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

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TODAY’S WORD…

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Bless the LORD, O my soul;

and all that is within me, bless His Holy Name!

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– Psalm 103:1

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REFLECTION…

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How wonderful it is

when true believers feel their inmost-self stir up to magnify the Lord,

to bless Him.

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When we open up to the Lord,

He fills us with indescribable sentiments of acknowledgement, love and belonging.

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All our faculties, emotions, and capacities, – all of them God-given –

are unleashed to join in a chorus to His praise

and in homage to Him, our Living God.

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PRAYER…

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Deep within, my soul stirs at the thought of You;

at the whisper of Your Holy Name.

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My mind, my heart, my body, my soul

combine in a silent but quivering explosion of love and emotion

as I stop and put all else aside

and focus on You, my Lord, my God, my Saviour.

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Suddenly, Your Holy Spirit takes over

and fills me with this superlative awareness of Your glorious presence.

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Yes, LORD, my soul leaps with joy and my heart beats faster,

as my senses unite in joyful, reverential acknowledgement

of the presence of the One Who Is, Has Always Been, and Will Always Be.

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Yes, bless the LORD, O my soul

and all that is within me, bless His Holy Name.

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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

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REFLECTION…

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Formal religious worship is not enough for God

In other words, being religious is not enough,

even though it may indicate a reverence for God.

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Religiosity basically implies that one is a follower of a religion

– but a person can be religious without being spiritual.

God wants our love for Him to be a spiritual experience

and not a formality.

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God urges us to love Him with all our heart, mind, soul and strength

…and…to love our neighbour.

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This involves our obedience towards Him,

which in turn means

practicing justice and loving charity towards our neighbour.

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Our religion sets us on the right path, and seeks to keep us there.

However, it is up to us whether to walk with the Lord, and learn

and accept to live our lives under the influence of the Holy Spirit.

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I can only claim to be a Spiritual believer

when I learn the great value of living by the Spirit

– the true Spirit of the Living God

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PRAYER…

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Jesus, I want to walk humbly with You.

Grant, my Lord, that I will always let myself go into Your arms,

to be led by Your Spirit

into the wonder of walking Your realm on this earth,

with a heart full of love, and joy, and peace – whatever my circumstances.

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TODAY’S WORD…

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Jesus exclaimed,

“Why do you see the speck in your neighbour’s eye,

but do not notice the log in your own eye?”

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– Luke 6:41.

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REFLECTION…

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We all really need to have a good look at ourselves!

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Every time we feel the urge to point out the perceived lackings of others,

we should stop…and remember what somebody once said:

“When you point your finger at someone,

you will see three fingers pointing back at you!”

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We really must swallow our pride

and call upon Jesus to help us look, with all humility, at ourselves.

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With His help,

we will realise that we can sometimes suffer from excessive self-esteem,

the result of which is arrogance and prejudice.

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PRAYER…

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Lord Jesus, help me see and remove the log in my eye!.

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TODAY’S WORD…

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The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction!

But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God.

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– 1 Corinthians 1:18

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REFLECTION…

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The cross of Christ leads the way to true wisdom and prudence.

No one may remain indifferent to it.

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Some people see the message of the Cross as irrational:

these are on the road to perdition.

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Others – those who are on the road to salvation –

are discovering that the Cross is the very power of God,

because it has conquered the devil and sin.

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QUOTE…

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"O most precious gift of the Cross!

How splendid it looks! […]

It is a tree which begets life, without causing death;

which sheds light, without casting shadows;

which leads to Paradise and does not expel anyone therefrom;

it is the wood which Christ ascended, as a king mounting his chariot,

to defeat the devil who had usurped the power of death,

and to set mankind free from the thrall in which the devil held it.”

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– St Theodore the Studite

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PRAYER…

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I adore You, O Christ, and I bless You,

because by Your Holy Cross You have saved the world.

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TODAY’S WORD…

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Love is patient, love is kind.

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It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

It does not dishonour others,

it is not self-seeking,

it is not easily angered,

it keeps no record of wrongs.

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Love does not delight in evil

but rejoices with the truth.

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It always protects, always trusts,

always hopes,

always perseveres.

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– 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

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REFLECTION…

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These verses, from St. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians,

do not require comment

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but deep reflection is due

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…as is prayer.

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PRAYER…

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Lord, this is my prayer, for today…and everyday…

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Lord, please make me patient and make me kind.

Remove from me all envy, boastfulness, and pride.

Let me never dishonour others, nor be self-seeking.

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Stop me, Lord, from being easily angered,

and from keeping record of the wrongs of others.

My Lord, I do not want to ever delight in evil

but to always rejoice with the truth.

Lord, help me to always protect, trust, hope and persevere.

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For this I sincerely pray, Lord, to love like You do.

Lord Jesus, make me more like You!

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TODAY’S WORD…

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Make sure that no one traps you and deprives you of your freedom

by some second-hand, empty, rational philosophy

based on the principles of this world instead of on Christ.

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– Colossians 2:8

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REFLECTION…

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It is a fact, that over the centuries,

people have often tried to adapt the truths of faith

to philosophies or ideologies which happen to be in vogue at the time.

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Why?

Because they are attractive alternatives;

because they please those who are searching;

because they feed and satisfy our selfish traits,

while deviously appeasing our internal desire to seek the Divine.

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We must truly beware of recycled philosophies;

of entrapment by what claims to be the truth,

and what promises immediate self-satisfaction.

We must beware of deceit, which abounds in this age of compromise.

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Our Christian faith is not opposed to human scholarship and science,

but it rejects vain philosophy,

that is, self-centred philosophy, which boasts that it relies on reason alone,

and which fails to respect revealed truths.

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At the heart of our Christian Faith

is the utter conviction that each human person is created in God’s likeness and image.

This likeness allows us to search for Him,

and to joyfully recognise Him when we find Him.

This allows us to enter into a wonderful personal relationship with God.

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And the initiator of such an intimate and loving relationship…is our Creator – Himself!

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PRAYER…

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Lord, please save me from entrapment

and help me stay focused on You as I cling to Your Truth!

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TODAY’S WORD…

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Brethren, be joyful.

Try to grow perfect;

help one another.

Be united;

live in peace,

and the God of love and peace will be with you.

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– 2 Corinthians 13:11

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REFLECTION…

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Joy is something which should be very characteristic of us Christians

because our awareness of being children of God tells us that we are in His hands

– in the hands of the One who knows everything

and can do everything.

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Therefore, we should never be sad;

on the contrary: we should reflect Jesus

and the joy, love and peace which only He brings.

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PRAYER…

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My Lord Jesus Christ, for this I pray,

that with the help of Your grace, Lord,

I will be filled with the joy, love and peace, that only You bring.

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Thank You, Lord.

I love You, Lord.

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TODAY’S WORD…

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”Where two or three are gathered in my name,

I am there among them.”

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– Matthew 18:20

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REFLECTION…

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Jesus promises us

that when we meet together in His name for the purpose of prayer,

He is present among us.

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The Lord wants each one of us to enter into a personal relationship with Him

as we call upon Him in those quiet intimate moments of meditation and prayer,

but He also delights when we call upon Him and pray with others,

and He very clearly encourages us to do so.

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When we stop to pray in His name with others, be they family, friends or strangers,

then “Love” will be there among us

…and God is Love..

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QUOTE…

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“Make space for prayer in your lives!

To pray alone is good,

although it is even more beautiful and fruitful

to pray together,

because the Lord assured us

He would be present

wherever two or three

are gathered in His name.”

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– Pope Benedict XVI

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PRAYER…

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My Lord Jesus,

thank You for Your promise

and for the hope You place in our hearts.

Help me not miss those opportunities You give me

to pray with my family, with my friends, and with others.

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O Lord, You are worthy of all glory and honour and of power and all praise. Amen.

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TODAY’S WORD…

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Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!

His faithful love endures forever.

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– Psalm 136:1

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REFLECTION…

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Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!

His faithful love endures forever.

But these can be empty words,

unless we truly seek to get to know God

by reading and contemplating Scripture, which is His Word to us.

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Jesus – God incarnate – comes to life in the New Testament.

It is only if I spend time to learn about Him and to get to know Him,

that I will be able to sincerely exclaim,

“Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!

His faithful love endures forever.”

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PRAYER…

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O Lord, my God,

Thank You for Your faithful love,

and for Your everlasting goodness

so gloriously reflected in all that Jesus Christ, my Lord, has done for me!

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Father, Your goodness and mercy, whatever You do,

reflects the eternity of Your faithfulness and love.

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Lord God, You are good!

Father, I want to love You, always.

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TODAY’S WORD…

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I will rejoice in the Lord;

I will exult in the God of my salvation.

God, the Lord, is my strength;

He makes my feet like the feet of a deer,

and makes me tread upon the heights.

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– Habakkuk 3:18-19

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REFLECTION…

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When we taste the Lord,

when we truly acknowledge Him as our Lord,

the heart will exult with that indescribable joy

which is beyond our understanding!

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Whatever the situation we are in,

our heart knows the Truth when it finds “Him”.

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When I truly believe, I will never lose hope,

I will trust fully in the Lord my God

and I press on joyfully to the “heights” of His glorious mountain.

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QUOTE…

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“This certainty, which the faith gives,

enables us to look at everything in a new light.

And everything, while remaining exactly the same,

becomes different,

because it is an expression of God’s love.

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Our life is turned into a continuous prayer,

we find ourselves with good humour and a peace which never ends,

and everything we do

is an act of thanksgiving running through all our day.”

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– St. Josemaria Escriva

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PRAYER…

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My Lord, my God, You are my strength!

You lift me up when I fall.

You make me sure-footed.

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With the help of Your grace, O Lord,

I will carry on climbing up Your glorious mountain,

intent on reaching the top

where I shall stay, forever, with You, in Your awesome presence!

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