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

.

TODAY’S WORD…

.

How can you claim to have faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ

if you favour some people over others?

.

… suppose someone comes into your meeting dressed in fancy clothes and expensive jewelry,

and another comes in who is poor and dressed in dirty clothes.

If you give special attention and a good seat to the rich person,

but you say to the poor one,

“You can stand over there, or else sit on the floor”

– well, doesn’t this discrimination show that your judgments are guided by evil motives?

.

– James 2:1-4

.

.

.

REFLECTION…

.

Snobbery

is prejudice against others on the grounds of social standing,

and it is as condemnable as racial and religious discrimination.

.

Snobbery

denotes conceit and arrogance.

It is an attitude which reflects a belief

that others are inherently inferior for any one of a variety of reasons

– including real or supposed intellect,

wealth, education, ancestry, taste, etc.

.

Snobbery,

or any other form of discrimination against people, felt or expressed,

shows clear inconsistency

between one’s Christian faith and ones actions.

.

.

.

PRAYER…

.

My Lord, my Creator, remove all my prejudices

and fill me, to overflowing, with love for all others!

.

.

TODAY’S WORD…

.

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

how many times do I have to forgive him? Seven times?”

.

“No, not seven times” answered Jesus, “but seventy times seven.”

.

– Matthew 18:21-22

.

.

.

REFLECTION…

.

Peter’s question, and particularly Jesus’ reply,

prescribe the spirit of understanding and mercy

which should govern our behaviour as Christians.

.

In Hebrew, the figure of seventy times seven means the same as “always”

– our Lord therefore declares that our forgiveness must be continuous and forever.

.

Humanly, it is always easy to justify

an attitude of contempt, hatred or the seeking of revenge.

But, by the grace of God, may our lives be free from these things

and marked by an openness to reason,

a bearing of no malice,

an eagerness for reconciliation – a willingness to forgive as He forgives us.

.

.

.

QUOTE…

.

“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”

.

– St. Josemaria Escrivá

.

.

.

PRAYER…

.

Lord, have mercy on me

and hold my hand…as I forgive.

.

.

TODAY’S WORD…

.

Jesus said,

“I tell you, most solemnly,

unless a wheat grain falls on the ground and dies, it remains only a single grain;

but if it dies, it yields a rich harvest.”

.

– John 12:24

.

.

.

REFLECTION…

.

Jesus teaches us and encourages us.

He desires us to see every type of suffering and contradiction

as a sharing in His cross, which redeems us and exalts us.

.

To be supernaturally effective

in sowing love, peace and joy under any circumstance – good or bad –

I have to die to myself, forgetting my comfort and shedding my selfishness.

.

.

.

QUOTE…

.

“If the grain of wheat does not die, it remains unfruitful.

Don’t you want to be a grain of wheat,

to die through mortification, and to yield a rich harvest?

May Jesus bless your wheat field!”

.

– St. Josemaria Escrivá

.

.

.

PRAYER…

.

Lord Jesus,

help me forget my comfort and shed my selfishness.

.

Help me accept God’s will as a blessing,

so that when there is suffering in my life, it will bring me closer to You;

and when there is fullness, I will gladly share it with others.

.

Lord, help me do this with joy in my heart

– with the joy that only You can bring. Amen.

.

.

TODAY’S WORD…

.

“Of all women you are the most blessed,

and blessed is the fruit of your womb.”

.

– Luke 1:42

.

.

.

REFLECTION…

.

What a loving Mother Jesus gave us!

.

How could we fail to love the one whom our Lord loved so much?

It is impossible to love Christ adequately

without also loving the Mother who gave Him to us.

.

If we choose to ignore her we may end up ignoring Him

– for the two are inseparable in the great drama of redemption.

.

.

[inspired by the Venerable Fulton Sheen’s reflection on The Glorious Assumption]

.

.

.

QUOTE…

.

“Taken up into heaven,

Mary shows us the way to God,

the way to heaven, the way to life.

She shows it to her children baptised in Christ

and to all people of good will.

She opens this way especially to the little ones and to the poor,

those who are dear to divine mercy.

.

The Queen of the world reveals to individuals and to nations the power of the love of God

whose plan upsets that of the proud,

pulls down the mighty from their thrones and exalts the humble,

fills the hungry with good things and sends the rich empty away”

.

– St. Pope John Paul II

.

.

.

PRAYER…

.

Hail, holy Queen, Mother of mercy, our life, our sweetness and our hope.

To you do we cry, poor banished children of Eve:

to you do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this vale of tears.

Turn then, most gracious Advocate, your eyes of mercy toward us,

and after this our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of your womb, Jesus.

O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary!

.

Pray for us, O holy Mother of God,

that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

.

.

TODAY’S WORD…

.

Jesus said to Peter,

“…go to the lake and cast a hook;

take the first fish that bites,

open its mouth

and there you will find a shekel…”

.

– Matthew 17:27

.

.

.

REFLECTION…

.

What a lovely little story;

what an amazing little miracle

– the sort that God performs for us, so often, in our daily life!

.

It was time to make the annual contribution (equivalent to a day’s wage) for the upkeep of the temple,

and Peter and Jesus would be asked to pay their half-shekel each.

But there wasn’t any money to do so.

so Jesus performed this wonderful little miracle

and when Peter goes to the lake and casts a single hook, a fish bites,

and voilà, in its mouth – as if by magic – there’s the shekel they need!

.

God is like that – if we believe in Him.

.

Think about it,

“How many times in my life have I needed God’s help, even for the most trivial of things,

when suddenly and quite out of the blue something happens and the problem is solved?”

No wonder so many people of faith call them God-incidences!

.

God is like that…when we seek Him out and leave it to Him to guide us.

.

.

.

PRAYER…

.

I believe – in You, O Lord. In You I believe!

.

.

TODAY’S WORD…

.

Through your faith,

God’s power will guard you

until the salvation which has been prepared

is revealed at the end of time.

.

– 1 Peter 1:5

.

.

.

REFLECTION…

.

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.

.

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.

.

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.

.

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.

.

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.

.

It is through both our faith and our reason

that we come to contemplate and know God.

. .

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

.

.

.

QUOTES…

.

“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.”

.

– St. Anselm of Canterbury

.

.

“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.”

.

– John Paul II

.

.

.

PRAYER…

.

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.

.

.

TODAY’S WORD…

.

With our unveiled faces reflecting, like mirrors, the brightness of the Lord,

we all grow brighter and brighter as we are turned into the image that we reflect;

this is the work of the Lord who is Spirit.

.

– 2 Corinthians 3:18

.

.

.

REFLECTION…

.

What a joyous declaration this is!

.

Just as Moses’s face reflected the splendour of God after being with Him on Mount Sinai,

when we contemplate Christ in faith

we too will, as our life unfolds, reflect His splendour.

.

Moreover, whereas the radiance of Moses was a passing thing,

ours will steadily increase.

.

We are turned into the image that we reflect,

and we become increasingly identified with Christ,

through docility and submission to the influence of His grace on our souls,

.

.

.

QUOTE…

.

“…it is the Holy Spirit who, with His inspirations,

gives a supernatural tone to our thoughts, desires and actions.

It is He who leads us to receive Christ’s teaching and to assimilate it in a profound way.

It is He who gives us the light by which we perceive our personal calling

and the strength to carry out all that God expects of us.

.

If we are docile to the Holy Spirit,

the image of Christ will be formed more and more fully in us ,

and we will be brought closer, every day, to God the Father.”

.

– St. Josemaria Escrivá

.

.

.

PRAYER…

.

My Lord and my God,

how wonderful to know

that the ravages of time

on my heart and soul

can be erased and replaced

by the splendour of Your heavenly glory.

.

Holy Spirit,

come into my heart,

take over my soul,

fill me with Your light,

and make me more like Jesus.

.

.

TODAY’S WORD…

.

The Lord carried you, as a man carries his child,

all along the road you travelled.

.

– Deuteronomy 1:31

.

.

.

REFLECTION…

.

God is the father of each and every one of us.

He has a plan for us all

and wants no harm to come to us as we go through life’s ups and downs.

.

However, it is really up to us

– we either let Him carry us, or we wander off on our own.

.

When we realise that His everlasting arms are underneath,

then we need not fear.

His gentle and untiring arms bear us up…and on…through life.

.

.

.

PRAYER…

.

Father God,

Whatever this day has in store for me,

I know that You will carry me through.

I want You to carry me, Lord.

Lord, You are my refuge

and, holding me up are Your everlasting and caring arms

– so strong, yet so tender!

I let myself go, dear Lord, and place my trust in You.

Lift me up and carry me, Father!

.

.

TODAY’S WORD…

.

God loves a cheerful giver.

.

– 2 Corinthians 9:7

.

.

.

REFLECT…with Scripture…

.

Alms or a service done reluctantly

can never please anyone, particularly God, our Lord.

.

On the other hand,

whatever we give in this life – if we give it lovingly and joyfully –

God will reward us with much more in the next.

Jesus’ promised:

“Give, and it will be given to you.

A good measure, pressed down,

shaken together and running over,

will be poured into your lap.” – Luke 6:38

.

.

.

TODAY’S WORD…

.

God does not see as man sees;

man looks at appearances but the Lord looks at the heart.

.

– 1 Samuel 16:7

.

.

.

REFLECTION…

.

All we see is a ray of light, but God sees beyond that

– He sees what makes up that ray of light;

He sees the entire spectrum…and beyond…

because God also knows the source of that light.

.

God looks into the heart of every person,

and there He sees what nobody can see,

what nobody knows – good and bad.

He even sees

what not even the persons themselves know about themselves.

.

God knows where and what every one of us is coming from.

He knows what there truly is deep in our hearts.

.

A Christian, therefore, should not be so ready to judge,

but should, instead, show love and kindness to everyone.

.

On the other hand, if I call myself a Christian,

then I must do everything in my power to act like one, to obey Christ’s teachings and to live His Gospel.

.

.

.

PRAYER…

.

Lord Jesus, probe deeply into my heart

and help me realise what I truly am.

.

Lord, change me,

change my ways, my actions, my thoughts.

Help me, my Lord,

make me a true follower of Yours and of Your teachings.

Make me a better Christian – a true Christian.

Make me more like You.

.