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Post by Elizabeth on Dec 2, 2019 1:14:20 GMT
DECEMBER 1 Love Will Sing
Undeniably, in heaven we shall see, we shall love, and we shall praise. Our vision will never fail, our love will never end, and our praise will never fall silent.
Love sings now; then, too, it is love that will sing. But now it is a yearning love that sings; then it will be an enjoying love.
- Sermon 254, 6
Prayer. O Lord, my God, Thou alone do I love. Thou alone do I follow. Thou alone do I seek. Thou alone am I prepared to serve, for Thou alone justly rule, and under Thy authority I long to be. - Soliloquies 1, 1
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Post by Elizabeth on Dec 3, 2019 3:43:12 GMT
DECEMBER 2 Let Us Wake Up!
Lift up you heart so that it will not rot on earth. This is the advice given by Him Who wishes not to destroy but to save. You will not lose what you have given Him, but you will follow it to heaven. You will not remain without treasure, but you will possess without worries in heaven what you have to guard here in fear. And so let us wake up. - Sermon 60, 7
Prayer. O Lord, I ask Thee for instruction, that through my trials I may learn what I should seek. I ask Thee, then, for eternal life. Please hear me: it is a place at Thy right hand I seek. - Commentary on Psalm 59, 1
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Post by Elizabeth on Dec 4, 2019 4:17:38 GMT
DECEMBER 3 The Final Rest
Once we are in heaven, we shall be at rest and we shall see. We shall see and we shall love. We shall love and we shall praise. The end of our desires will be the One Who can be admired without end, can be loved without our being bored, and can be praised without our becoming tired. - City of God 22, 30
Prayer. Thou have made us for Thyself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee. - Confessions 1, 1
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Post by Elizabeth on Dec 5, 2019 3:10:29 GMT
DECEMBER 4 The Right Choice
Knowing the last day is coming is useful to us, and not knowing when it is coming is just as useful. Thus, we may have no fear of that day, but even love it. For that day increases the task of unbelievers but ends the task of believers. It is now in your power to choose which of these possibilities you desire, before that day arrives. But once it has arrived, this possibility will no longer exist. So make your choice now, while you have time, because God mercifully delays what He conceals. - Commentary on Psalm 36, 1
Prayer. O happy home! O land of safety! May I dwell there in security! From there I shall not seek to depart, for no safer place shall I find. - Sermon 217, 2
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Post by Elizabeth on Dec 5, 2019 17:43:37 GMT
DECEMBER 5 Our Desire Is Before God
All my desire is before Thee, O Lord. For our desire is not before human beings, who cannot read our heart. Therefore, let your desire be always before God; and your Father Who sees in secret will repay you. For your constant desire is your prayer; and if your desire is constant, so is your prayer constant. - Commentary on Psalm 37, 14
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 me that is not Thyself! - Sermon 334, 3
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Post by Elizabeth on Dec 8, 2019 4:20:19 GMT
DECEMBER 6 Woe to Those Guided by Pride
Now woe to those who are guided by pride, for they will necessarily fall. We see human works. Mercy feeds the poor; so does pride. In the external works themselves we see no distinction. But enter into your conscience and examine it. If your heart does not accuse you that you act out of vainglory, it is well to be without fear. Fear only to act for the purpose of being praised. - Sermon on John 8, 9
Prayer. O Lord, hear me and turn Thy face to me. See me and pity me and heal me. In Thy eyes I have become an enigma to myself, and that is my infirmity. - Confessions 10, 33
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Post by Elizabeth on Dec 8, 2019 4:24:31 GMT
DECEMBER 7 St. Ambrose, Servant of God
Reaching Milan, I found Thy devoted servant Ambrose, who was known throughout the world as a man whom there were few to equal in goodness. Unknown to me, it was Thee Who led me to him, so that I might knowlingly be led by him to Thee. - Confessions 5, 13
Prayer. Let me now seek Thee, O Lord, calling upon Thee. And let me call upon Thee, believing in Thee, for Thou have been preached to us. My faith calls upon Thee - a faith that Thou have inspired in me by the Incarnation of Thy Son through the ministry of Thy preacher. - Confessions 1, 1
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Post by Elizabeth on Dec 8, 2019 21:21:15 GMT
DECEMBER 8 Mary, the Mother
O Manifest infirmity, O wondrous humility, in which all the greatness of God lay hidden! The Mother to Whom His infancy was subject, He ruled with His power; and to Her at whose breasts He nursed, He gave the nourishment of truth. May He Who did not shrink from making a beginning like ours, perfect in us His gifts. And may He also make us children of God, He Who for our sakes wished to become a human child. - Sermon 184, 3
Prayer. Let our beautiful God, the Word with God, come to us that we may gaze upon Him with the eyes of our minds.
- Commentary on Psalm 44, 3
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Post by Elizabeth on Dec 10, 2019 5:05:23 GMT
DECEMBER 9 Invite the Lord into Your Hearts
See, the voice cries out in the desert; it breaks the silence. "Make straight," it cries out, "the way of the Lord." In other words, I vibrate in your ears only to let the Lord enter into your hearts. But He will enter where I am to introduce Him only if your ardent prayer invites Him. - Sermon 293, 4
Prayer. O my soul, why are you so distracted by things? Why are you so occupied with earthly and mortal cares? Stay with me and praise the Lord! - Commentary on Psalm 145, 6
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Post by Elizabeth on Dec 10, 2019 5:08:52 GMT
DECEMBER 10 The Coming of Christ
The only Son of God was to come to earth, to become a man, and in this nature to be born as man. He was to die, to rise again, to ascend to heaven, to sit at the right hand of the Father, and to fulfill His promises among the nations.
After that He was to come again to execute His threats against the wicked and to reward the just as He had promised.
- Commentary on Psalm 110, 3
Prayer. Lord, we are Thy little flock; we belong to Thee. Spread Thy wings that we may take refuge under them. Be our glory, let us be loved for Thy sake, and let Thy word be feared in our midst. - Confessions 10, 36
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Post by Elizabeth on Dec 12, 2019 4:00:10 GMT
DECEMBER 11 Promises of God Fulfilled in Christ
Because God's promises seemed impossible to human beings - equality with the angels in exchange for mortality, corruption, poverty, weakness, dust, and ashes - God established a mediator of His good faith: not a prince or angel, but His only Son. God wanted, through His Son, to show and give us the way He would lead us to the goal He has promised.
- Commentary on Psalm 110, 43
Prayer. Good Father, Thou love us so much that Thou did not spare Thy only Son, but handed Him over for the sake of us sinners. How great was Thy love for us! - Confessions 10, 43
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Post by Elizabeth on Dec 12, 2019 16:40:34 GMT
DECEMBER 12 Count on the Lord's Help
When Peter counted on the Lord's help, it enabled him to walk on the water. When human frailty made him falter he turned once more to the Lord. Jesus immediately stretched out His hand to help him, raised him up as he was sinking, and rebuked him for his lack of faith.
- Sermon 76, 8
Prayer. I pray to Thee, my God, for to turn from Thee is to fall; to turn to Thee is to rise again; to remain in Thee is to stand firm. Come to me in Thy mercy.
- Soliloquies 1, 3
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Post by Elizabeth on Dec 15, 2019 3:08:37 GMT
DECEMBER 13 Contemplation and Activity
None of us should be so given to contemplation that in this condition we give no thought to our neighbor's needs; not so given to activity that we allow no time for the contemplation of God. Therefore, the love of truth seeks out holy leisure, while the compelling force of love takes on necessary activity. Nonetheless, the delight for learning should never be entirely abandoned. - City of God 19, 19
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 Dec 15, 2019 3:14:45 GMT
DECEMBER 14 St. John the Baptist
Many things could be said about St. John the Baptist. However, if I attempted to enumerate them, I would never be finished with telling you, nor you with listening. Now let me round it off in a nutshell. Human beings must be humbled, and God must be exalted. - Sermon 293D, 5
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 Dec 16, 2019 4:21:45 GMT
DECEMBER 15 Christ Is the Way and the Haven
Directly through the man Christ you go to the God Christ. The Word that was far from you became man in your midst. Where you are to abide, He is God; on your way there, He is man. Christ Himself is both the Way by which you go and the Haven toward which you make your way. - Sermon 261, 7
Prayer. Let those laboring under a burden listen to Thee, kind Jesus. Let them not presume to lift their eyes to heaven, just as the sinner in the Gospel beat his breast and approached only from a distance. - Holy Virginity 36, 36
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