SPIRITUAL EXCERCISES & RSV BIBLE EXTRACTS - WEEK 95
STARTS THURSDAY 19th November 2009
CALLED TO HOLINESS (B) CHRIST-LIKE HOLINESS OF LIFE
Weekly message No. 90 (14th November 1985).
Trusting in Our Lady’s love for us.
“Dear children! I, your Mother, love you and wish to urge you to prayer. I am tireless, dear children, and I am calling you even then, when you are far away from my heart. I am a Mother, and even though I feel pain for each one who goes astray, I forgive easily and am happy for every child who returns to me. Thank you for having responded to my call.”
PRACTICAL:
This week try to respond to Our Lady’s love for you by making some sacrifices out of love for Her.
Thursday: The eye, the lamp of the body.
Matthew 6:22-23.
22“The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light; 23but if your eye is not sound, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!”
Thursday Cf. Luke 11:33-36.
33“No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar or under a bushel, but on a stand, that those who enter may see the light. 34Your eye is the lamp of your body; when your eye is sound, your whole body is full of light; but when it is not sound, your body is full of darkness. 35Therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness. 36If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be wholly bright, as when a lamp with its rays gives you light.”
Friday: God’s love for us is like a mother’s love.
Isaiah 49:13-16.
13Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth; break forth, O mountains, into singing! For the LORD has comforted his people, and will have compassion on his afflicted. 14But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me, my Lord has forgotten me.” 15Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. 16Behold, I have graven you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me.
Saturday: God’s tender love is calling us back to him.
Isaiah 44:21-23.
21Remember these things, O Jacob, and Israel, for you are my servant; I formed you, you are my servant; O Israel, you will not be forgotten by me. 22I have swept away your transgressions like a cloud, and your sins like mist; return to me, for I have redeemed you. 23Sing, O heavens, for the LORD has done it; shout, O depths of the earth; break forth into singing, O mountains, O forest, and every tree in it! For the LORD has redeemed Jacob, and will be glorified in Israel.
Sunday: Mary, the Mother of beautiful love.
Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 24:24-31.
23All this is the book of the covenant of the Most High God, the law which Moses commanded us as an inheritance for the congregations of Jacob.
(No verse 24) 25It fills men with wisdom, like the Pishon, and like the Tigris at the time of the first fruits. 26It makes them full of understanding, like the Euphrates, and like the Jordan at harvest time. 27It makes instruction shine forth like light, like the Gihon at the time of vintage. 28Just as the first man did not know her perfectly, the last one has not fathomed her; 29for her thought is more abundant than the sea, and her counsel deeper than the great abyss. 30I went forth like a canal from a river and like a water channel into a garden. 31I said, “I will water my orchard and drench my garden plot;” and lo, my canal became a river, and my river became a sea.
(Knox translation as in the Handbook, page 71) Based on some Greek texts and the Latin Vulgate – which gives us a beautiful portrayal of Mary, the Spouse of the Holy Spirit, the Seat of Wisdom, the “Mother of beautiful love.”
“It is I that give birth to (I am the Mother of) all noble loving, all reverence, all true knowledge, and holy gift of hope.
From me comes every grace of faithful observance, from me all promise of life and vigour.
Hither turn your steps, all you that have learned to long for me; take your fill of the increase I yield.
Never was honey so sweet as the influence I inspire, never honey-comb as the gift I bring; mine is the renown that endures, age after age.
Eat of this fruit, and you will yet hunger for more; drink of this wine, and your thirst for it is still unquenched.
He who listens to me will never be disappointed; he who reads my lesson aright will find in it life eternal.”
Monday: Joy in heaven over the repentant sinner.
Luke 15:4-7.
4What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost, until he finds it? 5And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbours, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost.’ 7Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.
Monday Cf. Luke 15:31-32.
31And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32It was fitting to make merry and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’
Tuesday: Listening to the words of Wisdom (Our Lady, ‘Seat of Wisdom.’)
Proverbs 8:32-36.
32And now, my sons, listen to me: happy are those who keep my ways.
33Hear instruction and be wise, and do not neglect it.
34Happy is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting beside my doors.
35For he who finds me finds life and obtains favour from the LORD;
36but he who misses me injures himself; all who hate me love death."
Tuesday Cf. Psalm 34(33):11.
11The counsel of the LORD stands for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations.
Wednesday: Meditating on Wisdom in one’s heart.
Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 14:20-27.
20Blessed is the man who meditates on wisdom and who reasons intelligently.
21He who reflects in his mind on her ways will also ponder her secrets.
22Pursue wisdom like a hunter, and lie in wait on her paths.
23He who peers through her windows will also listen at her doors;
24he who encamps near her house will also fasten his tent peg to her walls;
25he will pitch his tent near her, and will lodge in an excellent lodging place;
26he will place his children under her shelter, and will camp under her boughs
27he will be sheltered by her from the heat, and will dwell in the midst of her glory.
Wednesday Cf. Romans 10:8-10.
8But what does it say? The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart (that is, the word of faith which we preach); 9because, if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10For man believes with his heart and so is justified, and he confesses with his lips and so is saved.