2 Peter 1:5-9
- From: "Waldtraud" <hildegard8@xxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 6 Jan 2006 11:42:48 -0600
Bible Verse
-- 2 Peter 1:5-9 --
For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and
to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control,
perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly
kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these
qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective
and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But if anyone
does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he
has been cleansed from his past sins.
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Our faith must go beyond what we believe; it must become a dynamic part of
what we do, resulting in good fruit and spiritual maturity. Salvation does
not depend on good deeds, but it results in good deeds. A person who claims
to be saved while remaining unchanged does not understand faith or what God
has done for him or her.
<><><><>
January 6th - St. Raphaela Maria Porras
Rafaela Maria Porras y Ayllon is a gift to the world. She was born in Pedro
Abad, Spain on the 1st of March 1850, into a profoundly Christian family.
150 years later, we celebrate her life with immense joy and gratitude.
Without claiming to be a Foundress, she began a Work which is still today,
in many parts of the world, putting the grace which she received at the
service of the People of God.
In 1875 she entered the Noviciate of the Society of Mary Reparatrix,
together with her sister Pilar. The time spent there made a deep impression
on their lives and was a preparation for God's plan over them. Generously
open to this design of God, they welcomed it with love and fidelity, and in
1877 founded the Institute of the Handmaids of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Rafaela Maria was a woman of a single love. Christ in the Eucharist was the
center of her existence; she lived in profound communion with him, entering
into his plan of universal reconciliation. She spent many hours of her life
in adoration before the Blessed Sacrament, allowing herself to be
transformed by him, so that the world became converted for her into a great
temple, where she worshipped the Lord of History in spirit and truth.
This eucharistic dynamism led her to create communities founded on union and
the joy of serving so great a Lord. She loved her Sisters tenderly, and
never faltered in giving everything to build communion among them.
With her passion for the interests of Christ's Heart, she was determined
that his saving and reparative love should reach everyone, the whole of
humanity. So, from the very first moment, she wanted her Institute to be
dedicated to education in the service of the Gospel, and to be "universal
like the Church", always giving preference to the poor and simple.
While she was guiding the Institute, she based her government on love and
respect for the Sisters, and on faithfulness to the mission received. Then,
during the long years of hidden life in Rome, identified with Christ on the
cross, she passed on the living spirit of her total gift of self, a genuine
Handmaid of the Lord: free, humble, valiant, dedicated.
She died in Rome, on the 6th of January 1925. On the 23rd of January 1977,
before the whole world, Paul VI proclaimed that this woman had lived the
Gospel with all its consequences. From then on, we invoke her as Saint
Rafaela Maria of the Sacred Heart.
This version taken from:
http://www.ancillae.org/about/StRaphaela.asp
Quote:
"We can actually come and adore Him like the shepherds; we can prostrate
ourselves before Him like the Magi; we need no longer regret our not having
been present at Bethlehem." -Bl. Julian Eymard
Bible Quote
69 And Simon Peter answered him: Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the
words of eternal life. (John 6:69)
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Prayer Against the Seven Deadly Sins
Let me use all things for one sole reason: to find my joy in giving You
glory.
Therefore, keep me, above all things, from sin. Keep me from the death of
deadly sin which puts hell in my soul. Keep me from the murder of lust that
blinds and poisons my heart. Keep me from the sins that eat a man's flesh
with irresistible fire until he is devoured. Keep me from loving money in
which is hatred, from avarice [greed] and ambition that suffocate my life.
Keep me from the dead works of vanity and the thankless labor in which
artists destroy themselves for pride and money and reputation, and saints
are smothered under the avalanche of their own importunate zeal. Staunch in
me the rank wound of covetousness and the hungers that exhaust my nature
with their bleeding. Stamp out the serpent envy that stings love with poison
and kills all joy.
Untie my hands and deliver my heart from sloth. Set me free from the
laziness that goes about disguised as activity when activity is not required
of me, and from the cowardice that does what is not demanded, in order to
escape sacrifice.
But give me the strength that waits upon You in silence and peace. Give me
humility in which alone is rest, and deliver me from pride which is the
heaviest of burdens. And possess my whole heart and soul with the simplicity
of love. Occupy my whole life with the one thought and the one desire of
love, that I may love not for the sake of merit, not for the sake of
perfection, not for the sake of virtue, not for the sake of sanctity, but
for You alone.
Thomas Merton, 1961, Gethsemani. Imprimatur Francis Cardinal Spellman,
Archbishop of New York
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