- Prayer as Obedience to Mission -

A THEOLOGIAN OF OUR TIME tells us that our dialogue with God is of a precarious nature; it is basically just compensating for our lack of deeper communication and concord with God. If we had never sinned, then loving God and responding to his words would be something natural for us. It is precisely after that first sin is committed that God asks the question, "Where are you?" (Genesis 3:9). Here begins the history of this dialogue we call prayer. In prayer, God makes it possible for us to draw close to him once again, for it is he who asks for us, it is he who calls out to us. We have seen in earlier reflections that this drawing close can happen only by way of the flesh: the good Samaritan "came near" the beaten man (Luke 10:29-37), and the very Word of God drew close to us by "becoming flesh" (John 1:14).

When the Word of God draws close to us, we see the essence of obedience: "Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death - even death on a cross" (Philippians 2:6-8). The letter to the Hebrews quotes Psalm 40 to show how this same obedience applies also to the incarnation: "Then I said, 'See, I have come to do your will, O God' (in the scroll of the book it is written of me)" (Hebrews 10:7). This is the obedience of Abraham's "Here I am!" (Genesis 22:1-3), which reaches its culmination in the cry of Jesus in Gethsemane: "yet not what I want, but what you want" (Mark 14:36). In each case, flesh is required, for only flesh can be divested and passed through the crucible of contempt, dislodgement, derision, and humiliation. "Adam, where are you?" asks God, and it is Adam's flesh that must obey the command uttered in that first dialogue with God: "By the sweat of your brow you shall eat your bread" (Genesis 3:19). This bread that Adam eats will be earned by the sweat of submitting his flesh to humiliation and deprivation. Flesh is required too in Abraham's "Here I am!" to which God replies, "Take your son - your only son, whom you love, Isaac" (Genesis 22:1-2). Even Jesus prays "Abba, Father, for you all things are possible; remove this cup from me; yet not what I want, but what you want" (Mark 14:36).

If we observe carefully, we see that this prayer of Jesus is intimately linking with obedience to a mission. We might say that it is through prayer that Jesus first discovers and then reinterprets his own mission (cf. Mark 1:38; Luke 4:42-43; Mark 6:46; John 6:15; and the prayer in Gethsemane, as we just saw). Similarly, it is through prayer that Saint Paul's apostolic mission becomes effective (cf. 2 Cor. 1:11; Rom. 10:1; 2 Thess. 3:1), and that is why he prays unceasingly (cf. Rom. 1:9-10; Col. 1:9-20; 2 Thess. 1:3; 2:13). The first disciples also turn to prayer to discover the mission God is giving them, especially in difficult times (cf. Acts 4:24-30). The community does not ask God to punish the persecutors or even to stop the persecution but begs only for the courage to be obedient to their mission, which is to proclaim Christ to the world no matter what the opposition. 

Our ability to seek out, discover, define, and orient our mission - and be obedient to it - comes to us and grows in us only through prayer. Nonetheless, a prayerful attitude is not something detached from reality; rather, it is deeply rooted in our prior experience of concrete reality. It is a constant, persistent ritornello even in the midst of difficulties; it requires confidence in God, for "who else will put up security for me?" (Job 17:3; cf. Job 16:19-20; 19:25). Despite vigorous protests and heated discussions with God, every believing soul possesses deep within itself a fidelity that keeps it true to its mission and a love for God's word that no opposition succeeds in destroying (cf. Jer. 20:9). Even when persons of prayer experience pain and express lament, they feel at a deeper level the renewal of confidence that comes from joy, faith, and hope (cf. Jer. 15:16; 17:14). This indestructible zone of fidelity within us gives us a serenity beyond all explanation; it is a basic experience that is key for all types of prayer and for discernment of spirits.

At daybreak he departed and went into a deserted place. And the crowds were looking for him; and when they reached him, they wanted to prevent him from leaving them. But he said to them, "I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose." (Luke 4:42-43)

As you also join in helping us by your prayers, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayer of many. (2 Cor. 1:11)

After they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them. When they heard it, they raised their voices together to God and said, "Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth, the sea, and everything in them, it is you who said by the Holy Spirit through our ancestor David, your servant: 'Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples imagine vain things? The kings of the earth took their stand, and the rulers have gathered together against the Lord and against his Messiah.' "For in this city, in fact, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. And now, Lord, look at their threats, and grants to your servants to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus." (Acts 4:24-30)

Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart; for I am called by your name, O Lord, God of hosts. (Jer, 15:16)

"Hope does not disappoint," Paul tell us (Rom. 5:3-5). It is to this conviction that we must recourse. If we lose sight of this reference point, then we lose our stability. Our prayer becomes ever more "illusionary"; our flesh becomes "spiritualized" or psychological"; our obedience becomes caprice, :But to what will I compare this generation?" asks Jesus. "It is like children sitting in the market-places and calling to one another, 'We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not mourn.' For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, 'He has a demon'; the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax-collectors and sinners!' Yet wisdom in vindicated by her deeds." (Matt. 11:16-19). Jesus calls this generation adulterous" (Matt. 12:39; 16:4) because it has lost its orientation toward fidelity; it has no solid foundation in hope to which it can refer doubt or suffering or persecution. The people of this generation are guided simply by their fancies, by their "likes" and "dislikes." Because they know nothing of prayer or obedience or oblation of the flesh, this generation is unable to recognize the "Word made flesh." They fabricate their own mission in life because their hearts are so unruly that they're incapable of receiving from the Lord a mission; they are unable to adore him in the immolation of obedience. These are the people whose "fulfillment" consists in becoming certified bachelors and spinsters, not in being consecrated to a God-given mission that impels them to empty themselves completely, starting with the dispossession that comes with prayer.

The obedience required for prayer affects our lives and wounds own flesh. Let me explain. The ordinary conception of prayer is "asking God for things" or "asking God to change situations that are difficult for us." No doubt, this is true prayer; even the Lord urges us to pray this way. But there is another basis for our prayer, arising from the certainty of our hope, as I mentioned above. Prayer touches the very depths of our flesh; it touches our heart. It is not God who changes; rather, it is we who change, through obedience and surrender in prayer.

The prophet Elijah went out in search of God. He was terrified and wished to die. But when he encountered God, his heart was changed (1 Kings 19:1-18). Such also was the case of Moses when he interceded for his people. It was not God who changed his mind but Moses. He had known the God of wrath, but now he knew the God of forgiveness. He discovered God's true face at this moment in his people's history: the face of fidelity and forgiveness. He learned how to take a just measure of his people's sin. Prayer is therefore the privileged place where God reveals himself; it is the space where we move from "what people think" about God to God as he truly is. Prayer is the place where silent faith grows before the revelation of mystery: "See, I am of small account; what shall I answer you? I lay my hand on my mouth" (Job 40:4). "I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eyes sees you" (Job 42:5). When God sent an angel to Elijah to encourage him to keep going (cf. 1 Kings 19:5-8), or when the stubborn Jonah saw everything as hopeless, the Lord's response was always the same: "Go back the way you came" (1 Kings 19:15). But this is not the turning back that results just from stagnant nostalgia or romantic restoration; rather, it is letting God's response shatter the discouragement and the uselessness we feel in carrying out our mission so that new possibilities are opened up toward the future. Restored by prayer, the prophet Elijah retracted his steps and found a more fruitful path: he called Elisha to assist him in his work (1 Kings 19:19-21). Prayer, by dispossessing us in obedience, makes us realize that we are suspended in constant tension between what is finished and what is beginning. For persons of prayer something is always ending and something else is always commencing - nothing ever stands still.

                                                       For Prayer and Reflection

"Then he withdrew from them about a stone's throw, knelt down, and prayed, 'Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me; yet, not my will but yours be done.' Then an angel from heaven appeared to him and gave him strength. In his anguish he played more earnestly, and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down on the ground" (Luke 22:41-44).

BY  HIS  HOLINESS  POPE  FRANCIS / JORGE MARIO BERGOGLIO

Open Mind,  Faithful Heart - Reflections on Following Jesus - Translated by Joseph V. Owens, 

 -     WELCOME TO SACRED SCRIPTURE / WORD OF GOD / HOLY BIBLE READER'S COMMUNITY     - 

Wishing you, 'Happy Reading', and may God, the Father, the Son of the living God, Jesus Christ, fills your heart, mind, thoughts, and grants you: The Holy Spirit, that is, Wisdom, Knowledge, Understanding, Counsel, Piety, Fortitude, Fear of the Lord, and also His fruits of the Holy Spirit, that is, Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Trustfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control. Amen! God blessing be upon you!

Why do you call Me, "Lord, Lord" and not do what I say?' "Everyone who comes to Me and listens to My words and acts on them - I will show you what he/she is like. He/She is like a man/woman who when he/she built his/her house dug, deep, and laid the foundations on rock; when the river was in flood it bore down on that house but could not shake it, it was so well built. But the one who listens and does nothing is like the man/woman who built his/her house on soil, with no foundations: as soon as the river bore down on it, it collapsed; and what a ruin that house became!" - Luke 6:46-49 - 

If we live by the truth and in love, we shall grow in all ways into Christ Jesus, who is the head by whom the whole body is fitted and joined together, every joint adding its own strength, for each separate part to work according to it function. So the body grows until it has built itself up, in love." - Ephesians 4:15-16 -

I still have many things to say to you but they would be too much for you now. But when the spirit of truth comes, he will lead you to the complete truth, since he will not be speaking as from himself, but will say only what he has learnt; and he will tell you of the things to come. He/She will glorify me, since all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine. Everything the Father has is mine; that is why I said: all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine." - John 16:12-15 -  

Prayer is the noblest utterance of man / woman, the very breath of the soul. It is necessary as life itself.

As our body cannot live without nourishment, so our soul cannot spiritually be kept alive without prayer. - Saint Augustine of Hippo - ( 354 - 430 ) -

THE air which we breathe, the bread which we eat, the heart which throbs in our bosoms, are not more necessary for man/woman that he/she may live as a human being, than is prayer for the Christian that he/she may live as a Christian. - Saint John Eudes - ( 1601 -1680 ) -

PRAYER is necessary for salvation; and therefore God, who desires that we should be saved, has enjoined it as a precept. - Saint Alphonsus Liguori - ( 1696 - 1787 ) -

IF we would be saved and become Saints, we ought always to stand at the gates of the Divine mercy to beg and pray for, as an alms, all that we need. - Saint Alphonsus Liguori - ( 1696 - 1787 ) - 

The Power Of Prayer - AN uplifting of the heart; a cry of gratitude and love. - Saint Therese of Lisieux - ( 1873 - 1897 ) -

IT is essential to begin the practice of prayer with a firm resolution of persevering in it. - Saint Teresa of Avila - ( 1515 - 1582 )

PRAYER reveals to souls the vanity of earthly goods and pleasures. It fills them with light, strength and consolation; and gives them a foretaste of the calm bliss of our heavenly home. - Saint Rose of Viterbo - ( d. 1252 )

IT is better to say one Pater Noster fervently and devoutly than a thousand with no devotion and full of distraction. - Saint Edmund - ( 841 - 70 ) -

GOD is more anxious to bestow His blessings on us than we are to receive them. - Saint Augustine of Hippo - ( 354 - 430 ) -

He/She who faithfully prays to God for the necessaries of this life is both mercifully heard, and mercifully not heard. For the physician knows better than the sick man/woman what is good for the disease. - Saint Augustine of Hippo - ( 354 - 430 ) -

WHENEVER we say the Our Father devoutly, our venial sins are forgiven. - Saint Augustine of Hippo - ( 354 - 430 ) -

We ought to be persuaded that what God refuses to our prayer, He grants to our salvation.  - Saint Augustine of Hippo - ( 354 - 430 ) -

THE EXAMINED LIFE  - The Confessions changes focus at this point and becomes more philosophical and theological. Here we begin to hear the self-examination of the Bishop of Hippo - Saint Augustine - and his interpretation of the nature of knowledge and of creation itself. -

- Page Eight - In the name of the Father Almighty, the Son, and the Holy Spirit! Lord, since eternity is yours, are you ignorant of what I say to you? Or do you see in time what comes to pass in time? Why, then, do I lay before you so many narrations of such things? Not, surely, that you might learn them through me, but that I might awaken my own love and my readers' devotions towards you, that we may all say, Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised. I have said already, and I will say again, I do this for the love of your love. For we pray also, and yet Truth has said, your Father knows what things you need before you ask him. Consequently, it is our love that we lay open to you, confessing to you our own miseries and your mercies upon us, that you may wholly free us, since you have begun, so that we may cease to be wretched in ourselves and be blessed in you - since you have called us to become poor on spirit, meek, mourners, and hungering and thirst for righteousness, merciful, pure in heart and peace-makers. Behold, I have told you as many things as I could and had the will to do, because it was first your will that I should confess to you, my Lord God, for you are good, and your mercy endures forever.

But how shall I be able with the voice of my pen to express all your exhortations, all your terrors, comforts and guidances by which you led me to preach your Word and minister your Sacrament to your people? If I could utter them in order, the drops of time are precious to me. I have long yearned to mediate on your Law and to confess my knowledge and ignorance of it to you, the daybreak of your enlightenment and the remnants of my  darkness, until weakness is swallowed up in strength. And I would not have anything else take away those hours which I find free from the necessity of refreshing my body and the powers of my mind, and of the service which we owe to men, and which, though we do not owe them, yet we pay.

O Lord my God, hear my prayer and let your mercy regard my desire, because it is not for myself alone, but it desires to serve brotherly charity. You see into my heart, that this is true. I would sacrifice to you the service of my thought and tongue. Give me what I may offer you, for I am poor and needy. You are rich to all who call upon you, and while you are free from all care, still you care for us. Circumcise from all rashes and all falsehood, both my inward and outward lips. Let your Scriptures be my chaste delight. Let me not be deceived in them, nor deceive others in them. Hear and pity, O Lord my God, Light of the blind, and Strength of the weak - yes, also Light of those who see, and Strength of the strong. Hearken to my soul and hear it crying out of the depths, for if your ears are not open to us in the depths also, where shall we go? To whom shall we call?

The days is yours and the night is yours. At your bidding the moments fly past. Grant, then, space for our meditations in the hidden things of your Law, and do not close it against us who knock. For you would not have the obscure secrets of so many pages written in vain. Nor are those forests without their deer, who retire in them, and range and walk, feed, lie down and ruminate. Perfect me, O Lord, and reveal them to me. Behold your voice is my joy. Your voice exceeds the abundance of pleasures. Give what I love, for I do love, and this love you have given. Forsake not your own gifts, and do not despise your grass that thirsts for you. Let me confess to you whatever I shall find in your books, and let me hear the voice of praise. Let me drink of you and mediate on the wonderful things out of your Law, from the beginning when you made the heaven and the earth, even to the everlasting reign of your holy city with you.

Lord, have mercy on me and hear my desire, for I belief it is not for the earth, nor for gold and silver, precious stones, nor gorgeous apparel, honours and offices, nor for the pleasures of the flesh, nor necessities of the body, nor for this life of our pilgrimage. All these things are added to those who seek your kingdom and your righteousness.

Behold, O Lord, from whence my desire comes. The wicked have told me of delights, but not as your law. See, Father, behold and see and approve, and may it be pleasing in the sight of your mercy, that I may find grace before you, that the secret meanings of your Word be opened to my knock. I beseech you by our Lord Jesus Christ your Son. He is the Man of your right hand, the Son of Man, whom you made strong for yourself as your Mediator between you and us, by whom you sought us when we were not seeking you, but sought us that we might seek you. He is your Word, through whom you made all things, and among them, me also. Jesus is your only begotten Son, through whom you called your believing people to adoption, and among them me also. I beseech you by him who sits at your right hand and makes intercession for us, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I seek these treasures in your Books. Moses wrote of him; this he says himself. This he says who is Truth.

Let me hear and understand how in the beginning you made the heaven and earth. Moses wrote this, wrote and departed, passed hence from you to you. He is no longer before me. For if he were, I would hold him and ask him, and beseech him by yourself to open these things to me, and lend my physical ears to the sounds coming from his mouth. If he should speak Hebrew, the sounds would fall on my ears in vain; none of it would touch my mind. But if he spoke in Latin, I would know what he said. But how would I know that he spoke the truth? Yes, and if I knew this as well, would I know it from him? No. Verily within me, within the chamber of my thought, Truth - neither Hebrew nor Greek, neither Latin nor barbarian - without the organs of voice or tongue, without the sound of syllables, would say, "He speaks the truth." Then, I would say confidently to that man of yours, "You speak truthfully." But, since I cannot inquire of him, I beseech you - you, O Truth, full of whom he spoke truth - you, my God, I beseech to forgive my sins, and as you gave him to speak these things, grant me also to understand them.

Behold, the heavens and the earth are. They proclaim that they were made, for they change and vary. On the other hand, whatever is, but has not been created, has nothing in it now which was not there before. This is what it is to change and vary, that something is there that was not there before. They also proclaim that they did not make themselves. "We are because we have been made; we did not exist before we existed, and therefore could not have made ourselves." Now the evidence of the thing is the voice of the speakers. Therefore, Lord, you made them. You are beautiful, for they are beautiful. You are good, for they are good. You are, because they exist. Yet they are not beautiful and good in the same way that you their Creator are, nor do they have being as you do. Compared with you, they are not beautiful nor good nor do they have being. This we know, thanks to you, and yet our knowledge, compared with yours, is ignorance.

But how did you make the heaven and the earth, and what was your instrument of so mighty a work? For it was not as a human worker, forming one body from another according to the fancy of his mind, who can in some way give it such a form as he sees in his mind by an inward eye. And from where would he be able to do this, if you had not made that mind? And he gives a form to something that already exists and has being - such as clay, stone, wood, gold or the like. And where should these things come from, if you had not supplied them? You made the workman's body for him; his mind able to command his limbs; the material of which he makes anything; the capacity to understand his art and to see inwardly what he does outwardly; the senses of his body, by which as by an interpreter, he may convey what he does from mind to the material, and report it back, so that his mind may consult the truth which presides within it, whether it is done well or not.

All these things praise you, the Creator of all. But how did you make them? How, O God, did you make heaven and earth? Truly, neither in the heaven nor in the earth did you make heaven and earth, nor in the air, nor waters, since these also belong to the heaven and the earth; nor did you make the whole world in the whole world, because there was no place where it could be made before it was made. Nor did you have anything in your hand out of which to make heaven and earth. For where could you obtain what you had not made, of which to make anything? Does anything exist, except by the fact that you are? Therefore you spoke and they were made, and in your Word you made them.

But how did you speak? Was it in the manner of the voice that came out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son? For that voice was uttered and passed away, began and ended. The syllables sounded and vanished, the second after the first, the third after the second, and so on, in order, until the last followed all the rest, and then silence. From this it is clear and plain that the action of a creature spoke it, the creature itself temporal, obeying your eternal will. And these your words, formed at the time, the outward ear reported to the intelligent mind whose inward ear lay attentive to your eternal Word....... - Page Eight - 

BY  SAINT AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO  

-   WELCOME TO SACRED SCRIPTURE / WORD OF GOD / HOLY BIBLE READER'S COMMUNITY   - 

Wishing you, 'Happy Reading', and may God, the Father, the Son of the living God, Jesus Christ, fills your heart, mind, thoughts, and grants you: The Holy Spirit, that is, Wisdom, Knowledge, Understanding, Counsel, Piety, Fortitude, Fear of the Lord, and also His fruits of the Holy Spirit, that is, Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Trustfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control. Amen! God blessing be upon you!

Why do you call Me, "Lord, Lord" and not do what I say?' "Everyone who comes to Me and listens to My words and acts on them - I will show you what he/she is like. He/She is like a man/woman who when he/she built his/her house dug, deep, and laid the foundations on rock; when the river was in flood it bore down on that house but could not shake it, it was so well built. But the one who listens and does nothing is like the man/woman who built his/her house on soil, with no foundations: as soon as the river bore down on it, it collapsed; and what a ruin that house became!" - Luke 6:46-49 - 

If we live by the truth and in love, we shall grow in all ways into Christ Jesus, who is the head by whom the whole body is fitted and joined together, every joint adding its own strength, for each separate part to work according to it function. So the body grows until it has built itself up, in love." - Ephesians 4:15-16 - 

I still have many things to say to you but they would be too much for you now. But when the spirit of truth comes, he will lead you to the complete truth, since he will not be speaking as from himself, but will say only what he has learnt; and he will tell you of the things to come. He/She will glorify me, since all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine. Everything the Father has is mine; that is why I said: all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine." - John 16:12-15 -

HOPE not in thyself, but in thy God. For if thou hope in thyself, thy soul is troubled within thee, since it hath not yet found that whereby it may be confident concerning thee. - Saint Augustine of Hippo - ( 354 - 430 ) 

THE virtue of Patience is so great a gift of God, that we even preach the patience of Him who bestows it upon us. - Saint Augustine of Hippo - ( 354 - 430 )

MARY was raised to the dignity of Mother of God rather for sinners than for the just, since Jesus Christ declares that He came to call not the just, but sinners. - Saint Anselm of Canterbury - ( 1033 - 1109 )

O HOLY Mary! my Mother; into thy blessed trust and special custody, and into the bosom of thy mercy, I this day, and everyday, and in the hour of my death, commend my soul and my body. To thee I commit all my anxieties and sorrows, my life and the end of my life, that by thy most holy intercession, and by thy merits, all my actions may be directed and governed by thy will and that of thy Son. Amen. - Saint Aloysius Gonzaga - ( 1586 - 1591 ) 

And finally, we receive Christ Jesus, Himself from her loving hands.

God could have given us the redeemer of the human race, and the Founder of the Faiths in another way than through the Virgin, but since Divine providence has been pleased that we should have the Man - God through Mary, who conceived Him by the Holy Spirit and bore Him in her womb, it only remains for us to receive Christ Jesus from the hands of Mary. - Saint Pius X - ( 1835 - 1914 )

Down through the ages, the Saints have vied with each other in singing the praises of Mary, the Mother of God and the Mother of men. To the modern world, she is, perhaps, best represented as an intercessor between God and man. During her recent apparitions at Fatima, Portugal, in 1917, we see her in the role of peacemaker and return to her Divine Son and thus spare the world from the horrors of nuclear war. "If men do what I ask, there will be peace in the world and Russia will be converted." The lines below give eloquent testimony to her maternal concern for every member of the human family.

O MARY, I wish always to be thy child. I give thee my heart; keep it shine forever. O Jesus, O Mary, be always my friends. I pray, both to let me die rather than commit a sin. Amen. - Saint Dominic Savio - ( 1842 - 1857 ) 

"Behold thy Mother" - John 19:26 - By these words, Mary by reason of the love she bore them, became the Mother, not only of Saint John, but of all men. - Saint Bernardine of Siena - ( 1380 - 1444 )

The Saints warn us against the dangers of presumption. If we are carried away by self-confidence at the expense of God, we are lost. Finally, we should never cease to pray for the necessary grace which will enable us to triumph over every difficulty. 

LET us understand that God is a Physician, and that suffering is a medicine for salvation, not a punishment for damnation. - Saint Augustine of Hippo - ( 353 - 430 ) 

THE EXAMINED LIFE  - The Confessions changes focus at this point and becomes more philosophical and theological. Here we begin to hear the self-examination of the Bishop of Hippo - Saint Augustine - and his interpretation of the nature of knowledge and of creation itself. -

- Page Seven - But we, O Lord, lo, we are your little flock. Possess us as yours. Stretch your wings over us, and let us take refuge under them. Be our glory. Let us be loved for your sake and let your Word be reverence in us. Those who desire to be praised by the men you condemn will not be defended by men when you judge, nor delivered when you pass sentence. But when - not as when the sinner is praised in the desires of his/her soul, nor when the unrighteous is blessed in his/her ungodliness - but when a man/woman is praised for some gift which you have given him/her, and he/she is more gratified by the praise for himself/herself than he/she possesses the gift for which he/she is praised, such a one also is praised while you blame. Truly, the man/woman who praised him/her is better than the one being praised. For the one took pleasure in the gift of God in man, while the other was better pleased with the gift of man than of God.

We are assaulted by these temptations daily, O lord; without ceasing we are tried. Our daily furnace is the human tongue. And in this respect, too, you command continence [self-mastery] of us. Give what you command what you will. You know the groanings of my heart on this matter, and the rivers that flood my eyes. For I cannot ascertain how far I am clean of this plague, and I stand in great fear of my secret faults which your eyes perceive but mine do not. For in other kinds of temptation I have some way of examining myself; in this, hardly any. For in keeping my mind from the pleasures of the flesh and from idle curiosity, I see how much I have been able to do without them, either voluntarily foregoing them or not having them available. Then I ask myself how much more or less troublesome it is to me not to have them. Riches may be desired that they may serve some one of these lusts, or two, or all three of them. If the soul cannot tell whether it despises riches when it has them, it may cast them aside so that it may prove itself in this way. But to be without praise and to test our abilities in that regard, must we live wickedly, or lead a life so abandoned and atrocious that no one could know us without detesting us? What greatest madness could be said or thought? But if praise is usual, and if it ought to accompany a good life and good works, we ought to forego its company as little as we would the good life itself. Yet I cannot tell whether I shall be contented or troubled by being without something unless I am deprived of it.

What, then, do I confess to you, O Lord, in this kind of temptation? What, but that I am delighted with praise, but with truth itself more than with praise? For if it were proposed to me, whether I would rather, being mad or in error on all things, be praised by all men, or being consistent and well assured in the truth, be blamed by all, I see which I would choose. Yet I would rather that the approval of another should not even increase my joy for any good in me. I admit, though, that it does increase it, and more than that, that criticism diminishes it.

When I am troubled at this misery of mine, an excuse presents itself to me - of what value it is, only you know, O God, for it leaves me uncertain. Here it is: It is not self-control [continency] alone which you have commanded of us (that is, that we should hold back our love from certain things), but also righteousness as well (that is, upon what to bestow our love), and have wished us to love not only you but also our neighbour. Often when I am gratified by intelligent praise, I appear to myself to be pleased by the competence or insight I see in my neighbour. In the same way, I seem to be sorry for the defect in him when I hear him criticize either what he does not understand or what is good. For I am sometimes grieved at the praise I get, either when those things are praised in me which I dislike in myself, or when lesser or trifling goods are more valued than they ought to be. But again, how do I know whether I am affected like this because I do not want him who praises me to differ from me about myself - not being influenced by consideration for him, but because those same good things which pleases me in myself please me more when they please someone else as well? For, in a sense, I am not praised when my judgement of myself is not praised, whenever either those things which displease me are praised, or those which please me less are praised more. It seems then that I am uncertain about myself in this matter.

Behold, O Truth, in you I see that I ought not to be moved at my own praises for my own sake, but for the good of my neighbour. And whether this is so with me, I do not know. For concerning this I know less of myself than you do. I beseech you now, O my God, reveal me to myself, too, that I may confess to my brethren who are to pray for me where I find myself weak. Once again, let me examine myself more diligently. If, in the praise I receive I am moved with consideration for the good of my neighbour, why am I less moved if someone else is unjustly criticized than if it be myself? Why am I more irritated by reproach cast upon me than at that cast upon another in my presence with the same injustice? Do I not know this also? Or is it finally that I deceive myself, and do not the truth before you in my heart and speech? Put such madness far from me, O Lord, lest my own mouth be to me the sinner's oil to anoint my head.

I am poor and needy; yet I am better when in secret groanings I am displeased with myself and seek mercy until what is lacking in my defective condition is renewed and made complete in that peace which the eye of the proud does not know.

The word which comes out of the mouth, and the actions known to men brings with them a most dangerous temptation from the love of praise, which, to establish a certain glory of our own solicits and collects men's compliments. It tempts, even when I reprove myself for it within myself, on the very ground that it is reproved. Often a man glories even more vainly in his very scorn of praise. And so he is no longer avoiding vainglory when he glories in his scorn of vainglory.

Within us, also, is another evil, arising out of the same kind of temptation, by which men become vain, pleasing themselves in themselves, though they do not please nor displease nor aim at pleasing others. But by pleasing themselves they greatly displease you. They do not merely take pleasure in things that are not good as if they were good, but take pleasure in your good things as if they were their own; or if, acknowledging the good things to be yours, they think they deserve them, or even if they regard them as from your grace, they do not use them with brotherly rejoicing, but begrudge that same grace to others. In all these and similar perils and labours, you see the trembling of my heart. It is not so much that I never inflict these wounds on myself, as that they are ever anew healed by you.

Where have you not walked with me, O Truth, teaching me what to avoid and what to desire when I submitted to you what I could see here below and asked your counsel? With my external senses I surveyed the world as I was able, and observed the life which my body derives from me and from these senses themselves. From this I advanced inwardly into the recesses of memory - those various and spacious chambers, wonderfully filled with unnumbered wealth. I considered and was afraid, and could discern none of these things without you, and found none of them to be you. It was not I, myself, who discovered these things, I, who went over them all and laboured to distinguish and evaluate everything according to its worth, taking some things from the report of my senses, asking questions about others which I felt to be mixed up with myself, numbering and distinguishing the reporters themselves. Then, in the vast storehouse of my memory I examined some things carefully, relegating others to the background, taking out others into the light. Yet it was not myself who did these things - that is, the power by which  I did them was not my own. Nor was it you, for you are the unfailing light which I consulted concerning all these things, as to whether they were, what they were, and what their real value was. And I heard you teaching and commanding me. And these I often do. It delights me, as far as I can be freed from necessary duties, to have recourse to this pleasure.

But in all these which I go over in consultation with you, I can find no safe place for my soul but in you, in whom all my scattered members may be gathered, so that nothing about me may depart from you. And sometimes you introduce me to a most rare affection in my inmost soul, an inexplicable sweetness that seems to have nothing in it that would not belong to the life to come if it were perfected in me. But by these wretched weights of mine, I relapse again into these lower things, am swept back by my old customs, and am held. I weep greatly, yet I am greatly held. To such an extent does the burden of bad habits weigh us down. I can stay in this condition, but I would not; I would stay there, but I cannot; in both ways, I am miserable.

And thus I have reflected on the weariness of my sins in that threefold lust, and have called your right hand to my help. For with a wounded heart I have seen your brightness, being beaten back, I said, "Who can attain to it? I am cut off from before your eyes!" You are the Truth who presides over all things, but I, through my covetousness, would not indeed forego you, but wished to possess a lie along with you, as no one wishes to speak so falsely as to be ignorant of the truth itself. So then, I lost you, because you do not deign to be enjoyed along with a lie.

Whom could I find to reconcile me to you? Was I to solicit angels? By what prayers? By what sacraments? Many seeking to return to you, and not able of themselves, have, as I hear, tried this, have fallen into a desire for curious visions, and have been deemed worthy to be deluded. For they, being exalted, sought you by the pride of learning, thrusting themselves forward instead of beating their breasts. And so, by a correspondence of heart, they drew to themselves the princes of the air, as conspirators and allies of their pride, by whom, through the power of magic they were deceived - seeking a mediator by whom they might be cleansed and there was none. For it was the devil himself, transforming himself into an angel of light. And he allured proud flesh all the more in that he was without a fleshly body. For they were mortal and sinful; but you, Lord, to whom they proudly sought to be reconciled, are immortal and sinless. But a mediator between God and a man must have something in him like God, something in him like men, lest being only like a man, he should be far from God, and being only like God, should be too unlike man and so not a mediator. In your secret judgement, then, pride deserved to be deluded by that deceitful mediator who has one thing in common with man: that is sin. Another he would appear to have in common with God: not being clothed with the mortality of flesh, and so would boast himself to be immortal. But since the wages of sin is death, this he has in common with mankind, that with them he is condemned to death.

But the true Mediator, whom you have pointed out to the humble in your secret mercy, and sent, that by his example they too might learn that same humility - that Mediator between God and man, the Man Christ Jesus, appeared between mortal sinners and the immortal just One - mortal, as men are mortal; just, as God is just; so that because the wages of righteousness is life and peace, he might cancel the death of justified sinners by a righteousness united with God. He was willing to undergo death in common with them. Hence he was shown forth to holy men of old, so that they, through faith in his Passion to come, even as we through faith in it as already past, might be saved. For as Man, he was Mediator; but as the Word. he was not in the middle between God and man, because he was not equal to God, and God with God, and together with the Holy Spirit, one God.

How you loved us, good Father, who spared not your only Son, but delivered him up for us wicked ones! How you have loved us, for whom he did not count it robbery to be equal with you, but became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross! He alone was free among the dead, having power to lay down his life and power to take it up again. For us he was both Victor and Victim, Victor because he was the Victim. He was Priest and Sacrifice for us, and Priest because he was Sacrifice, making us sons to you instead of slaves, by being born himself your Son [in his incarnation] and becoming our slave. Rightly, then, is my hope strongly fixed in him that you will heal all my infirmities by him who sits at your right hand and makes intercession for us. Otherwise I should despair. For many and great are my infirmities, many they are and great! But your medicine is greater. We might think that your Word was far from any union with mankind and despair of ourselves if he had not been made flesh and dwelt among us.

Terrified by my sins and the load of my misery, I had resolved in my heart and had purposed to flee into the wilderness. But you forbade me and strengthened me, saying, Since Christ died for all, they who live should no longer live unto themselves but unto him who died for them. See, Lord, I cast all my care upon you, that I may live and behold wondrous things out of your law. You know my unskillfulness and my infirmities: teach me and heal me. He, your only Son, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, has redeemed me with his blood. Let not the proud speak evil of me, because I consider my ransom, and eat and drink and minister it to others. And being poor, I desire to be satisfied with that Food together with those who eat and are satisfied. And they that seek him shall praise the Lord. - Page  Seven -  

BY  SAINT AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO  

-   WELCOME TO SACRED SCRIPTURE / WORD OF GOD / HOLY BIBLE READER'S COMMUNITY   - 

Wishing you, 'Happy Reading', and may God, the Father, the Son of the living God, Jesus Christ, fills your heart, mind, thoughts, and grants you: The Holy Spirit, that is, Wisdom, Knowledge, Understanding, Counsel, Piety, Fortitude, Fear of the Lord, and also His fruits of the Holy Spirit, that is, Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Trustfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control. Amen! God blessing be upon you!

Why do you call Me, "Lord, Lord" and not do what I say?' "Everyone who comes to Me and listens to My words and acts on them - I will show you what he/she is like. He/She is like a man/woman who when he/she built his/her house dug, deep, and laid the foundations on rock; when the river was in flood it bore down on that house but could not shake it, it was so well built. But the one who listens and does nothing is like the man/woman who built his/her house on soil, with no foundations: as soon as the river bore down on it, it collapsed; and what a ruin that house became!" - Luke 6:46-49 - 

If we live by the truth and in love, we shall grow in all ways into Christ Jesus, who is the head by whom the whole body is fitted and joined together, every joint adding its own strength, for each separate part to work according to it function. So the body grows until it has built itself up, in love." - Ephesians 4:15-16 - 

I still have many things to say to you but they would be too much for you now. But when the spirit of truth comes, he will lead you to the complete truth, since he will not be speaking as from himself, but will say only what he has learnt; and he will tell you of the things to come. He/She will glorify me, since all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine. Everything the Father has is mine; that is why I said: all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine." - John 16:12-15 -   

You either belong wholly to the world or wholly to God. - Saint John Vianney - ( 1786 - 1859 )

God has left us the choice of deciding which of the two masters in life we wish to serve. On one hand is Christ Jesus, beckoning us to come to Him that we may have life, and have it more abundantly. To see what is on the other hand, we must turn our backs to Him...

You cannot please both God and the world at the same time. They are utterly opposed to each other in their thoughts, their desires and their actions. -  Saint John Vianney - ( 1786 - 1859 )

How sweet has it been to me to be deprived of the delights of a frivolous world! What incomparable joy have I felt after a privation once so dreaded. - Saint Augustine of Hippo - ( 354 - 430 )

We should always be prepared to give up readily, with the sure belief that the change comes by the Will of God. - Saint Vincent de Paul - ( 1580 - 1660 )

GRANT, O Lord, that my heart may neither desire nor seek anything but what is necessary for the fulfilment of Thy Holy Will. May health or sickness, riches or poverty, honours or contempt, humiliations, leave my soul in that state of perfect detachment to which I desire to attain for Thy greater honour and Thy greater glory. Amen. - Saint Ignatius Loyola - ( 1491 - 1556 )

IT is not a sin to possess riches; but it is sinful to set our heart upon them, to seek them with eagerness, to place our happiness in them, or to employ unlawful means to acquire them. - Saint John Baptist de la Salle - ( 1651 - 1719 )

WHAT a person desires, if he or she worships it, is to him or her a god. A vice in the heart is an idol on the altar. - Saint Jerome  - ( 342 - 420 ) 

THIS is the business of our life. By labour and prayer, to advance in the grace of God, till we come to that height of perfection in which, with cleans hearts, we may behold God. - Saint Augustine of Hippo - ( 354 - 430 ) 

THE EXAMINED LIFE  - The Confessions changes focus at this point and becomes more philosophical and theological. Here we begin to hear the self-examination of the Bishop of Hippo - Saint Augustine - and his interpretation of the nature of knowledge and of creation itself. -

- Page Six - No rest is given me from them, as there sometimes is in silence from music and from all voices. For the queen of colours, the light, flooding all we look upon, wherever I am during the day, gliding past me in various forms, soothes me when I am busied about other things and not noticing it. And it entwines itself so strongly, that, if it is suddenly withdrawn, I look longingly for it, and if it is long absent, my mind is saddened.

O Light that Tobit saw when with his eyes closed to blindness, he taught his son the way of life, and led the way himself with the feet of charity, never going astray. Or that Light which Isaac saw, when his bodily eyes were so dim by reason of old age that he could not see, it was granted him to bless his sons without knowing which was which, but in blessing them to know them. Or which Jacob saw, blind through great age but with an illumined heart, when he shed light upon the different races of people yet to come - foreshown in the persons of his sons - and he laid his hands, mystically crossed, on his grandchildren, the sons of Joseph, not as their father by his outward eye corrected them, but as he himself inwardly discerned them. This is the true Light, the only one, and all who see and love it are one. But the corporeal light of which I spoke, seasons the life of this world for those who blindly love it with an enticing and fatal sweetness. They who know how to praise you for this earthly light, "O God, Creator of All," and sing of it in your hymns, but are not taken up with it in their sleep. Such I desire to be. I resist these seductions of the eyes, lest my feet by which I walk on your path be entangled. And I lift up my inward eyes to you, that you would be pleased to pluck my feet out of the snare. You do repeatedly pluck them out, for they are entangled. You do not cease to pluck them out, but I constantly remain fast in the snares set round me on all sides, For you shall neither slumber nor sleep, who keep Israel.

What innumerable things, made by various arts and products, in our clothing, shoes, vessels and every kind of work, in pictures, too, and various images - and these far in excess of all necessary and moderate use, and all devotional significance, men have added for the enthrallment of their own eyes! Outwardly they follow what they make themselves, and inwardly forsake him by whom they themselves were made - yes, and destroying that which he made in them!

I also sing a hymn to you, my God and my joy, for these things, and offer a sacrifice of praise to my Sanctifier for all those beautiful designs which pass through men's minds and are conveyed to artistic hands, coming from that Beauty which is above our souls, which my soul sighs after day and night. But as for the makers and followers of those outward beauties, they derive from that Beauty their power of judging them, but not of using them. And this power, too, is there, though they do not see it, so they might not wander, but keep their strength for you and not dissipate it on delicious lassitudes. And though I speak this way and see this, I, too, get my steps entangled with these outward beauties, but you rescue me. O Lord, you rescue me, because your loving-kindness is ever before my eyes. For I am caught miserably, but you rescue me mercifully. Sometimes I am not even aware of this, not having become wholly entangled. At other times, the rescue is painful, because I was held fast in them.

So this is added another form of temptation, more complex in its peril. For besides the lust of the flesh, which lies in the gratification of all our senses and pleasures, whose slaves wander far from you, are wasted and perish, the soul has, through those same bodily senses a certain vain and curious desire, cloaked under the name of knowledge and learning - not delighting in the flesh, but in making experiments through the flesh. This longing, since it originates in an appetite for knowledge, and since sight is the sense mainly used to acquire knowledge, is called in divine language the lust of the eyes. For seeing properly belongs to the eye, yet we use this word in connection with the other senses, too, when we exercise them in the search for knowledge. For we do not say, "Listen how it glows!" or "Smell how it glistens," or "Taste how it shines," or "Feel how it gleams," for all these said to be seen. Yet we not only say, "See how it shines," which the eyes alone can perceive; but we also say, "See how it sounds, see how it smells, see how it tastes, and see how hard it is." And so the general experience of the senses, as we said, is called the lust of the eyes, because the office of seeing, though properly belonging to the eyes, is applied to the other senses by analogy when they seek after any knowledge.

By this it may be more clearly discerned when the object of the senses is pleasure and when it is curiosity. For pleasures seeks objects that are beautiful, melodies, fragrant, tasty, soft; but curiosity, for the sake of novelty, seeks the very opposite as well, not in order to experience their trouble, but from the passion of experimenting and knowing.

What pleasure is there to see in a mangled corpse that which makes you shudder? And yet, if it is lying near, we flock to it, to be made sad and to turn pale. They fear they will see it in their sleep, as if anyone had forced them to look at it when they were awake, or any report of its beauty had attracted them to it! Thus it is also with the other senses, which would take too long to go through. From this malady of curiosity come all those strange sights exhibited in the theatre. From it men go on to search out the secret powers of nature (which do not pertain to us) which to know brings no profit, and which men desire to know simply for the sake of knowing. From this malady, too, with the same goal of gaining perverted knowledge, we consult the magical arts. Even in religion itself God is tempted when signs and wonders are demanded of him - not desired for any saving purpose, but merely to make trial of him.

In such a vast wilderness as this, full of snares and dangers, I have cut many of them off and thrust them out of my heart, as you have given me power to do, O God of my salvation. Yet when do I dare say - since so many things of this kind buzz on all sides about our daily life - when do I dare say that nothing of this sort engages my attention or causes an idle interest in me? True, the theatres no longer carry me away now-a days, nor do I care to know the courses of the stars, nor did my soul ever consult departed spirits. I detest all un hallowed rites. But yet, O Lord my God, to whom I owe humble and single-hearted service, by what subtlety of suggestion does the enemy tempt me to require some sign from you! But I beseech you by our King, and by our pure and holy country Jerusalem, that as any consent on my part to such thoughts is far from me, so may it ever be farther and farther. But when I pray to you for the salvation of anyone, my goal and intention is far different. For you do what you will, and you give me the grace and will give me the grace to follow you willingly. 

Nevertheless, in how many petty and contemptible things is our curiosity tempted daily, and who can recount how often we give in to it? How often, when people are telling idle stales, do we begin, as if we were tolerating them to keep from offending the weak, and then gradually begin to take an interest in them! I do not go nowadays to the circus to see a dog chasing a hare, but if by chance I pass such a chase in the field, it may distract me even from some serious thought, and draw me after it - not that I turn aside the body of my horse, but by the inclination of my mind. And unless you, reminding me of my weakness, speedily warn me to lift my thoughts to you above the sight, or to despise it wholly and pass on by, I vain creature that I am, will stand gazing at it.

When sitting at home, my attention is often distracted by a lizard catching flies, or by a spider entangling flies as they rush into her web. Is the feeling of curiosity different because they are but small creatures? I go on from such distractions to praise you, the wonderful Creator and Disposer of all things; but that is not what first attracts my attention. It is one thing to get up quickly; it is another not to fall. And of such things my life is full, and my only hope is your wonderful, great mercy. For when this heart of ours becomes the receptacle of such things, and bears multitudes of these abounding vanities, then our prayers are often interrupted and disturbed by them, and while in your presence we direct the voice of our heart to your ears, such a great concern as this is interrupted by the influx of I know not what idle thoughts. 

Shall, we, then, reckon curiosity among the things to be condemned? Or shall anything restore us to hope but your complete mercy, since you have begun to changed me, first healing me of the lust vindicating myself, so that you might forgive all the rest of my iniquities and heal all my infirmities, and redeem my life from corruption, and crown me with tender mercies and loving-kindness, and satisfy my desire with good things; you curbed my pride with fear and tamed my neck to your yoke. And now I bear it and it is light to me, because you have so promised and have so made it. And in very truth it was, but I knew it not when I feared to take it up.

But, O Lord, you alone reign without pride, because you are the only true Lord and have no lord. Tell me, has this third kind of temptation left me, or can it ever leave me throughout this lifetime - the desire to be feared and loved by men for no other purpose but that I may enjoy that which is no joy? It is a miserable life and an unseemly ostentation! From this especially it comes that we do not love you nor have a holy fear of you. And therefore you resist the proud and give grace to the humble. Yes, you thunder down on the ambitious designs of the world, and the foundations of the hills tremble.

Because certain offices of human society make it necessary for the holder to be loved and feared of men, the adversary of our true blessedness presses hard on us, spreading everywhere his snares of "Well done, well done." Greedily reaching for them, we may be caught unawares and separate our joy from your truth and fix it in the deceits of men, and take pleasure in being loved and feared - not for your sake, but in your stead. having been made like our adversary, then, he may have us for his own, not in the harmony of charity but in the fellowship of punishment. He aspired to exalt his throne in the north, so that we men, dark and cold, might serve him who would become a perverse and distorted imitation of you.

But we, O Lord, lo, we are your little flock. Possess us as yours. Stretch your wings over us, and let us take refuge under them. Be our glory. Let us be loved for your sake and let your Word be reverence in us. Those who desire to be praised by the men you condemn will not be defended by men when you judge, nor delivered when you pass sentence. But when - not as when the sinner is praised in the desires of his/her soul.............. - Page Six - 

-     WELCOME TO SACRED SCRIPTURE / WORD OF GOD / HOLY BIBLE READER'S COMMUNITY     - 

Wishing you, 'Happy Reading', and may God, the Father, the Son of the living God, Jesus Christ, fills your heart, mind, thoughts, and grants you: The Holy Spirit, that is, Wisdom, Knowledge, Understanding, Counsel, Piety, Fortitude, Fear of the Lord, and also His fruits of the Holy Spirit, that is, Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Trustfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control. Amen! God blessing be upon you!

Why do you call Me, "Lord, Lord" and not do what I say?' "Everyone who comes to Me and listens to My words and acts on them - I will show you what he/she is like. He/She is like a man/woman who when he/she built his/her house dug, deep, and laid the foundations on rock; when the river was in flood it bore down on that house but could not shake it, it was so well built. But the one who listens and does nothing is like the man/woman who built his/her house on soil, with no foundations: as soon as the river bore down on it, it collapsed; and what a ruin that house became!" - Luke 6:46-49 - 

If we live by the truth and in love, we shall grow in all ways into Christ Jesus, who is the head by whom the whole body is fitted and joined together, every joint adding its own strength, for each separate part to work according to it function. So the body grows until it has built itself up, in love." - Ephesians 4:15-16 - 

I still have many things to say to you but they would be too much for you now. But when the spirit of truth comes, he will lead you to the complete truth, since he will not be speaking as from himself, but will say only what he has learnt; and he will tell you of the things to come. He/She will glorify me, since all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine. Everything the Father has is mine; that is why I said: all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine." - John 16:12-15 -