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Post by Elizabeth on Mar 16, 2020 17:36:49 GMT
MARCH 16 Perseverance in the Midst of Trials
Your first task is to be dissatisfied with yourself, fight sin, and transform yourself into something better. Your second task is to put up with the trials and temptations of this world that will be brought on by the change in your life and to persevere to the very end in the midst of these things. - Commentary on Psalm 59, 5
Prayer. Lord, our God, we hope in the shelter of Thy wings. Protect and carry us. It is only when Thou are our strength that we are strong. - Confessions 4, 16
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Post by Elizabeth on Mar 18, 2020 16:56:37 GMT
MARCH 17 Granting Pardon
Pardon, that you may be pardoned. In doing this, nothing is required of the body. It is the will that acts. You will experience no physical pain; you will have nothing less in your home. Now in truth, my brothers and sisters, you see what an evil it is that those who have been commanded to love even their enemy do not pardon a penitent brother or sister. - Sermon 210, 10
Prayer. I pray Thee, my God, Who are Truth, I pray Thee to forgive my sins. - Confessions 11, 3
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Post by Elizabeth on Mar 18, 2020 16:59:45 GMT
MARCH 18 Asking Forgiveness of Others
How many there are who know that they have sinned against their brothers or sisters and yet are unwilling to say: "Forgive me." They were not ashamed to sin, but they are ashamed to ask pardon. They were not ashamed of their evil act, but they blush where humility is concerned. - Sermon 211, 4
Prayer. I implore Thee, my God, to Whom faith calls us, hope leads us, and love unites us: come to me in Thy mercy.
- Soliloquies 1, 3
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Post by Elizabeth on Mar 20, 2020 2:19:23 GMT
MARCH 19 It is God Who Initiates Conversion
Did you make it possible for yourselves to merit God's mercy because your turned back to Him? If you hadn't been called by God, what could you have done to turn back? Didn't the very One Who called you when you were opposed to Him make it possible for you to turn back? Don't claim your conversion as your own doing. Unless He had called you when you were running away from Him, you would not have been able to turn back. - Commentary on Psalm 84, 8
Prayer. Let me not be my own life. I have lived badly on my own account and been death to myself, but in Thee I live again. Speak to me, O Lord. - Confessions 12, 10
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Post by Elizabeth on Mar 22, 2020 2:35:40 GMT
MARCH 20 Help for a Complete Conversion
When we transform our old life and give our spirit a new image, we find it very hard and tiring to turn back from the darkness of earthly passions to the serene calm of the divine light. We thus ask God to help us that a complete conversion may be brought about in us. - Commentary on Psalm 6,5
Prayer. Because of Thy name may Thou have mercy on me according to Thy great mercy, Lord, and by no means abandon the work Thou have begun but complete what is imperfect in me.
- Confessions 10, 4
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Post by Elizabeth on Mar 22, 2020 2:39:17 GMT
MARCH 21 Christ's Cross Abides Forever
The saving serpent in Moses' time was fashioned from bronze as a symbol of faith in the enduring effects of the Lord's Passion. Faith in Christ's cross abides forever; it is as enduring as bronze. Despite the constant cycle of birth and death, the cross continues to be held high above the earth for the healing of all who gaze upon it. - Commentary on Galatians 22
Prayer. How great was Thy love for us, kind Father! Thou did not spare Thy only-begotten Son but surrendered Him for the sake of us sinners. - Confessions 10, 43
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Post by Elizabeth on Mar 22, 2020 21:18:37 GMT
MARCH 22 Life through Death
Unless the Word of God had first assumed our mortal flesh He could not have died for us. Only in that way was the immortal God able to die and to give life to mortal humans. Therefore, by this double sharing He brought about a wonderful exchange. We made death possible for Him, and He made life possible for us. - Sermon 218 C, 1
Prayer. For Thy law's sake I have kept faith with Thee, my Lord, since Thou have thought it worthwhile to lay down for me the law of mercy, to forgive me all my sins and to admonish me on other matters less I offend Thee.
- Commentary on Psalm 129, 3
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Post by Elizabeth on Mar 24, 2020 1:50:33 GMT
MARCH 23 God Has Died for Us
No matter how great the promises the Lord has made us for the future, we must realize that the things He has already done for us are greater still. Can anyone doubt that He will share His life with the Saints when He has already given them His death? - Sermon 218 C, 1
Prayer. Lord, I have waited for Thee to come and deliver me from every need, for in my need Thou have not forsaken Thy law of mercy. - Commentary on Psalm 129, 3
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Post by Elizabeth on Mar 25, 2020 18:02:35 GMT
MARCH 24 The Glory of the Cross
Let us declare that Christ was crucified for our sake, proclaiming it with joy and pride, not with fear and shame. Paul the Apostle saw in this reason for boasting. He could have told us many great and holy things about Christ: how as God He shared with His Father the work of creation, and how as man like us He was master of the world. But Paul would not glory in any of these wonderful things.
- Sermon 218 C, 1
Prayer. Lord, in case I would falter, Thou gave me a remedy through Thy admonishments. Thou established the law of forgiveness, so that as I forgive I may be forgiven. - Commentary on Psalm 129, 3
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Post by Elizabeth on Mar 25, 2020 18:06:52 GMT
MARCH 25 Hail, Full of Grace
O Mary, when Jesus was conceived in Thee, He found Thee a virgin; after being born of Thee He left Thee a virgin. He gives Thee fertility, but He does not violate Thy integrity. Whence does this happen to Thee? . . . Tell me, angel Gabriel, whence this happens to Mary. The angel answers: "I stated this with my greeting, 'Hail, full of grace.'" - Sermon 291, 6
Prayer. O Mary, Thou were a virgin in conceiving, in bearing Thy child, and in dying. Pray for us to the Lord.
- The Instructions of Beginners 22, 40
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Post by Elizabeth on Mar 27, 2020 2:30:41 GMT
MARCH 26 Acknowledging Sins against Others
All of us have become members of Christ. How do you fail to sin against Christ when you sin against a member of Christ? Thus, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has anything against you, leave your gift before the altar. God seeks you rather than your gift. Christ seeks the one whom He has redeemed by His Blood rather than what you have found in your storeroom. - Sermon 82, 4-5
Prayer. Lord, Thou are my refuge from the torment of the sins with which my heart besieges me. My joy is in Thee. Redeem me from the sorrow that my sins cause me. - Commentary on Psalm 31 (1), 7
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Post by Elizabeth on Mar 28, 2020 2:38:24 GMT
MARCH 27 Restraining Fleshly Desires
Be sure that we will soon celebrate the passion of our crucified Lord. It is therefore in keeping with our commitment to Him that we should crucify ourselves by restraining the desires of the flesh. Such is the cross upon which we Christians must continually hand, since our whole lives are beset by trials and temptations. - Sermon 205, 1
Prayer. Lord, Thou are my helper that I may dwell in Thy love, my redeemer that Thou may deliver me from my wrongdoing. - Commentary on Psalm 18 (2), 16
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Post by Elizabeth on Mar 29, 2020 3:18:38 GMT
MARCH 28 The Lesson of Three Crosses
Standing in one place were three crosses. On one of them hung the thief who was to be freed. On another hung the thief who was to be condemned. In the middle hung Christ Who was going to free the one and condemn the other. What has more resemblance than these crosses? Yet what has less resemblance than the three who hung upon them!
- Letter 93, 8
Prayer. Give us, Lord, Thy Christ. Let us see Thy Christ, not as His contemporaries saw Him and crucified Him but as the angels see Him and rejoice. - Commentary on Psalm 74, 11
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Post by Elizabeth on Mar 29, 2020 17:54:57 GMT
MARCH 29 The Nails of Christ
Flesh means the desires of our lower nature; nails signify the demands of God's justice and holiness. With these the fear of the Lord pierces our flesh and fastens us to the cross as an acceptable sacrifice to Him. In a similar passage Paul the Apostle appeals to us by the mercy of God to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. - Sermon 205, 1
Prayer. Do not despise me, O God my salvation, nor reject me as a mortal daring to seek eternity. Thou, O God, heal the wound of my sin! - Commentary on Psalm 26 (1), 9
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Post by Elizabeth on Mar 31, 2020 2:45:53 GMT
MARCH 30 Fraternal Correction
My advice is that we love in every way our brothers and sisters who have committed sin. Then when it is necessary let us apply discipline. Otherwise the evil may grow by the relaxing of discipline. If the sin is private, correct the sinner in private. If it is public, and manifest, apply the correction in public so that the sinner may be led to betterment and others may conceive a salutary fear. - Sermon 83, 8
Prayer. Lord, let each of us, according to our conscience, either grieve in correction or rejoice in approval.
- Commentary on Psalm 31 (2), 1
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