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Post by Elizabeth on Oct 16, 2019 17:24:50 GMT
OCTOBER 16 Bond of Fraternity
O Catholic Church, true mother of Christians, thou are right in preaching that God should be adored with and entirely chaste and pure heart. Indeed, to live in Him is the blessed life. Thou also unite brothers ans sisters to one another in bond of religion that is stronger and closer than ties of blood. Thou unite citizen to citizen and people to people, not by a mere grouping together, but by the bond of fraternity.
- The Customs of the Church, 30, 62-63
Prayer. O Sacrament of love, sign of our unity, bond of our fraternity, whoever long for life have here its very source. Let them come her and believe; unite with Thee and live. - Sermon on John 26, 13
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Post by Elizabeth on Oct 17, 2019 16:53:24 GMT
OCTOBER 17 Praising God
Does not our mouth daily praise God as much as our limitations allow? What we praise is great, but the instrument by which we praise Him is still weak. See how we stand and pray to God at some length. Our lips move often in song, but our thoughts rove about through all kinds of desires. - Commentary on Psalm 145, 6
Prayer. The human person is one of Thy creatures, Lord, and its instinct is to praise Thee. - Confessions 1, 1
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Post by Elizabeth on Oct 19, 2019 3:27:32 GMT
OCTOBER 18 The Harbor of Life
Removed from the high waves of the outside world, those who have chosen a quiet life are, as it were, in a haven or a harbor. But where is their expected joy? They will still find causes for regret and problems with temptations. Let us love one another. Let the ships in the harbor be carefully arranged with regard to one another, so that they do not collide. Let the evenness of peers and a constant charity be observed. - Commentary on Psalm 99, 9
Prayer. May God in His mercy grant that every day we may be troubled, tried, disciplined, or make some progress.
- Sermon 16A, 12
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Post by Elizabeth on Oct 20, 2019 3:41:24 GMT
OCTOBER 19 Faith Working through Love
You have before you Christ as your end. You have no need to go on looking anymore. The moment you believed, you already recognized it.
But faith alone is not enough, unless works too are joined to it. "Faith working trough love" says the Apostle!
- Sermon 16A, 11
Prayer. Lord, my God, listen to my prayer, and may Thy mercy hear my desire. - Confessions 11, 2
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Post by Elizabeth on Oct 20, 2019 17:33:10 GMT
OCTOBER 20 Blessed the Peacemakers!
Some people are peacemakers in themselves. By conquering and subjecting to reason all the motions of their souls, and taming their carnal desires, they become, in themselves, a kingdom of God. They enjoy the peace that is given on earth to persons of goodwill, the life of the consummate and perfect person of wisdom. - Sermon on the Mount 1, 2
Prayer. Lord, whatever Thou give me is too little for me. Be Thou Thyself my inheritance! I love Thee with all my heart and all my soul and all my mind. Of what value is anything Thou give me that is not Thyself! - Sermon 334, 3
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Post by Elizabeth on Oct 22, 2019 3:09:10 GMT
OCTOBER 21 The Wedding Garment
Now what precisely is meant by the words, "My friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment"? Listen to the Apostle: "If I give away all I have to the poor, if I hand over my body to be burnt, but have no love, it will avail me nothing." So this is what the wedding garment is. Examine yourselves to see whether you possess it. If you do, your place at the Lord's table is secure. - Sermon 90, 1.6
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 Oct 23, 2019 2:45:54 GMT
OCTOBER 22
The Eternal Jerusalem
Lord, I will leave others outside, breathing into the dust and filling their eyes with earth. But I will enter into my room and sing my songs of love to Thee. I will remember Jerusalem with my heart stretching upward in longing for it: Jerusalem my homeland, Jerusalem my mother. - Confessions 12, 16
Prayer. Thou, O God, probe me and know me. Thou know that I do not give consent to the deeds of the wicked. Toward those who hate peace, I am peaceable, until I arrive at that vision understood to be Jerusalem, the mother of us all, the eternal city. - Commentary on Psalm 138, 29
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Post by Elizabeth on Oct 24, 2019 3:18:15 GMT
OCTOBER 23 Everyone Has Something to Give
Frankly, even the poor have something they can share with others. Let one lend feet to the lame, another become the eyes of the blind, another visit the sick, and another bury the dead. These are things that everyone can do. Lastly, bear one another's burdens, and so you shall fulfill the law of Christ. - Sermon 41, 9
Prayer. May He perfect His gifts in us, since He did not hesitate to take our faults on Himself. And may He make us children of God, since He chose to become the Child of humans for our sakes. - Sermon 184, 3
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Post by Elizabeth on Oct 25, 2019 3:42:36 GMT
OCTOBER 24 Beauty in Material Things
Eagerly I sought to know how it was that I could appreciate beauty in material things and make correct judgments about signs that are subject to change. I realized that, above my changeable mind, there was the never-changing true eternity of truth. So, my mind attained to the sight of the God Who is. - Confessions 7, 17
Prayer. Look at the heavens and the earth: in their steady change and alteration they proclaim that they were made, and their very existence is itself the voice with which they speak. It was Thee, O Lord, Who created them. - Confessions 11, 4
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Post by Elizabeth on Oct 26, 2019 3:18:45 GMT
OCTOBER 25 Youth to Old Age
Unquestionably, in this life, we are all bound to die. Yet, as babies, we can look forward to childhood; as children to youth; and as youths, to adulthood. As adults we can look forward to reaching our prime; and in our prime, to growing old. But the aged have no further stage of life to look forward to. - Letter 213, 1
Prayer. Lord, be our strong support from childhood to old age. For when our strength is Thine, then we are strong indeed. But when our strength is ours, we are feeble and weak. - Confessions 4, 16
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Post by Elizabeth on Oct 27, 2019 2:35:38 GMT
OCTOBER 26 Pain for the Sake of Healing
Gratefully will I receive a rebuke offered in such a friendly way. If I receive your correction calmly as a medicine, I shall not be pained by it - even though, because of a natural or personal weakness I cannot help feeling saddened. Nonetheless, it is better to put up with the pain while the abscess is being healed, rather than not be cured so as to avoid the pain. - Letter 73, 2
Prayer. Lord, while I was still far away from Thee, Thou coaxed me in a great many ways to hear Thee from afar and be converted to Thee and call upon Thee. - Confessions 13, 1
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Post by Elizabeth on Oct 27, 2019 17:40:24 GMT
OCTOBER 27 The Object of Our Joy
Joy - who can live without it? Do you think that those who reverence, worship, and love God have no joys? Do you think that the arts and the theater, hunting and fowling and fishing all bring joy, but God's works do not? Do you think that meditation on God does not bring its inner joys? - Commentary on Psalm 76, 14
Prayer. O God, come to me in Thy kindness. For Thou are the good and the beautiful, in Whom, by Whom, and through Whom all things are good and beautiful. - Soliloquies 1, 1
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Post by Elizabeth on Oct 28, 2019 21:03:26 GMT
OCTOBER 28 Let Them Live Well
All who eat the Lord's Flesh and drink His Blood must consider what they eat and drink. To avoid eating and drinking unto condemnation, let them live well. You who are married, keep faithful to your partners. You who are not yet married, keep yourselves pure for your future spouses. - Sermon 132, 1
Prayer. O Lord, I have passed on Thy word. Now may Thou convert us to Thee; may Thou spare us. Make chaste those who have been unchaste, so that we all may rejoice in Thy sight at the time of judgment. - Sermon 132, 1
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Post by Elizabeth on Oct 29, 2019 15:16:52 GMT
OCTOBER 29 The Proving of Christians
The tempting of Christians is the proving of Christians. Either they are shown what they have or else they are shown what they lack. Abraham was tempted, not for him to be shown what he didn't have, but for us to be shown what we should imitate.
- Sermon 16A, 12
Prayer. Thou are the one God: come to me with Thy aid. Under Thee the whole world keeps balance in the order and repetition of time: in the days, changing from daylight to night; in the months, with the waxing and waning of the moon; in the years with the passing of seasons. - Soliloquies 1, 1
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Post by Elizabeth on Oct 31, 2019 3:14:53 GMT
OCTOBER 30 The Need for Daily Bread
When you say; "Give us this day our daily bread," you admit that you are God's beggar. But do not be ashamed; however rich anyone may be on earth, that person is God's beggar. The beggar stands before the house of the rich Being. Rich people need their "daily bread." Why do they have an abundance of everything? For no other reason than that God has given it to them. What, then, will they have if God should withdraw His aid? - Sermon 56, 9
Prayer. Lord, all things are Thine, for Thou made them. We thank Thee. - Sermon 16A, 6
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