A LAMP TO MY FEET. A LIGHT FOR MY PATH.

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TODAY’S WORD…

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Jesus said,

“Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

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– Matthew 6:21 (NIV)

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REFLECTION…

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What or who is your “treasure”?

What or who do you care about most of all?

What or who occupies your mind most of the day?

A true believer’s most valuable “treasure” can only be the Eternal One, the Lord our God.

For Him, we must be ready to give up all else.

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REPETITIVE PRAYER FOR TODAY…

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There is no greater treasure under the heaven than You, Lord!

I love You, Lord. Forgive me, Lord.

Increase my faith, Lord.

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TODAY’S WORD…

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Make it your aim to do what is right, not what is evil,

so that you may live.

Then the Lord God Almighty really will be with you, as you claim He is.

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– Amos 5:14 (GNT)

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REFLECTION…

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This is a call to conversion.

We are all urged to truly seek God

and that search means seeking only what is good.

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QUOTE…

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“Conversion is accomplished in daily life

by gestures of reconciliation,

concern for the poor,

the exercise and defence of justice and right,

by the admission of faults to one’s brethren,

fraternal correction,

revision of life,

examination of conscience,

spiritual direction,

acceptance of suffering,

endurance of persecution for the sake of righteousness.

Taking up one’s cross each day and following Jesus is the surest way of penance.”

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– Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1435

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REPETITIVE PRAYER FOR TODAY…

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O God, You are my God, and I long for You.

Open the eyes of my heart, O Lord, that I may find You and follow You.

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TODAY’S WORD…

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Dear friends,

if we don’t feel guilty, we can come to God with bold confidence.

And we will receive from Him whatever we ask

because we obey Him and do the things that please Him.

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And this is His commandment:

We must believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ,

and love one another, just as He commanded us.

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Those who obey God’s commandments remain in fellowship with Him,

and He with them.

And we know He lives in us

because the Spirit He gave us lives in us.

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– 1 John 3:21-24 (NLT)

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REFLECTION…

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We are children of God

and, as such, it is required of us

to reject sin in any shape or form,

and to practise brotherly love to the full.

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God knows everything;

not only does He know our sins and our frailties,

He also knows our repentance and our good desires,

and He understands and forgives us.

Just like St Peter, on the Lake of Tiberias,

we make the same confession to Jesus:

"Lord, You know everything, You know that I love You." (Jn 21:17)

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If our conscience tells us we have done wrong,

we can seek forgiveness and strengthen our hope in God.

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If our conscience does not accuse us,

our confidence in God is ardent and bold,

like that of a child who has loving experience of his Father’s tenderness.

and we will receive from Him whatever we ask

because we obey Him and do the things that please Him.

Jesus promised:

“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you,

ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you." (Jn 15:7)

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Keeping the Lord’s commandments

involves loving Jesus and loving one another

Keeping the Lord’s commandments

ensures that God abides in our soul, by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit:

"If you love me you will keep my commandments.

And I will pray the Father,

and He will give you another Counsellor, to be with you for ever." (Jn 14:15-16)

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Finally, faith and love cannot be separated,

and what should truly mark us out as Christians

is an unselfish and generous love for one another.

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QUOTE…

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"We cannot rightly love one another unless we believe in Christ;

nor can we truly believe in the name of Jesus Christ without brotherly love."

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– St. Bede

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REPETITIVE PRAYER FOR TODAY…

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Lord, You know everything, You know that I love You.

Thank You, Lord God. Forgive me, Lord God.

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TODAY’S WORD…

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So prepare your minds for action and exercise self-control.

Put all your hope in the gracious salvation

that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world.

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So you must live as God’s obedient children.

Don’t slip back into your old ways

of living to satisfy your own desires.

You didn’t know any better then.

But now you must be holy in everything you do,

just as God who chose you is holy.

For the Scriptures say,

“You must be holy because I am holy.”

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– 1 Peter 1:13-16 (NLT)

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REFLECTION…

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We Christians constitute the new “chosen people”;

by Baptism we have been set free from sin

and have been called to live in a fully holy way,

with God Himself as our model.

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Baptism, is the Christian’s Exodus,

it marks the start of the Christian pilgrimage to heaven, our lasting home.

We therefore need to control our feelings and inclinations

if we are to walk with joy

along the route which will take us to the glorious coming of the Lord.

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QUOTE…

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"Christ bids all without exception

to be perfect as His heavenly Father is perfect.

For the vast majority of people, holiness means sanctifying their work,

sanctifying themselves in it,

and sanctifying others through it

– thereby finding God as they go about their daily lives. […]

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Sanctity is not the reserve of a privileged few;

all the ways of the earth,

every state in life,

every job,

every honest occupation,

can be divine"

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– St. Josemaria Escriva

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REPETITIVE PRAYER FOR TODAY…

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Jesus, my Lord, everything I do, let me do it for You;

help me do it in the way You would do it.

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TODAY’S WORD…

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Wash and make yourselves clean.
Take your evil deeds out of My sight;
stop doing wrong.
Learn to do right…

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– Isaiah 1:16-17 (NIV)

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REFLECTION…

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To what extent do God’s words apply to me?

Am I living my life in the manner in which the Lord wants me to,

or do I pick and choose which commandments to follow?

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Am I taking advantage of the Lord’s benevolence?

Am I listening when He tells me

‘Stop doing wrong.
Learn to do right’?

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Isn’t it time for me to choose the path I want to follow?

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REPETITIVE PRAYER FOR TODAY…

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O Lord, my God, love me, forgive me, change my heart,

teach me and guide me along Your path.

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TODAY’S WORD…

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He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.

And what does the Lord require of you?

To act justly

and to love mercy

and to walk humbly with your God.

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– Micah 6:8 (NIV)

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REFLECTION…

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This prophetic passage provides us with three areas of advice

on how to live our lives

– in whatever situation we find ourselves in.

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To act justly,

we must live our life according to Jesus’ golden rule:

“In everything, do to others what you would have them do to you.” (Mat 7:12)

This clearly does not mean that I should treat others according to how they are treating me.

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To act justly,

we do not measure or try to balance how others have been treating us

when we decide on how we will treat them.

Acting justly means that I must always try to treat others

in the way I would want to be treated myself.

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To love mercy,

we must be ready and willing to forgive all others,

for all our hurts, big and small.

Just as God has forgiven me,

and because He requires us to love one another,

I must always bring myself to willingly forgive.

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To love mercy

means that we do not base our forgiveness on whether or not we think others deserve it.

Loving mercy is being always ready to forgive others because God wants me to love them,

and because I know that forgiveness and healing are essential

for love and peace to reign in my heart and my relationships.

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To walk humbly with your God.

We must never forget that we are nothing without God.

All we are and all we have are gifts from God.

I know that the love I can share with others

is possible only because God first loved me

and because I know that God is the source of all true love.

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To walk humbly with God

means understanding that the love God gives us

is the same love we share with our family and friends,

and with all those we encounter in our life in Christ.

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[*] today’s reflection owes a lot to an article by Deacon John Brasley at www.catholiccourier.com

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REPETITIVE PRAYER FOR TODAY…

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Lord Jesus, thank You for showing me how to love.

Grant, Lord, that I will always act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with You.

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TODAY’S WORD…

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For the grace of God has appeared,

bringing salvation to all,

training us to renounce impiety and worldly passions,

and in the present age to live lives that are

self-controlled,

upright,

and godly,

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– Titus 2:11-12 (NRSV)

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REFLECTION…

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God’s saving grace and His loving kindness are manifested in Christ,

who teaches us on how we are to live lives

that are self-controlled, upright, and godly,

if we choose salvation as our goal.

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Divine grace, manifested in the Incarnation, is actively at work to redeem us;

bringing salvation;

sanctifying us,

enabling us to renounce impiety and worldly passions

and to live godly lives.

Divine grace is the basis of our hope in the second coming of the Lord.

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And Jesus is our model.

By means of grace He instructs us on how to control our defects and grow in virtue.

However, the instruction we receive is not only an external one:

God inwardly moves us to seek holiness.

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Grace also channels our hope,

for we are motivated not only by the memory of our Lord’s life on earth

but also, and especially, by the fact that Jesus is in the glory of heaven even now

and that we are invited to share His inheritance.

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REPETITIVE PRAYER FOR TODAY…

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Teach me, Lord, how to handle life’s situations.

Help me be more like You

that I may be made worthy of Your promises.

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TODAY’S WORD…

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Teach us how short our life is,

so that we may become wise.

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– Psalm 90:12 (GNT)

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REFLECTION…

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Only God can provide the wisdom

that lets us make sense of human life,

short as it is

and marked by hard work and suffering.

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And so we ask to be given wisdom

– not the world’s foolishness,

which comes under the guise of astuteness,

but divine wisdom,

which is always clothed in love.

We have no excuses

– the Father has been very generous with us:

He sent His Only Son to patiently and lovingly instruct us

through all that He said and did as He walked this earth.

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The Father also sent us the Holy Spirit, in Jesus’ name.

As Jesus Himself explains to us,

“the Holy Spirit…will teach you everything

and make you remember all that I have told you.

Peace is what I leave with you;

it is my own peace that I give you.

I do not give it as the world does.

Do not be worried and upset;

do not be afraid.”

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QUOTE…

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“There are no bad or inopportune days.

All days are good, for serving God.

Days become bad

only when men spoil them with their lack of faith,

their laziness and their indolence,

which turns them away from working with God and for God.

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‘At all times I will bless the Lord.’ (Ps 34:1)

Time is a treasure that melts away.

It escapes from us,

slipping through our fingers like water through the mountain rocks.

Tomorrow will soon be another yesterday.

Our lives are so very short.

Yesterday has gone and today is passing by.

But what a great deal can be done for the love of God

in this short space of time!”

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– St. Josemaria Escriva

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REPETITIVE PRAYER FOR TODAY…

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Come Holy Spirit, teach me how short my life is,

so that I may become wise.

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TODAY’S WORD…

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Anyone who is joined to Christ is a new being;

the old is gone, the new has come.

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– 2 Corinthians 5:17 (GNT)

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REFLECTION…

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The decision is ours…

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When, with God’s grace,

we take it upon ourselves to go and meet Jesus

and, touched by the Holy Spirit, we acknowledge Him as Lord,

we shall be renewed

and we will want to follow Him,

to become more like Him

and, above all, to be one with Him.

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When I accept Jesus as Lord,

I am like a new being…and the old me is gone!

Instead there will be a new me – filled with joyful hope –

and though I may sometimes stumble and fall as I seek to follow the Lord,

He will always be there, right by my side,

when I humbly call out to Him to pick me up…and to lead me on.

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QUOTE…

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“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,

His mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is Your faithfulness.”

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– Lamentations 3:22-23

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REPETITIVE PRAYER FOR TODAY…

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Renew me, O Lord.

Renew me with Your love…and make me more like You.

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TODAY’S WORD…

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I am the Lord, who opened a way through the waters,
making a dry path through the sea.

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But forget all that –
it is nothing compared to what I am going to do.
For I am about to do something new.
See, I have already begun! Do you not see it?
I will make a pathway through the wilderness.
I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.

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– Isaiah 43:16,18-19 (NLT)

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REFLECTION…

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Today, let’s thank the Lord our God, for helping us get through this last year;

for being there with us through thick and thin;

for filling us with hope

and for encouraging us to keep our eyes on Him…and move on.

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Today is also a new day…just like every other…

with the Lord insisting with us not to look back.

Jesus said:

“Anyone who starts to plough and then keeps looking back

is of no use for the Kingdom of God.” (Lk 9:62)

He therefore instructs us to only look ahead,

and we should do as He says, because He knows what is good for us.

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We are called ‘Christians’ because we are ‘followers of Christ”,

so let’s live up to our name and keep our focus on Him;

listen to Him;

place our full trust in Him;

and follow Him,

as we gladly allow Him to shepherd us through life.

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For us, He will make a pathway through the wilderness,

He will create rivers in the dry wasteland!

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The Lord, fills us with hope!

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REPETITIVE PRAYER FOR TODAY…

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My Lord, my God, thank You.

Thank You for always being here with me.

Lead me on, Lord. I trust in You!

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