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

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TODAY’S WORD…

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Never say or do anything

except in the name of the Lord Jesus,

giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

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– Colossians 3:17 (JB)

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REFLECTION…

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Never say or do anything

except in the name of the Lord Jesus…

What a wonderful way to keep check on ourselves

and to keep us away from wrong-doing

and out of spiritual trouble!

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When Jesus became one like us,

He taught us,

by word and by example,

how we should live our lives;

how we should speak and act.

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If I invoke Him, the Son of the Living God,

before I set out to do anything

– not only when starting off on some difficult task

but also if it’s simply before going out with friends

or just sitting down to watch TV –

then I will be calling on Him to be my witness.

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Having called upon the Lord,

I will then surely do my utmost to act appropriately,

serenely

and, thankful to have Him by my side,

I find myself giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

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Every time we act in Jesus name

and follow His example,

we will be giving grateful thanks to the Father,

who so loved us

that He gave His one and only Son,

so that we would not perish

but have eternal life. (cf. Jn 3:16)

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REPETITIVE PRAYER FOR TODAY…

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Let all that I do, say or think,

be pleasing to You, O Lord.

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TODAY’S WORD…

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The sun shall no longer be your light by day,

nor the moon shine on you when evening falls;

the Lord shall be your everlasting light

and your God shall be your glory.

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– Isaiah 60:19-20 (JB)

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REFLECTION…

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The man and woman of faith

believe that both the sun and the moon

– the brightest objects by day and night –

shall be eclipsed by the surpassing glory of God

manifesting Himself to them,

and that His clear light will continue for ever.

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But, as always, we have a choice:

we can choose darkness over light.

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QUOTE…

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"It would do us all good to reflect …and ask ourselves:

‘Am I a Christian of light?

Am I a Christian of the dark?

Am I a Christian of the grey areas?’

And thus we can take a step forward to meet the Lord."

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– Pope Francis

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REPETITIVE PRAYER FOR TODAY…

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Consume all my darkness, Lord, shine on me!

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TODAY’S WORD…

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Be consecrated to me,

because I, the Lord, am holy,

and I will set you apart from all these peoples

so that you may be mine.

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– Leviticus 20:26 (JB)

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REFLECTION…

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As Christians,

all that we own

and all our relationships

should be consecrated to God

so that they do not become idols in our lives.

No thing or person

is to be held above our relationship with Jesus Christ.

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Nearly every Christian has idols in his life.

For some, it is money or material possessions.

For others, it is relationships

– good or illicit – with other people.

To some, their parents, children, or spouse,

can be an idol (more important than God).

Others are so concerned about themselves

that their own love of their life

becomes an idol ranking before God.

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God wants to set us apart

but it is, as always, up to us

to decide which way, or who, to follow.

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One way, is to seek to follow a holy life

– a good life, consecrated to God

and based on following the path

of fulfilling altruistic love, genuineness and truth.

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The other way, is to blindly go with the flow

into the glittering world

of multiple and instant, though short-lived,

moments of self-satisfaction

– a toxic concoction of deception and dishonesty,

leading to self-destruction.

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The decision is ours.

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REPETITIVE PRAYER FOR TODAY…

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Jesus, my Lord, I have decided to follow You.

Help me with my decision.

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TODAY’S WORD…

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If you listen to advice and are willing to learn,

one day you will be wise.

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People may plan all kinds of things,

but the Lord’s will is going to be done.

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– Proverbs 19:20-21 (GNT)

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REFLECTION…

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If you listen to advice and are willing to learn,

one day you will be wise.

So, how wise are you today?

Are you wise enough to still gladly listen to advice?

Are you wise enough to still want to learn?

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Be humble enough, therefore,

to listen attentively to Jesus’ counsel,

to embrace His loving instruction,

and to bend to His will.

For He is the Wisdom of God,

and His teachings will give you the wisdom needed

as you walk along the narrow path of salvation.

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It is such wisdom, derived from Christ,

that helps us accept the fact that

in spite of our worldly plans,

ultimately, the Lord’s will is going to be done.

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Such wisdom comes through reading His word;

through looking to Him,

through believing in Him,

through leaning and living upon him;

through committing the affairs of our souls to Him.

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Ultimately, it is such wisdom

that shifts our focus from our worldly state to that of our soul,

and our concern from being self-centred to becoming soul-centred.

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REPETITIVE PRAYER FOR TODAY…

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Increase my faith and trust in You, O Lord,

that I will always bend to Your will.

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TODAY’S WORD…

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It is the Lord your God you must follow, and Him you must revere.

Keep His commands and obey Him;

serve Him and hold fast to Him.

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– Deuteronomy 13:4 (NIV)

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REFLECTION…

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So many voices from so many sources urging us to follow their lead,

pointing us in so many directions.

So many empty words and promises.

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God alone has proved Himself faithful and loving through the ages.

This is why those of us who know Him, love and revere Him:

because He is the Truth.

We know that we depend upon Him in our daily lives

and so we serve Him

and persist with obeying and keeping His commandments.

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We know the Lord our God is the Way, the Truth and the Life

and we must hold fast to Him.

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QUOTE…

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“And this is love: that we walk in obedience to His commands.

As you have heard from the beginning, His command is that you walk in love.”

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– St. John the Evangelist (2 Jn 1:6)

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REPETITIVE PRAYER FOR TODAY…

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Lead me, my Lord, I want to love You, obey You and walk with You.

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TODAY’S WORD…

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I will give thanks to You, Lord, with all my heart;

I will tell of all Your wonderful deeds.

I will be glad and rejoice in You;

I will sing the praises of Your name, O Most High.

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– Psalm 9:1-2 (NIV)

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REFLECTION…

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I will give thanks to You, Lord, with all my heart;

I will tell of all Your wonderful deeds.

In fact I should never stop thanking the Lord

for all that He has done in my life.

I should forever count my blessings,

and thank God for them,

but especially for the true faith that enlightens my life

and carries me through thick and thin.

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At every opportunity He sends my way,

I should be a true witness for the Lord

and share with others His wonderful deeds.

I give witness

especially when I live and act and speak

like a true Christian.

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I will be glad and rejoice in You;

I will sing the praises of Your name, O Most High.

We worship God as an expression of reverence and thanksgiving to Him.

But God also wants us to be obedient to Him.

He wants not only for us to love Him;

He wants us to act justly toward each other,

to show love and compassion to others.

In this way, we present ourselves to Him

as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to Him.

This is how we glorify the Lord, our God.

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When we worship the Lord our God

with an obedient heart and an open and repentant spirit,

we glorify Him.

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We worship the Lord our God and gladly sing His praises

also because it is our nature as Christians to do so.

We know full well

that our eternal destiny depends

on our worship of the true and living and glorious God,

whose one desire is to see us saved.

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REPETITIVE PRAYER FOR TODAY…

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I will give thanks to You, Lord, with all my heart;

I will tell of all Your wonderful deeds.

I will be glad and rejoice in You;

I will sing the praises of Your name, O Most High.

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TODAY’S WORD…

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In God alone is my soul at rest;

my help comes from Him.

He alone is my rock, my stronghold,

my fortress: I stand firm.

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In God alone be at rest, my soul;

for my hope comes from Him.

He alone is my rock, my stronghold,

my fortress: I stand firm.

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Take refuge in God, all you people.

Trust Him at all times.

Pour out your hearts before Him

for God is our refuge.

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– Psalm 62:1-2; 5-8 (The Grail Psalms)

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A REFLECTION…from the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC27) …

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The desire for God is written in the human heart,

because man is created by God and for God;

and God never ceases to draw man to Himself.

Only in God will he find the truth and happiness he never stops searching for:

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The dignity of man rests, above all,

on the fact that he is called to communion with God.

This invitation to converse with God

is addressed to man as soon as he comes into being.

For if man exists, it is because God has created him through love,

and through love continues to hold him in existence.

He cannot live fully according to truth

unless he freely acknowledges that love

and entrusts himself to his Creator. (Vatican Council II).

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QUOTE…

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“Many are the high waves,

and dangerous are the storms,

but we do not fear shipwreck:

we are founded on rock.

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Although the sea may rage,

the rock will not be destroyed.

Although the waves may rise,

the barque of Jesus will not be sunk. […]

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Little, of what the world sees as fearful, troubles me.

I laugh at the goods this world offers to me.

I am not afraid of poverty,

nor do I desire riches.

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I do not fear death,

nor do I desire to go on living

if that is not to my spiritual good.”

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– St. John Chrysostom

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REPETITIVE PRAYER FOR TODAY…

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In You alone I place my trust, O God

– my hope comes from You alone.

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TODAY’S WORD…

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Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid.

The Lord, the Lord Himself, is my strength and my defence;

He has become my salvation.

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– Isaiah 12:2 (NIV)

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Trust in the Lord for ever,

for the Lord, the Lord Himself, is the Rock eternal.

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– Isaiah 26:4 (NIV)

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REFLECTION…

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Whatever we trust to the world,

it will not last long.

But if we trust in God,

His love is forever.

We will not only find Him,

but we will receive from Him strength,

that will encourage us and help us overcome all trials

and find eternal peace.

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Let us then acknowledge Him in every way,

and rely on Him in everything,

all the time,

in every state and condition,

in times of affliction, temptation, and darkness;

for He will support us,

and in His own time deliver us out of every trouble.

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REPETITIVE PRAYER FOR TODAY…

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Lord, with You always by my side I will not be afraid,

for You are the Lord my God, my strength and my might.

You are my salvation, my Rock!

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TODAY’S WORD…

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Whoever does not have the Spirit

cannot receive the gifts that come from God’s Spirit.

Such a person really does not understand them,

and they seem to be nonsense,

because their value can be judged only on a spiritual basis.

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– 1 Corinthians 2:14 (GNT)

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REFLECTION…

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God has revealed true wisdom to us by His Spirit.

He gives the knowledge of His will only to the spiritual person.

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It is in the Holy Scriptures,

that the mind of Christ,

and the mind of God in Christ,

are fully made known to us.

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As Christians, it is our great privilege

to have the mind of Christ revealed to us by His Spirit,

as we experience His sanctifying power in our hearts,

and produce good fruits in our lives.

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QUOTE…

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“If we Christians do not fully understand the things of the Spirit,

if we do not give or offer witness then we have no identity.

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For some, these things of the Spirit are foolishness

– they are not able to understand them.

The person moved by the Spirit, however, judges everything:

such a person is free and cannot be judged by anyone.

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Now, we have the thought of Christ

and that is the Spirit of Christ.

This is the Christian identity.

Not having the spirit of the world,

that way of thinking,

that way of judging …

You can have five degrees in theology, but not have the Spirit of God!

Maybe you’ll be a great theologian,

but you are not a Christian because you do not have the Spirit of God!

That which gives authority,

that which gives identity is the Holy Spirit,

the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

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The authority of Jesus – and the authority of the Christian –

comes from this ability to understand the things of the Spirit,

to speak the language of the Spirit.

It is from this anointing of the Holy Spirit.“

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– Pope Francis

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REPETITIVE PRAYER FOR TODAY…

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Lord grant me Your Spirit. Grant me Your way of thinking, feeling, speaking.

Lord please grant me the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

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TODAY’S WORD…

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The Spirit comes to help us in our weakness.

For when we cannot choose words in order to pray properly,

the Spirit Himself expresses our plea

in a way that could never be put into words.

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– Romans 8:26 (JB)

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REFLECTION…

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There are times

when we go before the Lord

wanting to spend time with Him,

to pray and to praise and thank Him,

and we find ourselves tongue-tied,

or unable to express ourselves,

or distracted by our many thoughts and problems,

or shying away out of a sense of guilt

or simply too tired to pray.

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These, as are all occasions when we go before the Lord,

are very special moments.

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Whether I am full of enthusiasm and joy,

or else feeling downcast and broken, .

God always knows what’s going on in my heart,

and as I allow the Holy Spirit to move within me,

my focus will move from myself to God,

and my heart will sigh, moan and groan,

and reach out to Him who is my Lord and my God,

my Maker and my Healer.

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REPETITIVE PRAYER FOR TODAY…

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My Lord and my God!

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