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

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TODAY’S WORD…

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He has taken us out of the power of darkness

and created a place for us in the kingdom of the Son that He loves,

and in Him we gain our freedom, the forgiveness of our sins.

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– Colossians 1:13-14 (JB)

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REFLECTION…

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Christ our Lord, by carrying out the redemption and obtaining forgiveness for our sins,

rescued us from the kingdom of darkness, from the tyranny of the Evil One, and brought us into the kingdom of light, the kingdom of truth and justice, of love and of peace.

God’s love for us was made manifest by His sending His only Son into the world so that we might live through Him.

By dying on the Cross He won life for us;

by redeeming us with His blood He obtained forgiveness for our sins and He secured our salvation forever.

In carrying out this Redemption, our Lord was motivated by His infinite love for man.

This love, which far exceeds anything man could hope for, or could merit,

is to be seen above all in the universal generosity of God’s forgiveness.

This forgiveness, achieved by Christ’s death on the cross,

is the supreme sign of God’s love for us,

for “greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends”. (Jn 15:13)

By enabling our sins to be forgiven,

the Redemption brought about by Christ has restored our dignity

and given back meaning to our life in the world,

a meaning that was lost to a considerable extent because of sin.

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REPETITIVE PRAYER FOR TODAY…

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Most loving and eternal God, thank You for breaking the stranglehold of death.

Thank You for using love to break down the barriers that would have kept me from You.

Jesus my rescuer, my Saviour, thank You for rescuing me from the darkness,

for saving me and bringing me into the Light, into Your family and Your Kingdom.

I praise and thank You, Lord.

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TODAY’S WORD…

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…He said to me,

"My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness."

Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses,

so that Christ’s power may rest on me.

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– 2 Corinthians 12:9 (NIV)

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THE SAINTS’ REFLECTIONS…

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St Thomas explains that…

God sometimes permits certain kinds of evil in order to draw out greater good:

for example, in order to protect people from pride – the root of all vices –

He sometimes allows His chosen ones to be humiliated by an illness, or a defect, or even by mortal sin,

in order that "the person who is humbled in this way might recognise that he cannot stand firm by his own efforts alone.

Hence it is said in Romans 8:28, ‘We know that in everything God works for good with those who love Him’

– not of course that God seeks the sin but [the sinners] turning to Him".

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St Jerome: "The Lord is good,

because He often does not give us what we desire,

in order to give us something we would prefer."

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St Alphonsus: "We have to glory in the knowledge of our own weakness

in order to acquire the strength of Jesus Christ, which is holy humility

[without] giving in to lack of confidence, as the devil wants, and falling into more serious sins."

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St Josemaria Escriva: "We have to cry out ceaselessly with a strong and humble faith,

‘Lord, put not your trust in me. But I, I put my trust in You.’

Then, as we sense in our hearts the love, the compassion, the tenderness of Christ’s gaze upon us (for He never abandons us)

we shall come to understand the full meaning of the words “My power is made perfect in weakness”.

If we have faith in our Lord, in spite of our failings – or rather, with our failings –

we shall be faithful to our Father, God;

His divine power will shine forth in us, sustaining us in our weakness."

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PRAYER…

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Jesus, my Lord, guard my heart from discouragement in tough times

and guard it from arrogance in good times.

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Thank You Lord for giving me the grace to recognise my weaknesses…

for encouraging me to place them at the foot of Your cross…

for reassuring me that by keeping You by my side and in my heart I will be delivered from evil.

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Lord, help me stand firm, strengthen me with Your salvation,

and fill me with faith, with Your truth, Your righteousness and Your Spirit.

Amen.

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TODAY’S WORD…

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“And some seeds fell into rich soil

and, growing tall and strong, produced crop;

and yielded thirty, sixty, even a hundredfold. […]

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There are those who have received the seed in rich soil:

they hear the Word and accept it

and yield a harvest, thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.”

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– Mark 4:8,20 (JB)

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REFLECTION…

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“There are those who have received the seed in rich soil.”

These are the ones whose minds and hearts are open.

Such persons are at all times willing to listen and to learn.

They are never too proud or too busy to learn.

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They listen with humble intelligence in order to understand;

they discern without bias and shed all self-interest;

they recognise God’s Truth, and embrace it

…and God’s Love comes flooding into their hearts and takes over.

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And then?

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And then, as they gladly submit to God’s Way and His will,

they will produce fruit “and yield a harvest, thirty and sixty and a hundredfold”

– a harvest of love, joy, peace,

patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control,

which they will gladly and generously share with others for the glory of God’s Kingdom.

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PRAYER…

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O Divine Sower,

I seek Your forgiveness for the times when my heart appears to reject the seed;

for when I am blinded by my selfish preoccupations and worldliness.

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Lord, thank You for never giving up on me;

for Your persistence and for Your unconditional love.

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Take over, Lord Jesus, and turn me into good and fertile ground.

Plant in me, Lord, all virtues and grant that I may produce a generous harvest to untiringly share with others

…in Your Name and for the Glory of Your Kingdom.

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Amen.

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TODAY’S WORD…

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“Some seed fell into thorns,

and the thorns grew up and choked it,

and it produced no crop.”

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“There are others who receive the seed in thorns.

These have heard the Word,

but the worries of this world,

the lure of riches and all the other passions

come in to choke the Word,

and so it produces nothing.”

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– Mark 4: 4:7,18-19 (JB)

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REFLECTION…

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“There are others who receive the seed in thorns.”

These receivers of the Word are those who have many interests or cares,

but who lack the ability to hear or comprehend what is truly important.

They allow their pastimes, their concerns, their passions and their self-interests to take over.

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God loses His primary importance in such people’s lives

and they no longer seem to be able to make real time for Him.

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Truly, what or who do I place before God in my life?

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If, in whatever circumstance,

there is anything or anyone at all that would take that first place from God

– and that can be myself –

then His Word has little chance of growing in me.

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PRAYER…

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O Lord, my God, my Jesus, my Saviour,

You are the Alpha and the Omega,

You are everything

and I want to place You firmly in my heart,

right there before everything and everyone in my life.

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Lord, do not allow anything or anyone to come between me and Your loving grace.

Remove from me all my self-centeredness

and replace it with more of You,

till You become every breath that I take.

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Lord, You are all I want.

Lord, You are all I need.

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TODAY’S WORD…

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Some seed fell on rocky ground

where it found little soil and sprang up straightaway, because there was no depth of earth;

and when the sun came up it was scorched

and, not having any roots, it withered away. […]

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Those who receive the seed on patches of rock

are people who, when first they hear the Word, welcome it at once with joy.

But they have no root in them, they do not last;

should some trial come, or some persecution on account of the Word,

they fall away at once.

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– Mark 4:5-6,16-17 (JB)

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REFLECTION…

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“Those who receive the seed on patches of rock.”

Here Jesus is indicating the shallow hearers

who fail to think things out or think them through

– their selfish mentality lacks depth.

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They may initially respond with an emotional reaction;

but the excitement wears off very quickly.

When God’s Word does not immediately solve their problems,

they are so quick to wander off to something else.

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Do I recognise myself here?

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God gives grace to those who cling on to His Word,

till they become rooted in Him,

whatever sacrifice this entails.

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PRAYER …

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Lord Jesus, Son of the Living God, Divine Saviour,

send Your Holy Spirit upon me to strengthen me,

to encourage me,

to root me in Your love and fill me with hope,

and with a determination to eagerly receive Your Word

and embrace it forever.

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Jesus, my Lord and Mentor,

as I entrust myself into Your arms

grant that I will always be steadfast in my faith.

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Help me, Jesus. Thank You, Jesus.

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TODAY’S WORD…

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“Listen! Imagine a sower going out to sow.

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Now it happened that, as he sowed,

some of the seed fell on the edge of the path,

and the birds came and ate it up. […]

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What the sower is sowing is the Word.

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Those on the edge of the path where the Word is sown…

are people who have no sooner heard it

than Satan comes and carries away the Word that was sown in them.”

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– Mark 4: 3-4,14-15 (JB)

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REFLECTION…

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Jesus’ parable of the sower is aimed at the hearers of His Word.

There are different ways of accepting God’s Word…

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“Some of the seed fell on the edge of the path.”

Jesus is indicating the prejudiced hearer who has a shut mind.

Such a person is unteachable

and blind to what he or she does not want to hear.

Am I like this?

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God gives grace to those who eagerly want to listen to His Word

that they may understand His will

and have the strength to live according to it.

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PRAYER…

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Lord Jesus, grant that I will never wander off to the edge of Your path;

that I will never be disinterested in You.

Grant, Lord, that I will eagerly rush closer to You,

to always willingly receive Your loving and strengthening Word.

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Jesus, open my heart to Your Word.

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TODAY’S WORD…

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I waited patiently for the Lord to help me,

and He turned to me and heard my cry.

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He lifted me out of the pit of despair,

out of the mud and the mire.

He set my feet on solid ground

and steadied me as I walked along.

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He has given me a new song to sing,

a hymn of praise to our God.

Many will see what He has done and be amazed.

They will put their trust in the Lord.

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Oh, the joys of those who trust the Lord…

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– Psalm 40:1-4 (NLT)

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REFLECTION…

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Oh, the joys of those who trust the Lord

– just ask them and they will gladly tell you, with great joy in their hearts,

about how great the Lord is;

how He lifts them and carries them through life;

how He is their Rock;

and how He makes them feel so secure in His love.

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How fortunate and blessed we are who place our trust in the Lord!

This is why our hearts sing praise to Him.

This is why we give Him thanks for the hope He fills us with,

as we seek to love Him with all our heart, mind and strength,

and to obey Him and do His will.

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ENCOURAGEMENT…

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“Wait patiently for the Lord.

Be brave and courageous.

Yes, wait patiently for the Lord.”

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– Psalm 27:14

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“Trust in the Lord forever,

for the Lord, the Lord is the Rock Eternal.”

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– Isaiah 26:4

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"Those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,
they shall mount up with wings like eagles,
they shall run and not be weary,
they shall walk and not faint.”

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– Isaiah 40:31

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REPETITIVE PRAYER FOR TODAY…

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Lord. grant that I will wait patiently on You

and faithfully place all my trust in You,

as I eagerly await Your uplifting grace,

knowing that Your love and Spirit are with me

despite who I am and what I’ve done.

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Lord, You fill me with unimaginable hope and joy!

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TODAY’S WORD…

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Jesus said,

“I assure you that people can be forgiven all their sins

and all the evil things they may say.

But whoever says evil things against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven,

because he has committed an eternal sin.”

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– Mark 3:28-29 (GNT)

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REFLECTION…

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Imagine a sick person who has lost confidence in a good doctor,

rejects him as if he was some kind of enemy

and regards as poison the medicine that can save his life,

and then seeks the magical potions of some charlatan or witch-doctor instead.

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Take “new age” practices as an example –

Christians who dabble or experiment with “new age” practices and beliefs,

are very much risking to sin against the Holy Spirit.

“New age” philosophies attribute nothing to the Living God,

reject Jesus’ divine nature and His Truth,

and hijack the Spirit’s Gifts

to replace them with “forces” or “energies” whose sources are dangerously unspecified.

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Invariably, “new age” philosophies, and their practitioners and believers

claim that these mysterious forces and energies can be harnessed,

so as to unlimitedly augment the human potential

and we are brought to believe that we need not rely so much on God anymore!

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When we accept this

we are behaving like Adam and Eve who believed the serpent when he told them

that when they ate from the fruit from the tree of the knowledge

they would become like God.

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We must ask the Holy Spirit to strengthen our faith

and protect us from ever believing

that we, or anybody else, can do it as well as, or better, then Him.

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QUOTE…

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“To attribute to the spirit of evil, to Beelzebul, or to magic

that which is so manifestly the work of the Spirit of God

meant to stubbornly close one’s eyes to the truth,

to oppose oneself to God Himself,

and therefore to deprive oneself of the possibility of forgiveness.”

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– Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa

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PRAYER…

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Holy Spirit, strengthen my faith and shield me against the wickedness and snares of the devil.

Grant me the gift of discernment so that I will not be misled and steered away from You.

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TODAY’S WORD…and REFLECTION…

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The law of the Lord is perfect,

it revives the soul.

The rule of the Lord is to be trusted,

it gives wisdom to the simple.

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The precepts of the Lord are right,

they gladden the heart.

The command of the Lord is clear,

it gives light to the eyes.

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The fear of the Lord is holy,

abiding for ever.

The decrees of the Lord are truth

and all of them just.

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May the spoken words of my mouth,

the thoughts of my heart,

win favour in Your sight, O Lord,

my Rescuer, my Rock!

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– Psalm 19:8-10,14 (The Grail Psalms)

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QUOTE…

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“The words I have spoken to you

– they are full of the Spirit and life.”

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– Our Lord Jesus Christ (Jn 6:63)

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PRAYER FOR TODAY…

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Lord, I want to know You better

so that, rooted in You, I will be full of enthusiasm and joy,

and a determined desire to walk the full length of the path You have laid out for me.

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TODAY’S WORD…

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For the Spirit that God has given us does not make us timid;

instead, His Spirit fills us with power, love, and self-control.

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Do not be ashamed, then, of witnessing for our Lord

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– 2 Timothy 1:7-8 (GNT)

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REFLECTION…

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“The Spirit that God has given us does not make us timid;

instead, His Spirit fills us with power, love, and self-control”

and we Christians, as we continuously strive to be Christ-like,

would do well to persistently reflect on this simple message.

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If we feel ashamed…of witnessing for our Lord,

preferring to appear to be lukewarm towards God’s commandments

and to be considered avant-garde

rather than risk losing face in an increasingly God-less society,

then it is decision time for us:

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Are we for God…or against?

Have we welcomed His Spirit…or are we refusing Him?

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QUOTE…

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"[Saint] Paul exhorts us to keep our gaze fixed on the glory that awaits us