SPIRITUAL EXCERCISES & RSV BIBLE EXTRACTS - WEEK 101
STARTS THURSDAY 31st DECEMBER 2009
“ABANDON YOURSELVES TO GOD”
(A) STEPS TOWARDS TOTAL ABANDONMENT OF SELF TO GOD
Weekly message No. 96 (26th December 1985).
Sixth step: Surrendering our hearts to Our Lady who helps us to progress in love.
“Dear children! I wish to thank all who have listened to my messages and who on Christmas Day have lived what I said. Undefiled by sin from now on, I wish to lead you further in love. Abandon your hearts to me! Thank you for having responded to my call!”
PRACTICAL: Make sure that your Christmas celebrations will reflect the joy and happiness of the Holy Family.
Thursday: Effective prayer.
Matthew 7:7-11.
7Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8For every one who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 9Or what man of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
Friday: Being purified enables us to love more.
1 Peter 1:22-25.
22Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere love of the brethren, love one another earnestly from the heart. 23You have been born anew, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; 24for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, 25but the word of the Lord abides for ever.” That word is the good news which was preached to you.
Saturday: Love of the enemy: overcoming evil by doing good.
Romans 12:17-21.
17Repay no one evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. 18If possible, so far as it depends upon you, live peaceably with all. 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.
Sunday: Jesus entrusted us in John to his Mother.
John 19:26-27.
26When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” 27Then he said to the disciple, "Behold, your mother!" And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.
Monday: Jesus increased in wisdom, in stature and in favour with God
under the authority of Mary and Joseph.
Luke 2:39-40.
39And when they had performed everything according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own city, Nazareth. 40And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favour of God was upon him.
Monday: Luke 2:51-52.
51And he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them; and his mother kept all these things in her heart. 52And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature, and in favour with God and man.
Tuesday: Mary the Mother beautiful love
Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 24:24-31. (Knox translation as in the Hand Book Page 7l).
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.”
Wednesday: Listening to Mary, the 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.