Saturday, January 12, 2019
Leviticus, Chapter 25, Verse 17
Do not deal unfairly
with one another, then; but stand in fear
of your God. I, the LORD, am your God.
Fairness is a word that means physical beauty. In a
sense God is asking us to not do those things that mar the physical beauty of
another. This means, in essence, that we need to nourish each other and to
share with others the gifts we receive from God. This means to respect each
person as a person, physically, mentally, and emotionally; to provide for their
welfare.
Blessings
of a Chaste Life
54. Chastity is not celibacy within marriage. No, the act of sexual intercourse that makes a husband and wife “one flesh” and is ordered to bringing new human persons into our world is a great good. Chastity in marriage means self-control in sexuality, a freedom to steer one’s sexual desires and actions lovingly, so that in sex you “will the good of each other.” Chastity actually liberates true sexual love! It opposes the slavery caused by its opposite vice: lust. Chaste sexual love refuses to do anything that is lustful. The chaste couple can live their sexual relationship beautifully.
55. What does this mean concretely? First, do no harm to this act, which is meant to renew your wedding vows. Refuse to allow pornography, contraception, or any fantasy mentality to turn this act into an experience of using each other, rather than loving each other. The opposite of “willing the good of your spouse” is “using your spouse as an object for self-gratification.” Do not give any quarter to this temptation.
56. Proactively, to grow your sexual relationship in a loving way, communicate well with each other— frankly, patiently and readily. Be quick to forgive each other for thoughtless hurts and even sins. Spend time, good time, together cultivating the garden of all areas of your intimacy: your verbal communication, your care for each other’s needs of affection, your time just to be together. These areas of intimacy till the soil of the garden of your love and spill over into a meaningful sexual relationship. Your children, too, will be deeply blessed by this resulting closeness.
57. If you sin in this area, never despair! Get to
Confession quickly, and quickly forgive your spouse. Then, begin again.
Chastity grows by God’s grace and renewed effort toward self-mastery and
freedom. This “self-mastery is a long and exacting work. One can never consider
it acquired once and for all.” Major strides can be made with the combined help
of the Sacraments, growth in prayer together as a couple, accompaniment of
trusted friends, insights from wise experts and complete surrender to Jesus
with the intercession of His Mother, St. Joseph and all the saints.
God is your
beatitude. The things of time are toys. You are eternity's child and your
eternity has already begun! There is a compelling urgency to every day and
every hour of the day. In it we are to witness to the truth – that God greeted
and gifted us at Christmas. If you know what witness means, you understand why
God brings St. Stephen, St. John, and the Holy Innocents to the crib in the
cave as soon as Christ is born liturgically. To be a witness is to be a martyr.
Holy Mother Church wishes us to realize that we were born in baptism to become Christ
– He who was the world's outstanding Martyr. – Love Does Such Things, by Rev.
M. Raymond, O.C.S.O.
·
Day Nineteen recipe (Lamb's Wool)
During
this New Year let us take up the nature of God by reflecting on these traits
that make us a model for our children and our sisters and brothers in Christ.
Today reflect on:
Tolerance vs. Prejudice
Acceptance of others as unique expressions of specific character qualities in varying degrees of maturity (Philippians 2:2)
2218
The
fourth commandment reminds grown children of their responsibilities toward
their parents. As much as they can, they must give them material and moral
support in old age and in times of illness, loneliness, or distress. Jesus
recalls this duty of gratitude.
For the Lord
honored the father above the children, and he confirmed the right of the mother
over her sons. Whoever honors his father atones for sins, and whoever glorifies
his mother is like one who lays up treasure. Whoever honors his father will be
gladdened by his own children, and when he prays he will be heard. Whoever
glorifies his father will have long life, and whoever obeys the Lord will
refresh his mother.
O son, help your
father in his old age, and do not grieve him as long as he lives; even if he is
lacking in understanding, show forbearance; in all your strength do not despise
him.. . . Whoever forsakes his father is like a blasphemer, and
whoever angers his mother is cursed by the Lord.
"Read
these counsels slowly. Pause to meditate on these thoughts. They are things
that I whisper in your ear-confiding them-as a friend, as a brother, as a
father. And they are being heard by God. I won't tell you anything new. I will
only stir your memory, so that some thought will arise and strike you; and so
you will better your life and set out along ways of prayer and of Love. And in
the end you will be a more worthy soul."
I will tell you which are man's treasures on earth so that you
will appreciate them: hunger, thirst, heat, cold, pain, dishonour, poverty,
loneliness, betrayal, slander, prison...
Daily Devotions
[1]https://family.dphx.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/2018-Complete-My-Joy-Apostolic-Exhortation-English.pdf
[2]https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2019-01-12
[3]http://graceonlinelibrary.org/home-family/christian-parenting/49-godly-Tcharacter-qualities/
[4]http://www.escrivaworks.org/book/the_way-point-1.htm
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