SPIRITUAL EXCERCISES & RSV BIBLE EXTRACTS - WEEK 123
STARTS THURSDAY 3rd JUNE 2010
TRANSFORMATION IS GOD’S GIFT THROUGH MARY
(B)THE HALL-MARKS OF A LIFE TRANSFORMED THROUGH MARY’S LOVE
Weekly message No. 118 (29th May 1986).
Life of ardent love.
“Dear children! Today my call to you is that in your life you live love toward God and neighbour. Without love, dear children, you can do nothing. Therefore, dear children, I am calling you to live in mutual love. Only in that way will you be able to love and accept both me and all those around you who are coming into your parish. Everyone will sense my love through you. Therefore, I beseech you, dear children, to start loving from today with an ardent love, the love with which I love you. Thank you for having responded to my call.”
PRACTICAL:
This week make special efforts to show your love towards all around you.
Thursday: Priority of God’s kingdom.
Matthew 6:33-34.
33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well. 34Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Let the day's own trouble be sufficient for the day.
Friday: The mandate of Jesus to love as He loves.
John 13:34-35.
34A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.
Friday: Cf. 1 John 3:23-24.
23And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. 24All who keep his commandments abide in him, and he in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit which he has given us.
Saturday: “May the Lord increase and enrich your love for each other and for all.” 1Thessalonians 3:12-13.
12And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all men, as we do to you, 13so that he may establish your hearts unblamable in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.
Sunday: Saint Paul’s prayer for Christians to live a life of love.
Ephesians 3:14-19.
14For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with might through his Spirit in the inner man, 17and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18may have power to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Monday: “Regard others as more important than yourself.”
Romans 2:10.
10But glory and honor and peace for every one who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek.
Tuesday: “Love each other intensely from the heart.”
1 Peter 1:22-23.
22Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere love of the brethren, love one another earnestly from the heart. 23You have been born anew, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God.
Wednesday: Brotherly love in action.
1 Peter 3:8-12.
8Finally, all of you, have unity of spirit, sympathy, love of the brethren, a tender heart and a humble mind. 9Do not return evil for evil or reviling for reviling; but on the contrary bless, for to this you have been called, that you may obtain a blessing. 10For “He that would love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking guile; 11let him turn away from evil and do right; let him seek peace and pursue it. 12For the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those that do evil.”
Wednesday: Cf. Hebrews 13:1-3.
1Let brotherly love continue. 2Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. 3Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them; and those who are ill-treated, since you also are in the body.