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Quote/s of the Day – 5 February – Septuagesima Sunday – Preparing to Prepare

Quote/s of the Day – 5 February – Septuagesima Sunday – Preparing to Prepare

“Prepare the way of the Lord
make His paths straight
” …

Luke 3:4

There is still time for endurance,
time for patience,
time for healing,
time for change.
Have you slipped?
Rise up!
Have you sinned?
Cease!
Do not stand among sinners
but leap aside!

St Basil the Great (329-379)
Father and Doctor of the Church

“Then the righteous shall shine like the sun
in the Kingdom of their Father.

Matthew 13:43

So from now on, run well (cf. Gal 5:7)
and may the devil not bewitch you (cf. Gal 3:1)
nor hinder you! …
May mercy, peace, charity,
freedom from envy,
from jealousy and ostentation
come upon you, docility, friendly speech,
solidarity, compassion
towards each other, humility.

St Theodore the Studite (759-826)

My Lord Jesus Christ,
You have made this journey
to die for me, with love unutterable
and I have so many times unworthily abandoned You
but now I love You with my whole heart
and because I love You,
I repent sincerely for having ever offended You.
Pardon me, my God
and permit me to accompany You on this journey.
You go to die for love of me,
I wish also, my beloved Redeemer,
to die for love of Thee.
My Jesus, I will live
and die always united to You.”
Amen

By St Alphonsus de Liguori (1696-1787)
Most Zealous Doctor of the Church

“Each and everyone of us,
at the end of the journey of life,
will come, face to face
with either one,
or the other
of two faces…
And one of them,
either, the
merciful face of Christ
or the
miserable face of Satan,
will say,
“Mine, mine.

May we be Christ’s!”

Ven Fulton Sheen (1895-1979)

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Posted in ADVENT REFLECTIONS, AUGUSTINIANS OSA, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, ONE Minute REFLECTION, QUOTES on HUMILITY, QUOTES on PRAYER, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 23 December – Prepare the way of the Lord

One Minute Reflection – 23 December – “The Month of the Divine Infant and the Immaculate Conception” – Friday of the Fourth Week of Advent – 1 Corinthians 4:1-5, Luke 3:1-6 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“Prepare the way of the Lord” – Luke 3:4

REFLECTION – “I speak out in order to lead Him into your hearts but He does not choose to come where I lead Him, unless you prepare the way for Him.
To prepare the way means, to pray well – it means thinking humbly of oneself. We should take our lesson from John the Baptist. He is thought to be the Christ, he declares he is not what they think. He does not take advantage of their mistake to further his own glory.” … St Augustine (354-430) Father and Doctor of the Church

PRAYER – Almighty God, now that the birth of Your Son is drawing near, we pray that Your eternal Word, Who took flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary and came to dwell amongst men, will show Your unworthy people, the greatness of His love. And by the intercession of His Holy Mother, may we be granted Your grace. Through Emmanuel, our Lord, Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, God forever and ever, amen.

Posted in ADVENT, CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, FATHERS of the Church, ONE Minute REFLECTION, QUOTES on SACRED SCRIPTURE, St JOHN the BAPTIST, The APOSTLES & EVANGELISTS, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 17 December – Prepare the way of the Lord make straight His paths. – Luke 3:4

One Minute Reflection – 17 December – “The Month of the Divine Infant and the Immaculate Conception” – Saturday of Ember Week in Advent – Isaias 19:20-22, Luke 3:1-6 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

As it was written in the book of the sayings of Isaias the prophet: ‘A voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord make straight His paths.’” – Luke 3:4

REFLECTION – “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight the paths of our God.’ The prophecy makes clear that it is to be fulfilled, not in Jerusalem but in the wilderness, it is there that the glory of the Lord is to appear and God’s salvation is to be made known to all mankind.

It was in the wilderness that God’s saving presence was proclaimed by John the Baptist and there that God’s salvation was seen. The words of this prophecy were fulfilled when Christ and His glory were made manifest to all after His Baptism, the heavens opened and the Holy Spirit, in the form of a dove, rested upon Him and the Father’s Voice was heard, bearing witness to the Son: ‘This is My beloved Son, listen to Him.

The prophecy meant that God was to come to a deserted place, inaccessible from the beginning. None of the pagans had any knowledge of God, since His holy servants and prophets, were kept from approaching them. The Voice commands that a way be prepared for the Word of God – the rough and trackless ground is to be made level, so that our God may find a highway when He comes. Prepare the way of the Lord – the way is the preaching of the Gospel, the new message of consolation, ready to bring to all mankind, the knowledge of God’s saving power.

Climb on a high mountain, bearer of good news to Zion. Lift up your voice in strength, bearer of good news to Jerusalem. These words harmonise very well with the meaning of what has gone before. They refer, opportunely, to the Evangelists and proclaim the coming of God to men, after speaking of the voice crying in the wilderness. Mention of the Evangelists suitably follows the prophecy of John the Baptist.

What does Zion mean if not the City previously called Jerusalem? This is the mountain referred to in that passage from Scripture: Here is mount Zion, where Thou dwelt. The Apostle says: You have come to mount Zion. Does not this refer to the company of the Apostles, chosen from the former people of the circumcision?

This is the Zion, the Jerusalem, which received God’s salvation. It stands aloft on the mountain of God, that is, it is raised high on the Only-begotten Word of God. It is commanded to climb the high mountain and announce the Word of Salvation. Who is the bearer of the good news but the company of the Evangelists? What does it mean to bear the good news but to preach to all nations but first of all, to the cities of Judah, the coming of Christ on earth?– Eusebius of Caesarea (c 265-339) Bishop, Theologian, Historian, Father (An excerpt from his Commentary on Isaias).

PRAYER – Grant, we beseech Thee, almighty God, that we, who are heavy-laden under the yoke of sin, maybe delivered from the bondage of old, by the long-awaited new birth of Thy Only-begotten Son. Who livest and reignest with God the Father, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Rejoice! ejoice! Emmanuel, Shall come to thee, O Israel. Amen (Collect)

Posted in AUGUSTINIANS OSA, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, QUOTES on CONVERSION, QUOTES on FAITH, QUOTES on GRACE, QUOTES on REPENTANCE, Quotes on SALVATION, QUOTES on SIN, The WORD

Quote/s of the Day – 26 March – Repent!

Quote/s of the Day – 26 March – Saturday of the Third Week of Lent – Daniel 13:1-9, 15-17, 19-30, 33-62, John 8:1-11

Go and from now on, sin no more”

John 8:11

Prepare the way of the Lord
make his paths straight
” …

Luke 3:4

“You do not know
when your last day may come.
You are an ingrate!
Why not use the day, today,
that God has given you
to repent?”

St Augustine (354-430)
Father & Doctor of Grace

“What are you afraid of, you men of little faith?
That He will not pardon your sins?
But with His own hands He has nailed them to the cross.
That you are used to soft living
and your tastes are fastidious?
But He knows the clay of which we are made (Gn 2:7).
That a prolonged habit of sinning binds you like a chain?
But the Lord loosens the shackles of prisoners.
Or perhaps that angered by the enormity
and frequency of your sins,
He is slow to extend a helping hand?
But where sin abounded,
grace became superabundant (Rom 5,20).
Are you worried about clothing
and food and other bodily necessities
so that you hesitate to give up your possessions?
But He knows that you need all these things (Mt 6,32).
What more can you wish?
What else is there to hold you back
from the way of salvation?

St Bernard (1091-1153)
Mellifluous Doctor of the Church

Posted in ADVENT QUOTES, CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, QUOTES on CONVERSION, QUOTES on GRACE, QUOTES on PATIENCE, QUOTES on PEACE, QUOTES on REPENTANCE, QUOTES on THE LIGHT of CHRIST, The HEART, The NATIVITY of JESUS, The WORD, THOMAS a KEMPIS

Quote/s of the Day – 5 December – Prepare the way of the Lord … Luke 3:4

Quote/s of the Day – 5 December – The Second Sunday of Advent – Readings: Baruch 5: 1-9; Psalm 126: 1-6; Philippians 1: 4-6, 8-11; Luke 3: 1-6

“Prepare the way of the Lord
make his paths straight
” …

Luke 3:4

“There is still time for endurance,
time for patience,
time for healing,
time for change.
Have you slipped?
Rise up!
Have you sinned?
Cease!
Do not stand among sinners
but leap aside!

St Basil the Great (329-379)
Father and Doctor of the Church

“Open wide your door
to the One who comes.
Open your soul,
throw open the depths of your heart
to see the riches of simplicity,
the treasures of peace,
the sweetness of grace.
Open your heart and run to meet
the Sun of eternal Light
that illuminates all men.

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

“If we wish to make any progress
in the service of God,
we must begin everyday of our life,
with new eagerness.
We must keep ourselves,
in the presence of God,
as much as possible
and have no other view or end,
in all our actions
but the divine honour.

St Charles Borromeo (1538-1584)

“Come, O come, for without You
there will be no happy day
or hour because You are my happiness
and without You my table is empty.
I am wretched, as it were imprisoned
and weighted down with fetters,
until You fill me with the Light of Your Presence,
restore me to liberty
and show me a friendly countenance
.”

Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471)
(Book 3 Ch 21:1,4-6)

Posted in "Follow Me", ADVENT REFLECTIONS, BAPTISM, CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, ONE Minute REFLECTION, QUOTES on FAITH, QUOTES on the CHURCH, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 5 December – “A pure way will be there, called the holy way”

One Minute Reflection – 5 December – “Month of the Immaculate Conception” and The Second Sunday of Advent – Readings: Baruch 5: 1-9; Psalm 126: 1-6; Philippians 1: 4-6, 8-11; Luke 3: 1-6

Prepare the way of the Lord” – Luke 3:4

REFLECTION – “Let the desert and the parched land exult! Let the arid ground rejoice and bloom. Let it bloom with abundant flowers” (Is 35:1). What the inspired Scriptures usually call ‘desert’ and ‘waste,‘ is the Church of the pagans. She already existed in former times among the peoples but had not received her mystical Spouse from Heaven, I mean the Christ … Christ came to her, however. Captivated by her faith, He enriched her from the divine river that streams from Him – streams because it is the “fountain of life, stream of delight” (Ps 36[35]:10.9) … At His Presence, the Church ceased to be parched and arid, she encountered her Spouse, brought into the world countless children and was adorned with mystical flowers. …

Isaiah continues: “A pure way will be there, called the holy way” (v. 8). This pure way is the power of the Gospel entering into our lives or, to put it another way, the purifying power of the Spirit. For the Spirit removes the stain imprinted on the human soul, delivers us from our sins and enables us to rise above our uncleanness. Thus, this road is very rightly described as holy and pure, for it cannot be reached by anyone who has not been purified. Indeed, no-one is able to live according to the Gospel who has not first been purified by holy Baptism, no-one, therefore, can do so without faith. …
Only those delivered from the devil’s tyranny can lead the glorious life the prophet describes with these images: “No lion will be there nor beast of prey” (v. 9) on that pure way. Indeed, in former times such fierce beasts, as is the devil, that inventor of sin, used to attack earth’s inhabitants together with the evil spirits. But he was crushed by Christ, driven far away from the flock of believers and stripped of the dominion he used to wield over them. That is why, redeemed by Christ and brought together in faith, they will walk united in heart along this pure way (v. 9). Forsaking their former ways “they will return to Zion,” that is, the Church, “with everlasting joy” (v. 10) that has no end, whether on earth or in Heaven and they will glorify God their Saviour. – St Cyril of Alexandria (376-444) Bishop of Alexandria, Father and Doctor of the Church (On Isaiah, III, 3).

PRAYER – Almighty and merciful God, let neither our daily work nor the cares of this life prevent us from hastening to meet your Son. Teach us Holy Father God, silence and solitude, to hear and learn, then lead us into the company of Your Son, as He comes to save us! And may His Mother and ours, the most pure Virgin Mary be our intercessor and advocate. We make our prayer through Christ our Lord, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God forever, amen.