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TODAY’S WORD…

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Through your faith,

God’s power will guard you

until the salvation which has been prepared

is revealed at the end of time.

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– 1 Peter 1:5

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REFLECTION…

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Faith is at the very foundation of the Christian life

because it is through it that we respond to God

and His plan of salvation accomplished in Christ.

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Human beings were made by God to be in communion with Him,

and so by our nature, we are religious beings who search for and long for God.

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Faith is our response to God,

but it is not just an intellectual response to a set of truths

– it is the submission of our hearts and minds to Him.

It is the complete submission of our entire self to the Almighty.

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Faith is a free gift of God’s grace.

Faith must be freely chosen.

God does not force us to believe in Him

but invites us into a relationship with Himself.

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Faith and reason do not conflict.

In fact, it is faith that enlightens our reason

and allows our reason to contemplate the things of God that we do not fully understand.

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It is through both our faith and our reason

that we come to contemplate and know God.

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[Source of today’s reflection: http://lucaspollice.com]

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QUOTES…

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“O Lord,

I do not seek to understand in order that I may believe,

but I believe in order to understand.

For this too I believe,

that unless I believe, I shall not understand.”

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– St. Anselm of Canterbury

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“Faith and reason are like two wings

on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth;

and God has placed in the human heart a desire to know the truth

— in a word, to know himself —

so that, by knowing and loving God,

men and women may also come to the fullness of truth about themselves.”

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– John Paul II

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PRAYER…

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Lord, my intellect shouts out with joy

that You are the Way, the Truth and the Life.

O Lord, grant that my heart will always seek You, find You and follow You.

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