THE BIRTH
"And she gave birth to her first-born son
and wrapped him in swaddling cloths,
and laid him in a manger,
because there was no place for them in the inn. "
(Lk 2:7)
LOVING WITH CHRIST'S LOVE
"He gives us His own Sacred Heart
that we may love Him with the love that is that burning heart--
that living flame of love that cannot contain itself!
No wonder He complains of the coldness of our hearts!
We in our self-sufficiency try to love Him
with our own strength and with our own heart.
He wants a love like His own;
and he offers us Himself
so that we may use His love
to love Him."
(Eugene Boylan, This Tremendous Lover, p 358)
LOVING AND LOVABLE
"[O]ur Lord doesn't want us to be
dry,
stiff,
lifeless.
He wants us to be steeped in his tenderness!"
(St Josemaria, The Forge 492)
HOARDING WEALTH IN HEAVEN
"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth,
where moth and rust consume
and where thieves break in and steal,
but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven,
where neither moth nor rust consumes
and where thieves do not break in and steal.
For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."
(Mt 6:19-21)
WHERE YOUR HEART IS, THERE YOUR EYES WILL BE ALSO
"If then you have been raised with Christ,
seek the things that are above,
where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
Set your minds on things that are above,
not on things that are on earth.
For you have died, and your life is hid with Christ in God."
(Col 3:1-3)
NO OTHER GOD
"No one can serve two masters;
for either he will hate the one and love the other,
or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.
You cannot serve God and mammon."
(Mt 6:24)
SIT NOMEN DOMINI BENEDICTUM!
"Naked I came from my mother's womb,
and naked shall I return;
the LORD gave,
and the LORD has taken away;
blessed be the name of the LORD."
(Job 1:21)
QUAERITE PRIMUM REGNUM DEI
"Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life,
what you shall eat
or what you shall drink,
nor about your body,
what you shall put on.
Is not life more than food,
and the body more than clothing?
Look at the birds of the air:
they neither sow
nor reap
nor gather into barns,
and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.
Are you not of more value than they?
And which of you by being anxious
can add one cubit to his span of life?
And why are you anxious about clothing?
Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow;
they neither toil nor spin;
yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
But if God so clothes the grass of the field,
which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven,
will he not much more clothe you, O men of little faith?
Therefore do not be anxious, saying,
'What shall we eat?'
or 'What shall we drink?'
or 'What shall we wear?'
For the Gentiles seek all these things;
and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness,
and all these things shall be yours as well.
Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow,
for tomorrow will be anxious for itself.
Let the day's own trouble be sufficient for the day."
(Mt 6:25-34)
CHAINS AND FETTERS
"We are afraid to let go
of what we think we have
or of what we think we are going to have.
And God
in his loving ardor
pleads with us,
for love,
for the love of our whole heart,
and we turn away our ear,
and drown the sound of his voice
in the intoxication of pleasure,
or of work,
or of all or anything else,
save the one thing necessary.
And yet we find no peace.
[And yet we find no rest.]
We hurry from one thing to another;
we exhaust our ingenuity
in devising new amusements
to capture our jaded fancy;
we plunge deeper and deeper
into the mire of self-satisfaction;
and we are further away from peace than ever.
For our hearts are made for God,
and they cannot rest till they rest in Him;
He knows our hearts better than we do.
And so in His love,
like the Good Shepherd,
He comes to seek us;
He pursues us
and He uses His Providence to draw us away from all else,
and to draw all else away from us,
so that we may be driven to listen to His voice,
[so that we may be driven to our knees!]
and cast ourselves upon His Heart."
(Eugene Boylan, This Tremendous Lover, p 360)
A PRAYER AND A PLEA
"...Jesus, may my poor heart be an enclosed garden;
may my poor heart be a paradise wherein You dwell;
may my Guardian Angel watch over it
with a sword of fire
and use it to purify every affection
before it comes to me.
Jesus, seal my poor heart
with the divine seal of Your Cross."
(St Josemaria, The Forge 412)
Mary, Mother of Fair Love,
teach me to keep my heart fixed on your Son,
make me want to know Him more,
so that in knowing Him
I may love Him
and stake all my happiness in Him
and find my rest in Him.