SPIRITUAL EXCERCISES & RSV BIBLE EXTRACTS - WEEK 107-1
STARTS THURSDAY 11th FEBRUARY 2010
CONVERSION - CHANGE OF HEART IS GOD’S WORK
Weekly message No. 102 (6th February 1986).
Great favours - great responsibilities.
“Dear children! This parish, which I have chosen, is special and different from others. And I am giving great graces to all who pray with the heart. Dear children, I am giving the messages first of all to the residents of the parish, and then to all the others. First of all you must accept the messages, and then the others. You shall be answerable to me and my Son, Jesus. Thank you for having responded to my call
.”
PRACTICAL:
Pray every day a decade of the Rosary for the people of Medjugorje.
Thursday: The Beatitudes (2nd part).
Matthew 5:7-12.
7“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. 8Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. 9Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. 10Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so men persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
Friday: “When someone is entrusted with a great deal, of that person even more will be expected.”
Luke 12:47-48.
47And that servant who knew his master’s will, but did not make ready or act according to his will, shall receive a severe beating. 48But he who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, shall receive a light beating. Every one to whom much is given, of him will much be required; and of him to whom men commit much they will demand the more.
Saturday: Loved and chosen to become an example to others.
1Thessalonians 1:4-8.
4For we know, brethren beloved by God, that he has chosen you; 5for our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. 6And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with joy inspired by the Holy Spirit; 7so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. 8For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything.
Sunday: We are chosen and commissioned to go out and to bear fruit.
John 15:15-16.
15No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. 16You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide; so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.
Monday: “God chose us in Christ to the praise of the glory of his grace.”
Ephesians l: 3-12.
3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. 5He destined us in love to be his sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6to the praise of his glorious grace which he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. 7In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace 8which he lavished upon us. 9For he has made known to us in all wisdom and insight the mystery of his will, according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ 10as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. 11In him, according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to the counsel of his will, 12we who first hoped in Christ have been destined and appointed to live for the praise of his glory.
Tuesday: Listening to mother’s teaching.
Proverbs 1:8-9.
8Hear, my son, your father’s instruction, and reject not your mother’s teaching; 9for they are a fair garland for your head, and pendants for your neck.
Cf. Proverbs 4:10-11.
10Hear, my son, and accept my words, that the years of your life may be many. 11I have taught you the way of wisdom; I have led you in the paths of uprightness.
Wednesday: “Do what the Word tells you.”
James 1:22-25.
22But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23For if any one is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who observes his natural face in a mirror; 24for he observes himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25But he who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer that forgets but a doer that acts, he shall be blessed in his doing.