SPIRITUAL EXCERCISES & RSV BIBLE EXTRACTS - WEEK 138
STARTS THURSDAY 16th SEPTEMBER 2010
THE POWER OF ‘MARIAN HOLINESS OF LIFE’
(A) CALLED TO BECOME CO-WORKERS OF OUR LADY
Weekly message No. 133 (11th September 1986).
The power of the Cross.
“Dear children! For these days while you are joyfully celebrating the cross, I desire that your cross also would be a joy for you. Especially, dear children, pray that you may be able to accept sickness and suffering with love the way Jesus accepted them. Only that way shall I be able with joy to give out to you the graces and healings which Jesus is permitting me.
Thank you for having responded to my call.”
PRACTICAL:
As a special devotion to our suffering Lord, make the Stations of the Cross one day this week.
Matthew 5:38-42.
38You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’39But I say to you, Do not resist one who is evil. But if any one strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also; 40and if any one would sue you and take your coat, let him have your cloak as well; 41and if any one forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. 42Give to him who begs from you, and do not refuse him who would borrow from you.
Cf. Romans 12:19-21.
19Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God; for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” 20No, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals upon his head.” 21Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Isaiah 53:4-5.
4Surely he has borne our grief’s and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with his stripes we are healed.
Cf. Matthew 8:17.
17This was to fulfil what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah, “He took our infirmities and bore our diseases.”
1 Peter 2:21-23.
21For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. 22He committed no sin; no guile was found on his lips. 23When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten; but he trusted to him who judges justly.
1 Peter 2:24-25.
24He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. 25For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.
2 Corinthians 12:7-10.
7And to keep me from being too elated by the abundance of revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to harass me, to keep me from being too elated. 8Three times I besought the Lord about this, that it should leave me; 9but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” I will all the more gladly boast of my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities; for when I am weak, then I am strong.
2 Corinthians 6:4-10.
4But as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, 5beatings, imprisonments, tumults, labours, watching, hunger; 6by purity, knowledge, forbearance, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love, 7truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; 8 in honor and dishonour, in ill repute and good repute. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; 9as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold we live; as punished, and yet not killed; 10as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.
Cf. Matthew 5:11-12.
11“Blessed 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.”
1 Peter 4:12-14.
12Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal which comes upon you to prove you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13But rejoice in so far as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. 14If you are reproached for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.
Cf. Acts 5:40-41.
40So they took his advice, and when they had called in the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. 41Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonour for the name.