Tag: luke12:35

Posted in FATHERS of the Church, ONE Minute REFLECTION, QUOTES on PERSEVERANCE, QUOTES on PRAYER, QUOTES on the DEVIL/EVIL, QUOTES on WATCHING, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 8 February – Let your … lamps burn in your hands.

Posted on by AnaStpaul

One Minute Reflection – 8 February – “The Month of the Most Holy and Blessed Trinity” – St John of Matha (1160-1213) – Confessor, Priest, Founder – Sirach 31:8-11; Luke 12:35-40 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“Jesus said to His disciples: Let your … lamps burn in your hands.” – Luke 12:35

REFLECTION – “Prayer offered during the hours of night possess great power, even more than that offered during the day. That is why all the Saints were in the habit of praying at night, combating the body’s drowsiness and the sweetness of sleep and overcoming their bodily nature.  The Prophet also said: “I am wearied with sighing; every night I flood my bed with weeping” (Ps 6:7) as he uttered heartfelt sighs in impassioned prayer.  And elsewhere: “At midnight I rise to give Thee thanks because of Thy just ordinances, O just God” (Ps 118:62). For every request for which the Saints desired to importune God, they armed themselves with nocturnal prayer and, at once received that which they besought Him.

Satan himself fears nothing as much as prayer offered during the night watches. Even if they are accompanied by distractions, it does not return fruitless, so long as something inappropriate is not being asked for. That is why Satan engages in severe combat against those who keep watch at night, so as to deter them from this practice if he can, especially if they show themselves to be persevering. But those who are in any way defended against his pernicious wiles and have tasted the gifts God grants at these times of vigil and have had personal experience of the greatness of the help God gives them, wholly despise him, he and all his craftiness.” – St Isaac the Syrian of Nineveh (c613-c700) Bishop of Nineveh, Monk at Mosul, Father of the Church (Ascetical Discourses)

PRAYER – O God, Who graciously and by Divine means founded, through blessed John, the Order of the Most Holy Trinity to ransom captives from the hands of the Saracens, grant, we beseech Thee that through Thy help and the merits of his prayers, we may be freed body and soul from captivity. 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).

Posted in ArchAngels and Angels, CHRIST the LIGHT, CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, CHRIST, the BRIDEGROOM, CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, FATHERS of the Church, GOD ALONE!, ONE Minute REFLECTION, QUOTES on CONSCIENCE, QUOTES on OBEDIENCE, QUOTES on PURITY, QUOTES on TRUST and complete CONFIDENCE in GOD, QUOTES on WATCHING, The SECOND COMING, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 13 October –‘ … Stand ready to obey, when He comes and knocks …’

Posted on by AnaStpaul

One Minute Reflection – 13 October – “The Month of the Most Holy Rosary and of the Angels” – Our Lady of Fatima: The Sixth & Final Apparition – St Edward King and Confessor (c1003-1066) – Sirach 31:8-11, Luke 12:35-40 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“Let your loins be girt about and your lamps burning …” – Luke 12:35

REFLECTION – “It is so that our spirit may be detached from its fantasies that the Word invites us, to shake off this heavy sleep, from the eyes of our souls, so that we may not slide away from the true reality, by clinging to what lacks substance. That is why He sets before us an image of vigilance when He says: “Let your loins be girt about and your lamps burning”… The meaning of these symbols is clear enough. Someone who is girded with temperance, lives in the light of a pure conscience because, filial trust enlightens his life, like a lamp. Lit up by the truth that person’s soul is detached from the sleep of illusion because, no empty dreams are leading it astray. As the Word says – if we do this, we shall enter into a life like that of the Angels…

Indeed, these are they who wait for the Lord at His return from the wedding and who are seated by the heavenly gates, with watchful eyes, so that the King of Glory (Ps 23:7) might once more pass through, when he returns from the marriage feast and enters again into the beatitude above the heavens. “Coming forth like the groom from his bridal chamber” (Ps 18:6)…, He united to Himself like a virgin, the nature we had prostituted to idols, once He had restored its virginal integrity, through sacramental regeneration. The nuptials, having now been accomplished, since the Church has been espoused by the Word… and brought into the chamber of His Mysteries, the Angels awaited the return of the King of Glory to the blessedness which matches His nature.

Hence, the text says that our lives ought to be like those of the Angels. Just as they live far from vice and self-deception, ready to welcome the second coming of the Lord, so we too ought to remain awake at the doors of our dwellings and stand ready to obey, when He comes and knocks at the door.” – St Gregory of Nyssa (335-395) Bishop, Father of the Church, Brother of St Basil the Great (Sermons on the Song of Songs No 11).

PRAYER – O God, Who crowned blessed King Edward with the glory of eternity, grant us, we beseech Thee, so to venerate him on earth that we may be worthy to reign with him in heaven. 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).

Posted in "Follow Me", CHRIST the LIGHT, CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, FATHERS of the Church, QUOTES on HEAVEN, QUOTES on PATIENCE, QUOTES on THE VOICE OF GOD, St PAUL!, The TRANSFIGURATION, The WILL of GOD, The WORD

Quote/s of the Day – 1 September – Waiting and watching patiently …….

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Quote/s of the Day – 1 September – Ecclesiasticus Sirach 31:8-11, Luke 12:35-40 – cripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“Let your loins be girt about
and your lamps burning …”

Luke 12:35

“For patience is necessary for you
that, doing the Will of God,
you may receive the promise.
For yet a little and a very little while
and He that is to come, will come
and will not delay.”

Hebrews 10:36-37

“Let us listen to the holy Voice of God
which summons us from on high,
from the holy mountain top.
There, we must hasten – I make bold to say –
like Jesus, Who is our leader
and has gone before us into Heaven.
There, with Him, may the eyes of our mind
shine with His light and the features of our soul
be made new; may we be transfigured with Him
and moulded to His image,
ever becoming divine,
being transformed in an ever greater degree of glory.”

St Anastasius Sinaita (Died 6th Century)
Priest and Abbot
of St Catherine’s Monastery on Mount Sinai

Posted in CHRIST the LIGHT, CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, CHRIST, the BRIDEGROOM, CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, FATHERS of the Church, ONE Minute REFLECTION, QUOTES on ANGELS, QUOTES on CONSCIENCE, QUOTES on PURITY, QUOTES on THE WORLD, QUOTES on TRUST and complete CONFIDENCE in GOD, QUOTES on WATCHING, The FOUR CARDINAL VIRTUES: JUSTICE, PRUDENCE, TEMPERANCE, FORTITUDE, The SECOND COMING, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 19 August – ‘ … Stand ready to obey, when He comes and knocks …’

Posted on by AnaStpaul

One Minute Reflection – 19August – “The Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary” – St John Eudes (1601-1680) Confessor, “The Apostle of Two Hearts”– Sirach 31:8-11, Luke 12:35-40 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“Let your loins be girt about and your lamps burning …” – Luke 12:35

REFLECTION – “It is so that our spirit may be detached from its fantasies that the Word invites us, to shake off this heavy sleep, from the eyes of our souls, so that we may not slide away from the true reality, by clinging to what lacks substance. That is why He sets before us an image of vigilance when He says: “Let your loins be girt about and your lamps burning”… The meaning of these symbols is clear enough. Someone who is girded with temperance, lives in the light of a pure conscience because, filial trust enlightens his life, like a lamp. Lit up by the truth that person’s soul is detached from the sleep of illusion because, no empty dreams are leading it astray. As the Word says – if we do this, we shall enter into a life like that of the Angels…

Indeed, these are they who wait for the Lord at His return from the wedding and who are seated by the heavenly gates, with watchful eyes, so that the King of Glory (Ps 23:7) might once more pass through, when he returns from the marriage feast and enters again into the beatitude above the heavens. “Coming forth like the groom from his bridal chamber” (Ps 18:6)…, He united to Himself like a virgin, the nature we had prostituted to idols, once He had restored its virginal integrity, through sacramental regeneration. The nuptials, having now been accomplished, since the Church has been espoused by the Word… and brought into the chamber of His Mysteries, the Angels awaited the return of the King of Glory to the blessedness which matches His nature.

Hence, the text says that our lives ought to be like those of the Angels. Just as they live far from vice and self-deception, ready to welcome the second coming of the Lord, so we too ought to remain awake at the doors of our dwellings and stand ready to obey, when He comes and knocks at the door.” – St Gregory of Nyssa (335-395) Bishop, Father of the Church, Brother of St Basil the Great (Sermons on the Song of Songs No 11).

PRAYER – O God, Who wondrously enkindled St John, Thy Confessor, to promote the religious veneration of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary and through him, willed to found new religious families in the Church, grant, we beseech Thee that we may honour his holy merits and may learn from the example of his virtues. 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).

Posted in CHRIST the LIGHT, CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, franciscan OFM, GOD ALONE!, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, QUOTES on ETERNAL LIFE, QUOTES on JOY, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, QUOTES on PEACE, QUOTES on TRUTH, The HEART, The SECOND COMING, The WORD

Quote/s of the Day – 23 January – Light your lamps

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Quote/s of the Day – 23 January – “The Month of the Most Holy Name of Jesus” – St Raymond of Peñafort (1175-1275) – Sirach 31:8-11, Luke 12:35-40 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“Gird your loins and light your lamps”

Luke 12:35

“ The fire of the Lord is Light Eternal;
the lamps of believers are lit at this fire:
“Gird your loins and light your lamps,”
(Lk 12:35).
It is because the days of our life
are still night that a lamp is necessary.
This is the fire which,
according to the testimony
of the disciples at Emmaus,
the Lord Himself set within them:
“Were not our hearts burning within us
while He spoke to us on the way
and opened the scriptures to us?” (Lk 24:32).
He gives us evident proof of this fire’s action,
enlightening man’s inmost heart.
That is why the Lord will come in fire (Is 66,15)
so as to devour our faults at the resurrection,
fulfil each one’s desires with His Presence
and cast His Light over their merits and mysteries.”

St Ambrose (340-397)
Father and Doctor of the Church

“Jesus is happy to come with us,
as Truth is happy to be spoken,
as Life to be lived,
as Light to be lit,
as Love is to be loved,
as Joy to be given,
as Peace to be spread.”

St Francis of Assisi (1181/2–1226)

Lord, Kindle our Lamps
By St Columban (543-615)

Lord, kindle our lamps,
Saviour most dear to us,
that we may always shine
in Thy Presence
and always receive Light
from Thee,
the Light Perpetual,
so that our own
personal darkness,
may be overcome
and the world’s darkness
driven from us.
Amen