SPIRITUAL EXCERCISES & RSV BIBLE EXTRACTS - WEEK 151
STARTS THURSDAY 16th DECEMBER 2010
THE GLORY OF ‘MARIAN HOLINESS OF LIFE’
II. ‘MARIAN HOLINESS OF LIFE’: OUR WAY TO HEAVEN
Weekly message No. 147 (18th December 1986).
Fourth step: Becoming ‘flowers for heaven’ through prayer.
“Dear children! Once again I desire to call you to prayer. When you pray you are much more beautiful, like flowers, which after the snow, show all their beauty and all their colours become indescribable. So also you, dear children, after prayer show before God all so much more what is beautiful and are beloved by Him. Therefore, dear children, pray and open your inner self to the Lord so that He makes of you a harmonious and beautiful flower for Paradise. Thank you for having responded to my call.”
PRACTICAL:
During this week take some flowers to the church as a sign of your self-offering to God.
Thursday: The golden rule about loving our neighbour and choosing the narrow gate.
Matthew 7:12-14.
12So whatever you wish that men would do to you, do so to them; for this is the law and the prophets. 13Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few.
Friday: Those whom the Lord heals from their guilt will bloom like the lily.
Hosea 14:5-9.
5I will be as the dew to Israel; he shall blossom as the lily, he shall strike root as the poplar; 6his shoots shall spread out; his beauty shall be like the olive, and his fragrance like Lebanon. 7They shall return and dwell beneath my shadow, they shall flourish as a garden; they shall blossom as the vine, their fragrance shall be like the wine of Lebanon. 8O Ephraim, what have I to do with idols? It is I who answer and look after you. I am like an evergreen cypress, from me comes your fruit. 9Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; whoever is discerning, let him know them; for the ways of the LORD are right, and the upright walk in them, but transgressors stumble in them.
Saturday: “Let us be glad and joyful and give glory to God, because this is the time for the marriage of the Lamb.”
Revelation 19:7-8.
7Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; 8it was granted her to be clothed with fine linen, bright and pure for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.
Saturday: Cf. Revelation 21:2-3.
2And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband; 3and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling of God is with men. He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself will be with them.”
Sunday: Becoming the ‘fragrance of Christ’ to God by being faithful to his word (by living the messages of Our Lady).
2 Corinthians 2:15-17.
15For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, 16to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? 17For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word; but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.
Monday: “May he enlighten the eyes of your heart so that you can see what hope his call holds for you.”
Ephesians l: 18-20
18Having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power in us who believe, according to the working of his great might 20which he accomplished in Christ when he raised him from the dead and made him sit at his right hand in the heavenly places.
Tuesday: Becoming a “sweet-smelling sacrifice to God” by imitating Christ’s love.
Ephesians 5:1-2.
1Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. 2And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
Tuesday: Cf. 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.
Tuesday: Cf. Philippians 4:18.
18I have received full payment, and more; I am filled, having received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God.
Wednesday: Being anointed by God with the oil of gladness.
Psalm 45 (44):6-9.
6Your divine throne* endures for ever and ever. Your royal sceptre is a sceptre of equity; 7you love righteousness and hate wickedness. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows; 8your robes are all fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia. From ivory palaces stringed instruments make you glad; 9daughters of kings are among your ladies of honour; at your right hand stands the queen in gold of Ophir.