AUGUST 29 Love - the Distinguishing Sign
Love is the only sign that distinguishes the children of God from the children of the the devil. To prove this, let them all sign themselves with the cross of Christ. Let them all respond: Amen. Let all sing: Alleluia. Let all build the walls of churches. There is still no way of discerning the children of God from the children of the devil except by love!
- Sermon on 1 John 5, 7
Prayer. Come to my aid, O God, the One Eternal, True Reality! In Thee there is no strife, no disorder, no change, no need, no death, but supreme harmony, supreme clarity, supreme permanence, supreme life. - Soliloquies 1, 1
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Post by Elizabeth on Aug 30, 2019 23:52:49 GMT
AUGUST 30 Every Moment You Are Passing On
From the time that I started speaking until this moment, do you realize you have grown older? You cannot see your hair growing. Yet while you stand around, while you are here, while you do something, while you talk, your hair keeps on growing - but never so suddenly that you need a barber straightaway. In this way, your existence fades away. You are passing on. - Commentary on Psalm 38, 12
Prayer. My God, let me be thankful as I remember and acknowledge all Thy mercies. - Confessions 8, 1
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