SPIRITUAL EXCERCISES & RSV BIBLE EXTRACTS - WEEK 144
STARTS THURSDAY 28th OCTOBER 2010
THE POWER OF ‘MARIAN HOLINESS OF LIFE’
(B) HOW TO GROW AS CO-WORKERS OF OUR LADY
Weekly message No. 139 (23rd October 1986).
Our Lady’s mission for peace depends on our prayer.
“Dear children! Today again I am calling you to pray. Especially, dear children, do I call you to pray for peace. Without your prayers, dear children, I cannot help you to fulfil the message which the Lord has given me to give to you. Therefore, dear children, pray, so that in prayer you realize what God is giving you. Thank you for having responded to my call."
PRACTICAL:
This week offer each day one Rosary for Our Lady’s intention for peace.
Thursday: True treasures.
Matthew 6:19-21.
19“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, 20but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
Thursday: Cf. Luke 12:33-34.
33Sell your possessions, and give alms; provide yourselves with purses that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. 34For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Thursday: Cf. James 5:1-3.
1Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. 2Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. 3Your gold and silver have rusted, and their rust will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure for the last days.
Friday: “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.”
Psalm 122 (l2l):6-9.
6Pray for the peace of Jerusalem! “May they prosper who love you! 7Peace be within your walls, and security within your towers!” 8 For my brethren and companions’ sake I will say, “Peace be within you!” 9For the sake of the house of the LORD our God, I will seek your good.
Friday: Cf. Psalm 119(118):165.
165Great peace have those who love thy law; nothing can make them stumble.
Saturday: “Peace flowing like a river” - God’s gift of peace.
Isaiah 66:10-13.
10“Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her, all you who love her; rejoice with her in joy, all you who mourn over her; 11that you may suck and be satisfied with her consoling breasts; that you may drink deeply with delight from the abundance of her glory.” 12For thus says the LORD: “Behold, I will extend prosperity to her like a river, and the wealth of the nations like an overflowing stream; and you shall suck, you shall be carried upon her hip, and dandled upon her knees. 13As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you; you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.”
Sunday: Christ’s gift of peace.
John 14:27.
27Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.
Sunday: Cf. John 20: 20.
20When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.
Monday: Living in God’s favour through the peace of Christ, even in times of trials and hardships.
Romans 5:1-5.
1Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2Through him we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in our hope of sharing the glory of God. 3More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us.
Tuesday: Jesus came to bring the good news of peace by being the peace between us.
Ephesians 2:14-18.
14For he is our peace, who has made us both one, and has broken down the dividing wall of hostility, 15by abolishing in his flesh the law of commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 16and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby bringing the hostility to an end. 17And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near; 18for through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.
Wednesday: Seeking peace with all people - through holiness of life.
Hebrews 12:14-15.
14Strive for peace with all men, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. 15See to it that no one fail to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” spring up and cause trouble, and by it the many become defiled.
Wednesday: Cf. Romans 12:18.
18If possible, so far as it depends upon you, live peaceably with all.