Mortification and prayer,
Reposed, hand in hand,
Building beyond,
Foundational virtue,
Within faith,
Through hope,
In love,
Permeated by Divine Presence,
Effort, aided by grace,
Darkness ensues,
Joyful sadness infused,
Life gets none the better.
Dogs are loyal and show loyal gratitude to a master irrespective of the type of master he or she may be. It is because of this that a dog will follow his master, even though such master might be indifferent or even cruel, and he will follow that master into poverty, walk at his heels over the most uncomfortable roads, leave a cozy home for a miserable cabin, and then act all the while as if he were privileged to be accompanying his master. –Father John Doe ‘Sobriety and Beyond’.
And the LORD said to Gideon, “The people are still too many; take them down to the water and I will test them for you there; and he of whom I say to you, `This man shall go with you,’ shall go with you; and any of whom I say to you, `This man shall not go with you,’ shall not go.
So he brought the people down to the water; and the LORD said to Gideon, “Every one that laps the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, you shall set by himself; likewise every one that kneels down to drink.”
And the number of those that lapped, putting their hands to their mouths, was three hundred men; but all the rest of the people knelt down to drink water.
And the LORD said to Gideon, “With the three hundred men that lapped I will deliver you, and give the Mid’ianites into your hand; and let all the others go every man to his home. –Judges chp. 7
Aspiring to a greater concentration, doing all that we can in order for God to make of us all that we can be as contemplatives, let us take inspiration from Gideon’s chosen men. With haste, rapt attention, lacking self-consciousness,and unrestrained; let us lap up our devotion and dedication to all things that brings us closer to God as dogs lap up water.
Oh great and glorious God, enlighten the darkness of my heart. Grant me true faith, certain hope, and perfect charity. Grace me with wisdom and understanding so that I may carry out Thy holy and true commandments. –prayer of St Francis before the St Damiano Cross
…prayer is an efficacious means of mortification….mortification of ourselves is the true fruit we must reap from prayer; and that we may, with reason, suspect that prayer which is not accompanied with mortification. For as, in order to shape iron, it is not sufficient to heat and soften it in the fire, but it must also be beaten with the hammer before it can receive its proper form; so it is not sufficient to mortify our heart by the heat of prayer, but we must also make use of mortification to fashion our soul…. –St Alphonsus Rodriguez
Spiritual obscurity can be of many kinds. We are endeavoring to see things clearly when the light fails us, either in what regards our own interior life or the conduct of our neighbor. With God’s permission we find ourselves surrounded with darkness. Whatever be its nature or the degree of its density, it can never rob us of the lights of reason and faith….. –Abbot Vital Lehodey
Hidden within God.
To hide from God.
A vast difference.
Life or death.
Either or,
God calls,
Bellowing loudly love.
Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons. And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?”
Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hid with Chr
Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth. –John Paul II
Virgin Mary, Mother of fair love,
Mother who never refuses to come to the aid of a child in need,
Mother whose hands never cease to serve your beloved children
Because they are moved by the divine love and immense mercy that exists in your heart,
Cast your compassionate eyes upon me,
See the snarl of knots that exist in my life.
You know very well how desperate I am,
My pain,
How I am bound by these knots.
Mary, Mother to whom God entrusted the undoing of the knots in the lives of his children,
I entrust into your hands the ribbon of my life.
No one, not even the evil one himself, can overpower your precious care.
In your hands there is no knot that cannot be undone.
Powerful Mother, by your grace and intercessory power with Your Son and My Liberator,
Take into your hands today this knot…
I beg you to undo it for the glory of God,
Once for all, You are my hope.
O my Lady, you are the sweetest consolation God grants,
The fortification of my feeble strength,
The enrichment of my destitution
And with Christ the freedom from my chains.
Hear my plea.
Keep me,
Guide me,
Protect me,
O safe refuge!
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