Daily Meditations Archives - Page 172 of 333

Friday of the Fourth Week of Great Lent: Two Sexes but Only One Human Nature. Helps and Hindrances in Human Relations.

03/16/2018

Two Sexes but Only One Human Nature The author of the story of our creation teaches us that the Creator formed from the clay a man, formed from the man’s rib a woman and then, starting from the union of the two, filled the earth with their descendants. God did not create the woman from just any kind of material. He took from the man what he needed to create her. The reason? To prevent

Thursday of the Fourth Week of Great Lent: Shut No One out from Your Love. Many Languages but One Human Nature.

03/15/2018

Shut No One out from Your Love Do all you can to love everyone. If you are not yet able to, at the very least don’t hate anyone. Yet you won’t even manage this if you have not reached detachment from the things of this world. You must love everyone with all your soul, hoping, however, only in God and honouring him with all your heart. Christ’s friends are not loved by all, but they

Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Great Lent: You Cannot Live with Feet Only. If You Love God You Will Love your Neighbour, If You Love your Neighbour You Will Love God

03/14/2018

You Cannot Live with Feet Only Those who are pursuing the same objective, if they live together, will find many advantages in this sharing of their life. In the first place, none of us is self-sufficient when it is a question of material needs. We all need one another to procure the necessities of life. The foot, for example, is capable of doing certain things on its own. If the absurd could happen and it

Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Great Lent: Light, Fire and Flame. If You Think You Can Go It Alone

03/13/2018

Light, Fire and Flame Love in its nature makes a human being like God, as far as is possible for a human being. The soul is intoxicated by the effects of it. Its characteristics are a fountain of faith, an abyss of patience, an ocean of humility. Love is the complete repudiation of any unkind thought about one’s neighbour, since, ‘Love thinks no evil.’ (1 Cor. 13:5] Love, unchangeable tranquility and our adoption as children

Monday of the Fourth Week of Great Lent: Loving your Neighbour in Need. Make your Love as Big as the World.

03/12/2018

Loving your Neighbour in Need A brother asked an aged monk: ‘There are two brothers: one of them leads a life of solitude six days a week and does much penance, while the other is dedicated to the service of the sick. Which of the two is behaving in the way that is more acceptable to God?’ The old man answered him: ‘The brother who is always making a retreat would never attain the heights

Friday of the Third Week of Great Lent: We are all Begging to have God. We Cannot but Love God.

03/09/2018

We are all Begging to have God It is natural to look for beauty and to love it, even though the idea of what is beautiful varies between one person and another. Now, what is more marvelous than the divine beauty? What can you think of that is more likely to give pleasure than the magnificence of God? What desire could be more ardent, more irresistible than the thirst which God inspires in the soul

Thursday of the Third Week of Great Lent: Persevering is More Important than Beginning. Hunger for Righteousness.

03/08/2018

Persevering is More Important than Beginning Jerome said: ‘Christians will not be asked how they began but rather how they finished. St Paul began badly but finished well. Judas’s beginning was praiseworthy but his end was despicable. ‘Many start the climb but few reach the summit.’ Gregory said: ‘The value of good work depends on perseverance. ‘You live a good life in vain if you do not continue it until you die.’ Isidore said: ‘Our

Wednesday of the Third Week of Great Lent: Sobriety, the Guardian of the Spirit. Let your Soul keep a Good Look-Out.

03/07/2018

Sobriety, the Guardian of the Spirit Sobriety is a guardian of the spirit. It stands on guard day and night at the gates of the heart, to sort out the thoughts that present themselves, to listen to their suggestions and to observe their intrigues. In the first place, control the imagination strictly: it is the only route by which Satan can slip thoughts into the mind to deceive it. Then preserve in your heart a

Tuesday of the Third Week of Great Lent: To Rise You Must Go Downward. Have You Ever Seen the Snow Catch Fire?

03/06/2018

To Rise You Must Go Downward Origen said: ‘If you are not humble and serene, it is impossible for the grace of the Holy Spirit to dwell in you.’ Augustine said: ‘God humbled himself: human beings should blush to be proud.’ Gregory the Great said: ‘The more humility aims at the depths, the higher it climbs on the path to the summit. ‘Humility in listening to the Word of God makes the path ready for

Monday of the Third Week of Great Lent: Obedience is the Child of Trust. If You Think You Are Humble that Means You Are Not.

03/05/2018

Obedience is the Child of Trust Obedience is the complete renunciation of one’s own soul, demonstrated, however, by actions. More exactly, it is the death of the senses in a living soul. Obedience is a freely-chosen death, a life without cares, danger without fears, unshakeable trust in God, no fear of death. It is a voyage without perils, a journey in your sleep. Obedience is the burial of the will and the resurrection of humility.