Saturday, September 26, 2015

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Deuteronomy, Chapter 20, Verse 2-3

2 When you are drawing near to battle, the priest shall come forward and speak to the army, 3 and say to them, “Hear, O Israel! Today you are drawing near for battle against your enemies. Do not be weakhearted or afraid, alarmed or frightened by them.

 

We are in a battle with the forces of darkness. Our priest the Pope of our church is saying to us “Do not be afraid”. He is reminding us that the love of God is like a pebble that is dropped on the smooth surface of a pond. When God’s love truly pierces our hearts, as the pebble on the pond, our own love will ripple outward perfectly in symmetry with the universe, embracing everything in its path with His reflected glory.

 

When God’s love truly pierces our hearts we reflect with sorrow on our sins and transgressions. We as Lord Tennyson praised long develop a mantra “To Strive, To Seek, To Find and not to Yield.” We seek to develop within ourselves genuine compunction of heart.

 

Compunction is a deep and last sorrow for our sins. It is not a gloomy or depressing sorrow, but an intelligent admission of your sins and a sincere determination to do something about them. It is a realization of how you have failed such a loving God and brings with it a readiness to accept anything that He wills. Compunction opens the way to many blessing and precious graces. Compunction will cause the world to lose its magic attraction. Compunction will help you realize how quickly earthly joys pass away, while eternity goes on forever. By compunction a man begins to attack his faults and to practice the opposite virtues.[1]


Let us develop within ourselves the virtues of Mary Most Holy: Humility, Generosity, Chastity, Patience, Self-Control, Love and Wisdom.


Today is my grandson birthday and his Homecoming at school at big day for him. My sincere prayer is that he will develop into a man of God having the virtues of Mary: HuG CoP SLoW



[1] Paone, Anthony J., S.J. My Daily Bread, Confraternity of the Precious Blood.

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