Dec. 10, 2010 Friday: Second Week of Advent
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 1
Those who follow you, Lord, will have the light of life.
He is like a tree planted near running water, That yields its fruit in due season,
and whose leaves never fade. Whatever he does, prospers.
How do you get to be like a tree planted near running water whose leaves never fade? Mother Teresa gives us this advice:
(page 1) I don't think there is anyone who needs God's help and grace as much as I do. Sometimes I feel so helpless and weak. I think that is why God uses me. Because I cannot depend on my own strength, I rely on Him twenty-four hours a day. If the day had even more hours, then I would need His help and grace during those hours as well. All of us must cling to God through prayer.
My secret is very simple: I pray. Through prayer I become one in love with Christ. I realize that praying to Him is loving Him.
In reality, there is only one true prayer, only one substantial prayer: Christ Himself. There is only one voice that rises above the face of the earth: the voice of Christ. Perfect prayer does not consist in many words, but in the fervor of the desire which raises the heart to Jesus.
Love to pray. Feel the need to pray often during the day. Prayer enlarges the heart until it is capable of containing God's gift of Himself. Ask and seek and your heart will grow big enough to receive Him and keep Him as your own.
We want so much to pray properly and then we fail. We get discouraged and give up. If you want to pray better, you must pray more. God allows the failure but He does not want the discouragement. He wants us to be more childlike, more humble, more grateful in prayer, to remember we all belong to the mystical body of Christ, who is praying always.
Those who follow you, Lord, will have the light of life.
He is like a tree planted near running water, That yields its fruit in due season,
and whose leaves never fade. Whatever he does, prospers.
How do you get to be like a tree planted near running water whose leaves never fade? Mother Teresa gives us this advice:
My secret is very simple: I pray. Through prayer I become one in love with Christ. I realize that praying to Him is loving Him.
In reality, there is only one true prayer, only one substantial prayer: Christ Himself. There is only one voice that rises above the face of the earth: the voice of Christ. Perfect prayer does not consist in many words, but in the fervor of the desire which raises the heart to Jesus.
Love to pray. Feel the need to pray often during the day. Prayer enlarges the heart until it is capable of containing God's gift of Himself. Ask and seek and your heart will grow big enough to receive Him and keep Him as your own.
We want so much to pray properly and then we fail. We get discouraged and give up. If you want to pray better, you must pray more. God allows the failure but He does not want the discouragement. He wants us to be more childlike, more humble, more grateful in prayer, to remember we all belong to the mystical body of Christ, who is praying always.
