SPIRITUAL EXCERCISES & RSV BIBLE EXTRACTS - WEEK 143
STARTS THURSDAY 21st OCTOBER 2010
THE POWER OF ‘MARIAN HOLINESS OF LIFE’
(B) HOW TO GROW AS CO-WORKERS OF OUR LADY
Weekly message No. 138 (16th October 1986).
Growing in understanding Our Lady’s love for us.
“Dear children! Today again I want to show you how much I love you, but I am sorry that I am not able to help each one to understand my love. Therefore, dear children, I am calling you to prayer and complete surrender to God, because Satan wants to sift you through everyday affairs and in your life he wants to snatch the first place. Therefore, dear children, pray without ceasing! Thank you for having responded to my call.”
PRACTICAL:
This week renew each day your consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus through the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Thursday: Fasting in secret.
Matthew 6:16-18.
16“And when you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by men. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 17But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18that your fasting may not be seen by men but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
Thursday: Cf. Isaiah 58:3-7.
3‘Why have we fasted, and thou seest it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and thou takest no knowledge of it?’ Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, and oppress all your workers. 4Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with wicked fist. Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high. 5Is such the fast that I choose, a day for a man to humble himself? Is it to bow down his head like a rush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the LORD? 6Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? 7Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
Friday: God loved us by giving us his only Son, Jesus.
John 3:14-16.
14And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up, 15that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. 16For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Saturday: God loved us by sending his Son to expiate our sins.
1 John 4:9-10.
9In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins.
Saturday: Cf. Ephesians 2:4-5.
4But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us, 5even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved).
Sunday: The prayer of Jesus for Peter rescues him from the clutches of Satan.
Luke 22:31-32.
31“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, 32but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail; and when you have turned again, strengthen your brethren.”
Sunday: Cf. 1 John 5:18-20.
18We know that any one born of God does not sin, but He who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him. 19We know that we are of God, and the whole world is in the power of the evil one. 20And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, to know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.
Monday: Offering ourselves to God as a living sacrifice.
Romans 12:1-2.
1I appeal to you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Monday: Cf. 1 Peter 2:5.
5And like living stones be yourselves built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Tuesday: Call to unceasing prayer.
1 Thessalonians 5:17.
17Pray constantly.
Tuesday: Romans 12:12.
12Rejoice in your hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.
Wednesday: Persevering in prayer.
Colossians 4:2-4.
2Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving; 3and pray for us also, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison, 4that I may make it clear, as I ought to speak.