Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Jesus of Nazareth - King

Theme: Entering into Jesus' suffering and death
Grace: To be with the Lord for one hour
Reading: Luke 23:13-25

The reign of sin, where ever sin dwells, is a reign of darkness, sadness, loneliness, deception and lies. All the tragedies and calamities in this world, and our personal sorrows, find their origin in these words, Nolumus hunc regnare super nos, we do not want this man (Christ) to reign over us.
~In Coversation with God, Vol 2, pg 265

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Watch with Me

Theme: Entering into Jesus' suffering and death
Grace: To stay with the Lord for one hour
Reading: Luke 22:39-46

In our lives there may be moments of intense struggle perhaps darkness and deep pain, when we are tempted to lose heart and it is difficult to accept the will of God. The image of Jesus at the mount of olives shows us how we must proceed in these moments; we must embrace the will of God, without putting any limit or condition whatsoever to our acceptance of it, and identify ourselves with the love of God by means of persevering prayer.
~In Conversation with God, Vol. 2, pps 336-7

Monday, March 29, 2010

I have set you an example

Theme: Entering into Jesus' suffering and death
Grace: To humbly stand by Jesus in His trials
Scripture:Luke 22: 24-28

"Humility has to be the basis for the whole of our relationship with God and with other people. It is the foundation stone of the building under construction -- our interior life...When someone feels he has been disregarded in some insignificant matter, in what are really tiny details, he ought to realise that he is still falling short of being truly humble. It is an opportunity to accept one's own littleness and to become less proud. You are humble not when you humble yourself, but when you are humbled by others and bear it for Christ"...
"Having considered the Lord's teachings, and having contemplated the example of humility in Our Lady, we can finish with this petition: Lord, take away my pride; crush my self-love, my desire to affirm myself and impose myself on others. Make the foundation of my personality be my identification with you."(from In Conversation With God, vol 2, p. 156)

Sunday, March 28, 2010

If they keep silent even the stones will cry out

Theme: Entering into Jesus' suffering and death
Grace: To enter into the mystery of Jesus' suffering and death
Scripture: Luke 22: 14-23

"The story of each man is the story of God's continual watchfulness over him. Each man is the object of the Lord's special love. Jesus was ready to do everything for Jerusalem, but the city was not willing to open up her gates to his mercy. This is the deep mystery of human freedom which always retains that sad possibility of rejecting the grace of God. Free man, subject yourself to a voluntary servitude, so that Jesus won't have to say of you what He is said to have told St. Teresa about others: 'Teresa, I was willing. But men were not.' (from In Conversation with God, vol. 2, p. 250-1, quoting St. Jose Escriva)

"The triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem asks for loyalty and perseverence from each one of us, it calls us to deepen our faithfulness, and for our resolutions to be more than just bright lights that sparkle for a moment and then fade away. (ibid p. 252)

"Jesus knows me perfectly, accepts me totally, loves me intensely and calls me by name. And he leads me to love him, and to know him better through love -- through his love of me and through my loving response to his love...Contemplation is an experience of Jesus, of his presence and love and care -- not only, primarily, intellectual experience, but affective experience, of the heart... Jesus lovingly suffers to restore us to union with his Father. But he suffers in darkness, in faith, in anguish of soul. It was difficult for him to die for me." (from Lord Jesus, Teach Me to Pray, p. 60-63

Let us not shrink back from Him in His suffering this week. Let us determine to stay with Him, no matter the cost, no matter that we don't understand, simply to be with Him out of love.

Saturday, March 27, 2010

I will gather them...

Theme: I will forgive them their evildoing and remember their sins no more.
Grace: To allow ourselves to be gathered
Scripture: Ezekiel 37:21-28

From ancient days God promised to gather his people together and guard them as a shepherd his flock. "I will deliver them from all their sins, and cleanse them so that they may be my people." This happens only through union with his Prince.
--from Magnificat, March 2010, p. 385.

Friday, March 26, 2010

Many began to believe

Theme: I will forgive their evildoing and remember their sin no more. (Jer 31:34)
Grace: Abandonment
Scripture: John 10:31-42

Jesus carried our sins in his own body on the cross so that we could die to sin and live in holiness; by his wounds we have been healed. (1Peter 2:24)

"Our meditation, if it is true prayer, will keep us alert in the face of the enemy who never sleeps. And it will make us strong so as to endure and defeat temptations and difficulties. If we were to neglect it we would find ourselves in the hands of the enemy. We would lose our joy and we would be left without the strength to accompany Jesus." (from In Conversation With God, vol. 2, p. 238)

Thursday, March 25, 2010

The Annunciation

Theme: I will forgive their evildoing and remember their sins no more. (Jer 31:34)
Grace: Be it done unto me according to your Word! (cf. Lk 1:38)
Scripture: Luke 1:26-38

The holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore, the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. (Lk 1:35)

All that our heart cries out for became flesh in Mary's womb. When we repeat the words of the angel by praying the Hail Mary, the Word of God germinates in our soul. Christianity is this never-ending event of encounter with God made present in the maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Truly free

Theme: I will forgive their evildoing and remember their sin no more. (Jer 31:34)
Grace: To be free
Scripture: John 8:31-42

"Jesus Christ rescued us from sin and by doing so went to the root of all evil and cured it, in this way making possible the complete freedom of man."

'Dominus ilumninatio mea et salus mea, quem timebo?' The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war be waged against me, I shall be confident.
--from In Conversation With God, vol 2, p.223-4

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Forgive us our sins

Theme: I will forgive their evildoing and remember their sin no more. (Jer 31:34)
Grace: To not complain
Scripture: Numbers 21:4-9

"We have sinned in complaining against the Lord... pray the Lord to take the serpents away from us."

Monday, March 22, 2010

Lord, hear my prayer

Theme: I will forgive their evildoing and remember their sins no more. (Jer 31:34)
Grace: Trust
Scripture: Daniel 13:7-11, 19-62

Besieged by abominable injustice, "Susanna cried aloud" to God. "The Lord heard her prayer." When Christ exposes the wickedness of the adulterous woman's accusers, they leave "one by one." But the woman stays. "Even though I walk in the dark valley, I fear no evil; for you are at my side." -- from Magnificat March 2010, p. 323

Sunday, March 21, 2010

I do not condemn you.

Theme: I will forgive their evildoing and remember their sin no more. (Jer 31:34)
Grace: To receive.
Scripture: Is 43:16-21 or John 8:1-11

"Christ looks at us as he looked at the woman caught in adultery. Her sin, our sin is patent and undeniable. The question is: How do we look back at Christ? With self-righteous yet guilty eyes of the scribes and pharisees who dropped their stones but not their murderous intentions (which they now transfer to Jesus)? Or like the adulteress who remains alone before Jesus and who accepts with humble confidence, the sentence of Christ: 'I do not condemn you'?"
--from Magnificat, March 2010 p. 304-5

Saturday, March 20, 2010

No man ever spoke like this...

Theme: Personal Prayer
Grace: To receive the words of the Lord with belief
Scripture: John 7:40-53

"Our Lord speaks very simply about the most profound things, and he does so in an attractive and thought-provoking way. His words were understood as much by a doctor of the Law as by the fishermen from Galilee." -- In Conversation With God, vol.2, p. 197

Yet the response among the crowd is division. The same words, different responses. How do I respond to His words?

Friday, March 19, 2010

St Joseph

Theme: Personal Prayer
Grace: To hear God's call, and obey willingly
Scripture: Matthew 1:1-24

"St Joseph's faith found concrete expression in his obedience to what God asked of him in the midst of mysteries too great for the human mind to grasp." -- from Magnificat, March 2010, p. 287

Are we able, like St Joseph to lay down our own plans, when needed, and obey the Lord, even when we don't understand?

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Whose praise do you seek?

Theme: Personal Prayer
Grace: To seek the praise of the Father
Scripture: John 5:31-47

"Jesus says: "I am the door. No one can come to the Father but by me."...Anyone who does not accept the door cannot possibly reach the Father...As he made whole those who were physically blind, so he gave light to their minds. As he gave the lame the chance to walk, so he urges the steps of sinners in the direction of the way of penitence." -- St. Cyil of Jerusalem, quoted in Magnificat, March 2010, p. 273-4

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

The Father is at work

Theme: Personal Prayer
Grace: To live our entire life in unity with Jesus
Scripture: John 5:17-30

"Outside of Christ only darkness and sin exist. Whoever rejects Christ remains without light and has no idea which way to go. In the innermost depth of his being he is disoriented..." (from In Conversation with God, vol. 2 p. 177)
"It is clear that to seek sanctity in the middle of this world...lies in an effective union with the Lord...(which) affects the whole of one's activity. These practices will lead you, almost without realizing it, to contemplative prayer." (p. 181)

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Do you want to be well?

Theme: Personal Prayer
Grace: To persevere in times of darkness
Scripture: John 5:1-16

"I will not ask God to deliver you from your trials, but I will ask him earnestly to give you the patience and strength needed to suffer as long as he desires. Find consolation in him who keeps you fixed to the cross; he will release you when he judges it appropriate...Whatever remedies you may use, they will only work to the extent that he will permit. When suffering comes from God, he alone can cure it, and he often leaves us with physical illness in order to cure our spiritual illness. Find consolation in the sovereign doctor of body and soul."
--Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection (quoted in Magnificat, March 2010, p. 249-250)

"It is necessary for one to know, to hope and to struggle with persevering patience, realizing that this is what pleases God. St Frances de Sales used to say: One has to suffer, in patience, the setbacks to our perfection, doing whatever we can to make progress in good spirit. We hope with patience, and instead of getting frustrated at having done so little in the past, we try diligently to do more in the future." --from In Conversation With God, vol. 2 p. 173

Monday, March 15, 2010

Trusting what Jesus said

Theme: Personal Prayer
Grace: To believe what Jesus tells us
Scripture: John 4:43-54

"In our lives there will be moments of spiritual peace and others of more intense struggle, some moments perhaps of darkness and others of profound sorrow, with temptation to discouragement...To move along the road to holiness, but especially when we feel the weight of our weaknesses, we have to recollect ourselves in prayer, in an intimate conversation with the Lord."
-- from In Conversation With God, vol 2, p.165

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Re-turning

Theme: Personal Prayer
Grace: For the courage to leave the old and enter the new
Reading: Luke 15: 1-3, 11-32; John 9 1-41

"The 'hunger' of what remains unreconciled in us is what leads us back to the Father." (from Magnificat, March 2010, p.187)

What things do you have to give up to turn toward the Lord to accept what He has for you? Ask for the courage to leave what you're used to and accept new life. Let's ask the Lord to increase our hunger for Him.

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Follow Me

Theme: For an Outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the gifts of prayer
Grace: To know His love deeply and to follow wherever He goes
Reading: Luke 9:57-62

"Cheerfulness, maintained even in the midst of difficulties, is the clearest sign that the love of God informs all our actions...Our love for God has to be supreme and absolute. Within this love all the noble loves of the earth find their place."
-- from In Conversation with God, vol 2, p. 149

In the face of such love, how can we not follow Him?

Friday, March 12, 2010

Where is your faith?

Theme: For an Outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the gifts of prayer
Grace: An increase of faith
Reading: Luke 8:22-25

Does it feel like Jesus is asleep in the middle of the storms in your life? Have faith. Faith differs from presumption in that it humbles itself to ask. With faith in hand, awaken the Lord who longs to calm your fears.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Jesus heals

Theme: Praying for an Outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the gifts of prayer.
Grace: To grow in the awareness of the words: all power and authority have been given to me
Reading: Luke 7:1-16

Contemplate Jesus' love and compassion
Contemplate Jesus' power of his love to heal and restore
Contemplate Jesus' reponse to need

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

The law...of love

Theme: Praying for a new Outpouring of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit and prayer
Grace: To love Jesus with all my heart, mind and strength
Reading: Luke 6:27-36

Love your enemies. Do good and lend. Expecting nothing in return.

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Jesus teaches and heals

Theme: Praying for a new Outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the gifts of prayer
Grace: To know Him better through His teaching
Reading: Luke 6:17-26

Blessed are you. Go and do likewise.

Monday, March 8, 2010

Freedom

Theme: Praying for a new Outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the Gifts of Prayer
Grace: To know Jesus better, love Him more dearly and follow Him more nearly.
Reading: Luke 4:14-21

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.

Sunday, March 7, 2010

A fresh Outpouring

Theme: Praying for a new Outpouring of the Holy Spirit and His Gifts of Prayer
Grace: To understand satan's tactics
Readings: Luke 4:1-13

I can receive a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit as often as the Lord wills. Even if I have already received "the baptism in the Holy Spirit," I can receive a new and great outpouring of the Spirit again, or several more times in my life. Jesus received a new outpouring after His baptism.

In praying for a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit we can ask for specific gifts. One gift for which we can all ask is the gift of prayer, that is, the gift of a personal loving relationship with Jesus.

Saturday, March 6, 2010

One who is coming...

Theme for the week: Inner healing and responding to His call.
Grace for the day: For the grace to listen to Him.
Scripture reading: Luke 3:16-22.

I am baptizing you in water, but there is one to come who is mightier than I, I am not fit to loosen his sandal strap. He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and in fire.

Friday, March 5, 2010

To know Him is to love Him

Theme for the week: Inner healing and responding to His call.
Grace for the day: To know Him; to love Him; so to follow Him.
Scripture reading: Luke 2:1-20.

Be not afraid. For behold I bring you news of a great joy...

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Love's response

Theme for the week: Inner healing and responding to His call.
Grace for today: To know Jesus better.
Scripture reading: Luke 1:26-38

I will go seek my bride
And take upon myself
Her weariness and labors
In which she suffers so;
In that she may have life,
I will die for her,
And lifting her out of that deep,
I will restore her to you.

Taken from "The Incarnation" by John of the Cross

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

He's Calling

Theme for the week: Inner healing and responding to His call.
Grace for today: To hear Him calling you gently by name and to respond generously.
Scripture reading: Luke 5:27-32

Contemplate Jesus inviting you to follow Him, to be with Him, to be His friend, companion and co-worker.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

A Crossroad

The rest of the week's prayer takes the shape of saying yes to the Lord and of getting to know Him better. But you may find that you want to remain with the theme of inner healing. If so, stay there. When you feel the Lord has completed the work He intended then proceed with the following suggested readings.

Theme for the week: Inner healing and responding to His call.
Grace for today: To hear Him calling you gently by name and to answer generously.
Scripture reading: Luke 5:1-11

Listen to the Lord's call to be with Him and respond with your whole heart.

Monday, March 1, 2010

Continued Healing

Theme for the week: Inner healing and responding to his call
Grace for today: To receive Jesus' healing and compassionate love, and to be healed where He sees I need healing.
Scripture reading: Luke 5:15-26

"Lord Jesus, heal me. Thank you for forgiving all my sins. Heal me, Jesus, at the roots of my sins. Heal me interiorly so that I can come closer to you. Heal my heart, my mind, my soul, my body. Come, Lord Jesus" -- from "Lord Jesus, Teach Me To Pray", p. 37

If painful memories or negative emotions connected with past hurts come to the surface today or during the week, this is a sign that the Lord wants to heal those memories, those emotions, those hurts. Give these painful thoughts and feelings to Jesus to heal. So that He can change the meaning of the memories by healing the hurts in them. Stay where you find fruit. If your prayer is fruitful, if it unites you more closely with the Lord, stay there: stay with the scripture reading and stay with the memory until the grace lifts.

Novena to the Holy Spirit

"Wait for the promise of the Father...you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you." Acts 1:5,6

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and enkindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit, and they shall be created, and you shall renew the face of the earth.

Let us pray.

O, God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever enjoy His consolations. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.