Quote/s of the Day – 12 May – James 5:16-20 – Luke 11:5-13
“Ask and it shall be given you: seek and you shall find: knock and it shall be opened to you. ”
Luke 11:9
“With all my heart I pray, for the hope of Heaven because hope and faith, are of much more value, than all the riches of this world.”
St Paulinus of Nola (c354-431)
“Our part is to pray that we may be worthy of becoming His instruments.”
St Aloysius de Gonzaga (1568-1591)
“ It is necessary, therefore, to obey the Eternal Father by following Our Lord in order to hear His Word. And behold, how we are taught that all persons, whatever their condition may be, must pray and meditate, for it is there, principally, where this Divine Master speaks to us. … But, it will not do us any good to listen, if we do not DO what He says to us, observing His commandments and His wishes faithfully,”
St Francis de Sales (1567-1622) Doctor of Charity
“ Sometimes God delays His answer in order to test our faith and perseverance. It is important that we should pray with a right intention, with faith and perseverance and, with resignation to God’s Will. We must realise clearly, God will grant us whatever is best for us, at the most suitable moment! Amen.
One Minute Reflection – 12 May – “The Month of the Blessed Virgin Mary” – Ferial Day – James 5:16-20 – Luke 11:5-13 – The Feast of Sts Nereus, Achilleus, Domitilla (virgin) and Pancras, Martyrs – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/
“Ask and it shall be given you, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened to you. ” – Luke 11:9
REFLECTION – “Dear brothers, the commands of the Gospel are nothing else than God’s lessons, the foundations on which to build hope, the supports for strengthening faith, the food which nourishes the heart. They are the rudder for keeping us on the right course, the protection which keeps our salvation secure. As they instruct the receptive minds of believers on earth, they lead safely to the Kingdom of Heaven.
God Willed that many things should be said by the Prophets, His servants and listened to by His people. How much greater are the Words spoken by the Son. These are now witnessed to by the very Word of God Who spoke through the Prophets. The Word of God does not now command us to prepare the way for His Coming; He Comes in Person and opens the way for us and directs us toward it. Before, we wandered in the darkness of death, aimlessly and blindly. Now we are enlightened by the Light of Grace and are to keep to the highway of life, with the Lord to precede and direct us.
The Lord has given us many Counsels and Commandments to assist us toward salvation. He has even given us a pattern of prayer, instructing us on how we are to pray. He has given us Life and with His accustomed generosity, He has also taught us how to pray. He has made it easy for us to be heard as we pray to the Father in the Words taught us by the Son.
He has already foretold that the hour was coming when true worshipers would worship the Father in spirit and in truth. He fulfilled what He had promised before, so that we who have received the Spirit and the Truth through the holiness He has given us, may worship in Truth and in the Spirit through the prayer He has taught.
What prayer could be more a prayer in the Spirit than the one given us by Christ, by Whom the Holy Ghost was sent upon us? What prayer could be more a prayer in the Truth than the one spoken by the Lips of the Son, Who is Truth Himself? It follows that to pray in any other way than the Son has taught us, is not only the result of ignorance but, of sin. He Himself has commanded it and has said: You reject the command of God, to set up your own tradition.
So, my brothers, let us pray as God our Master has taught us. To ask the Father in words His Son has given us, to let Him hear the prayer of Christ ringing in His ears, is to make our prayer one of friendship, a family prayer. Let the Father recognise the Words of His Son. Let the Son Who lives in our hearts be also on our lips. We have Him as an Advocate for sinners before the Father; when we ask for forgiveness for ours sins, let us use the Words given by our Advocate. He tells us: Whatever you ask the Father in My Name, He will give you. What more effective prayer could we then make in the Name of Christ than in the Words of His Own prayer?” – St Cyprian of Carthage (200-258) – Bisho, Father of the Church and Martyr (An excerpt from his On the Lord’s Prayer).
PRAYER – Grant, we beseech Thee, O Almighty God, that we, who in our tribulation are yet of good cheer because of Thy loving-kindness, may find Thee mighty to save from all dangers. Through Jesus Christ, Thy Son our Lord, Who lives and reigns with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen (Collect).
Quote/s of the Day – 11 May – James 5:16-20, Luke 11:5-13
“Ask and it shall be given you: s seek and you shall find: knock and it shall be opened to you. ”
Luke 11:9
“The more I contemplate God, the more God looks upon me. The more I pray to Him, the more He thinks of me too.”
St Bernard (1090-1153) Father & Mellifluous Doctor of the Church
“By the practice of prayer, we can construct an impregnable citadel, in which we shall be securely protected against all the snares of the enemy.”
St Lawrence Justinian (1381-1455)
“In prayer one must hold fast and never let go, because the one who gives up, loses all. If it seems that no-one is listening to you, then cry out even louder. If you are driven out of one door, go back in by the other.”
One Minute Reflection – 11 May – “The Month of the Blessed Virgin Mary” –Rogation Day – Ferial Day – Jasme 5:16-20 – Luke 11:5-13 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/
“Ask and it shall be given you: seek and you shall find: knock and it shall be opened to you. ” – Luke 11:9
REFLECTION – “Whatever you shall ask.” Then why do we often see believers asking and not receiving? Perhaps it is that they do not ask correctly. When a person would make a bad use of what he asks for, God in His Mercy, does not grant him it. It is even more the case, that if someone asks what would, if answered, only tend to his injury, there is surely greater cause to fear, in case what God could not withhold with kindness, He should give in His anger. Still, if God even in kindness, often refuses the requests of believers, how are we to understand “Whatever you shall ask in My Name, I will do?” Was this said to the Apostles only? No. He says …, “He who believes in Me, the works that I do he shall do also.” And if we go to the lives of the Apostles themselves, we shall find that he who laboured more than them all, prayed that the messenger of Satan might depart from him but was not granted his request.
Wake up then, believer and note what is stated here: “In My Name.” That [Name] is Christ Jesus. Christ signifies King, Jesus signifies Saviour. Therefore, whatever we ask for that would hinder our salvation, we do not ask in our Saviour’s Name and yet, He is our Saviour, not only when He does what we ask but also, when He does not. When He sees us ask anything to the disadvantage of our salvation, He shows Himself our Saviour by not doing it. The physician knows whether what the sick person asks for, is to the advantage or disadvantage of his health. And [the physician] does not allow what would be harmful to him, although the sick person himself, desires it. But the physician looks to his final cure.
And some things we may even ask in His Name and He will not grant them to us, at the time, although He will sometime. What we ask for is deferred, not denied. He adds, “that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” The Son does not do anything without the Father, inasmuch as He does it, in order that the Father may be glorified in the Son, for the Father and Son are One.” – St Augustine (354-430) Great Western Father and Doctor of Grace of the Church (Tractates on the Gospel of John, 73)
PRAYER – Grant, we beseech Thee, O Almighty God, that we, who in our tribulation are yet of good cheer because of Thy loving-kindness, may find Thee mighty to save from all dangers. Through Jesus Christ, Thy Son our Lord, Who lives and reigns with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen (Collect).
AnaStpaul 
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