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

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TODAY’S WORD…

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God showed how much He loved us

by sending His one and only Son into the world

so that we might have eternal life through Him.

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This is real love – not that we loved God,

but that He loved us

and sent His Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.

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Dear friends, since God loved us that much,

we surely ought to love each other.

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– 1 John 4:9-11 (NLT)

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REFLECTION…

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What is amazing, St Alphonsus teaches,

"is that He could have saved us without suffering or dying

and yet He chose a life of toil and humiliation,

and a bitter and ignominious death,

even death on a cross, something reserved for the very worst offenders.

And why was it that when he could have redeemed us without suffering,

he chose to embrace death on the Cross?

To show us how much he loved us".

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He also was showing us how we should love Him

and how we should love one another.

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Am I prepared to follow my Lord’s example

and put aside my pride, my self-centeredness and my hard-headedness,

and love like He loves?

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REPETITIVE PRAYER FOR TODAY…

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Come, Holy Spirit,

strengthen my faith and fill me with Your love

– I want to love like Jesus loves.

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TODAY’S WORD…

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I will sprinkle clean water upon you,

and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses,

and from all your idols I will cleanse you.

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A new heart I will give you,

and a new spirit I will put within you;

and I will remove from your body the heart of stone

and give you a heart of flesh.

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I will put my spirit within you,

and make you follow my statutes

and be careful to observe my ordinances.

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Then you shall live in the land that I gave to your ancestors;

and you shall be my people,

and I will be your God.

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– Ezekiel 36:25-28 (NRSV)

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PRAYER…

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O Lord, my God,

sprinkle clean water upon me,

clean me from all my uncleannesses,

and cleanse me from all my idols.

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A new heart give me,

and a new spirit put within me;

and remove from my body the heart of stone

and give me a heart of flesh.

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Put Your spirit within me,

and make me follow Your statutes

and make me be careful to observe Your ordinances.

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O Lord, You are my God!

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REPETITIVE PRAYER FOR TODAY…

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Change my heart, O God, make it ever new.

Change my heart, O God, may I be like You.

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LIFT…a simple yet meaningful prayer to the Lord, in heartfelt song.

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TODAY’S WORD…

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There is no fear in love,

but perfect love casts out fear;

for fear has to do with punishment,

and whoever fears

has not reached perfection in love.

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– 1 John 4:18 (NRSV)

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REFLECTION…

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Seeing God only as one who punishes

those who transgress His commandments

is not loving God.

Fearing God as a vengeful master – fearing His punishment –

is servile fear,

and that is not the way God wants us to look at Him.

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It is filial fear or reverence – tender reverence –

that we should feel towards God.

It has nothing to do with punishment,

but everything to do with loving God.

It is what gives a true Christian

that deep repulsion of sin.

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Tender reverence

occurs in the heart of those who acknowledge God

as their loving and doting Father

and who see themselves as His children.

They do not want to hurt God;

they not want to do anything

which will cut them off from their Heavenly Father’s love.

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REPETITIVE PRAYER FOR TODAY…

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Father in heaven, I love You and I never want to hurt You.

Forgive me, and strengthen me with Your love.

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TODAY’S WORD…

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…your wealth has continued to increase,

and with this your heart has grown more arrogant.

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– Ezekiel 28:5b (JB)

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REFLECTION…

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If you are financially wealthy,

it is good to go humbly before God

and ask Him to help you look back

and see how you became wealthy.

Ask Him to tell you what amends He wishes you to make

in respect of what may have been obtained unfairly and unethically.

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If you are financially wealthy,

it is good to go humbly before God

and let Him help you take a good look at yourself

to see if your wealth has made you arrogant.

If it has, ask the Lord to change you

so that you can become more like Him.

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If you are not financially wealthy,

it is good to go humbly before God

to thank Him for His many blessings.

Tell the Lord that you accept His will

and ask Him to forgive you for, and to help you stop

complaining about what you don’t have;

comparing yourself and your family to others;

envying the apparent wealth and possessions of others.

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Wealthy or not,

faith is the only “possession” we should truly seek to increase at any cost.

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True faith in the Almighty will not make us arrogant.

True faith leads us to the Source

of abundant love, joy, peace,

patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness,

and self-control. (Gal 5:22-23)

All of these are free for us to partake from!

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REPETITIVE PRAYER FOR TODAY…

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Lord, help me.

Lord, forgive me.

Lord, guide me.

Lord, increase my faith.

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TODAY’S WORD…

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The Lord said:

I will hide my face from them,
I will see what their end will be;
for they are a perverse generation,
children in whom there is no faithfulness.

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– Deuteronomy 32:20 (NRSV)

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REFLECTION…

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We have been warned!

When both people and their leaders forsake the Lord

and become utterly obstinate and faithless,

God’s saving presence will disappear;

His help and protection will be no more.

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The Lord is warning us:

if the world carries on contradicting and cursing the Gospel of Christ,

with so many of us Christians distorting our religious principles

as we become more selfishly obstinate and stubborn,

as well as self-centered and inflexible in our ideas and practices,

– that will bring about our ruin!
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Am I becoming one of His faithless children?

Do I firmly believe and totally rely on the truth

and importance of Scripture and the Gospel?

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It is faith only that can unite us to God

and produce love and obedience.

It is faith only that can lead us from earth to God’s heavenly Kingdom.

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Without faith it is impossible to please God!

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QUOTE…

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“Without faith it is impossible to please God,

because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists

and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.”

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– St. Paul (Heb 11:6)

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REPETITIVE PRAYER FOR TODAY…

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Increase my faith, Lord;

increase my love for You and my trust in You.

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TODAY’S WORD…

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You are my God, and I give You thanks;
I will proclaim Your greatness.

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– Psalm 118:28 (GNT)

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REFLECTION…

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You are my God.

Is He?

Or is He only my God when I need something from Him?

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Is He my God,

or are job, money, possessions, desires, hobbies, friends, even family, my true gods?

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Are “peace” and “comfort” my gods as well?

“Peace” and “comfort” are often giving godly status

because many seem to think that attaining them at any cost

is the most important thing in life

– “peace” and “comfort” even at the cost of disobeying God;

of losing their soul!

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I give You thanks.

Do I?

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Do I sincerely give God thanks every day

for all He has done in my life?

Do I count my blessings and give thanks to God for them,

or am I only concerned with what I may lack,

and complain about my problems?

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I will proclaim Your greatness.

How?

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As Christians, we can proclaim God’s greatness

by living our faith,

by giving good example,

by gladly taking Christian peace, love and joy to where it may be lacking.

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REPETITIVE PRAYER FOR TODAY…

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Deliver me, O Lord, for You are my God.

Thank You for all You have done in my life.

Renew me and use me to take You to others.

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TODAY’S WORD…

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Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and put a new and right spirit within me.

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– Psalm 51:10 (NRSV)

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REFLECTION…

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It is not innocence that makes us good

– if it were so, then none of us are good!

It is the acceptance of God’s grace in our hearts

– the grace which helps us recognise and acknowledge our weaknesses,

and which gives us the energy to persistently fight all impurity.

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It is the grace of God

that builds up our faith and determination

to ignore that cunning voice that insistently scoffs at our contrition,

as it sneeringly whispers: “Hypocrite!”

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Create in me a clean heart, O God,

and stop me from thinking that my sins are just small vices,

for it is these continuous iniquities

that can prove to be the worst and most fatal.

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Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and put a new and right spirit within me.

This is a prayer of the true penitent;

a prayer of wonderful faith in God’s pardoning love;

a prayer of bold hope in God’s healing grace

which cleanses and renews the heart

and keeps us close to Him.

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REPETITIVE PRAYER FOR TODAY…

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Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and put a new and right spirit within me.

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TODAY’S WORD…

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A great sign appeared in heaven:

a woman clothed with the sun,

with the moon under her feet

and a crown of twelve stars on her head.

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– Revelation 12:1 (NIV)

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REFLECTION…

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…from Pope Francis’ homily

on the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

(South Korea, 15th Aug 2014)

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“Mary’s Assumption

shows us our own destiny as God’s adoptive children

and members of the body of Christ.

Like Mary our Mother,

we are called to share fully in the Lord’s victory over sin and death,

and to reign with Him in His eternal Kingdom.

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The “great sign” – a woman clothed in the sun and crowned by stars –

invites us to contemplate Mary enthroned in glory beside her divine Son.

It also invites us to acknowledge the future

which even now the Risen Lord is opening before us. […]

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From Mary, full of grace,

we learn that Christian freedom is more than liberation from sin.

It is freedom for a new, spiritual way of seeing earthly realities.

It is the freedom to love God and our brothers and sisters with a pure heart,

and to live a life of joyful hope for the coming of Christ’s Kingdom. […]

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In her, all God’s promises have been proved trustworthy.

Enthroned in glory, she shows us that our hope is real. […]

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Let us turn to Our Lady

and implore the grace to rejoice in the freedom of the children of God,

to use that freedom wisely in the service of our brothers and sisters,

and to live and work as signs of the hope

which will find its fulfilment in that eternal Kingdom where to reign is to serve.

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Amen.”

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REPETITIVE PRAYER FOR TODAY…

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Sweet Mother of God, pray for us

that we may be made worthy of Christ’s promises.

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TODAY’S WORD…

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“Lord, if my brother keeps on sinning against me,

how many times do I have to forgive him?

Seven times?”

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“No, not seven times” answered Jesus,

“but seventy times seven.”

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– Matthew 18:21-22 (GNT)

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REFLECTION…

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Jesus’ reply to Peter’s question,

prescribes the spirit of understanding and mercy

which should govern a Christian’s behaviour.

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In the Hebrew context, “seventy times seven” means "always"

and, therefore, our Lord is very clearly telling us

that our forgiveness must be continuous and forever.

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It is so easy for us to find ourselves justifying

our attitudes of contempt, hatred or the seeking of revenge,

as we react to the hurts others cause us.

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By the grace of God, however,

may our lives be marked by an openness to reason;

by a bearing of no malice;

by an eagerness for reconciliation.

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Above all,

may we always be willing to forgive

in the same way that the Lord forgives us.

May we listen to Him more intently;

obey Him;

and seek to become more like Him!

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QUOTE…

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"Force yourself, if necessary,

always to forgive those who offend you,

from the very first moment.

For the greatest injury or offense that you can suffer from them

is nothing compared to what God has pardoned you"

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– St. Josemaria Escrivá

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REPETITIVE PRAYER FOR TODAY…

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Jesus, You are merciful – You forgive me every time.

Please make me more like You.

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TODAY’S WORD…

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Jesus said,

“For where two or three are gathered in My name,

there am I in the midst of them."

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– Matthew 18:20 (RSV)

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REFLECTION…

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“Where charity and love resides, there God is."

It is true that love is inconceivable if there is only one person:

it implies the presence of two or more.

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And so it is that when Christians meet together

in the name of Christ for the purpose of prayer,

our Lord is present among them,

faithfully and gladly listening to their unanimous prayer.

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That is why communal prayer can be so uplifting, holy and inspiring

– because of Christ’s presence.

If only we would take the Lord’s words more seriously

and realise that He is always true to His promises.

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A belief in Christ’s reassurance and promises

would change our attitudes to daily prayers said as a family;

to grace at meals, morning and night prayers, the rosary…

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Jesus’ promise also throws an encouraging light

on those meeting regularly to pray as a group.

What could be more wonderful than having the Lord present

in the midst of those who meet to share love, joy, peace and the Good News!

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REPETITIVE PRAYER FOR TODAY…

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Lord Jesus, Your promises are true!

Lord, I pray that I will gladly praise You

with my family and with others,

and exult at Your glorious presence.

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