Romano Guardini: “Preparation for prayer is necessary and it is generally true to say that the prayer will be as good as the preparation for it”
Author: Fr. Mike Keucher, VF
Daily homily thoughts, 1/19
Today’s first reading reminds us – Don’t be sluggish
IF by Rudyard Kipling
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!
Daily homily thoughts, 1/18
From Matins today – by Saint Ignatius of Antioch
Have faith in Christ, and love Try to gather together more frequently to give thanks to God and to praise him. For when you come together frequently, Satan’s powers are undermined, and the destruction that he threatens is done away with in the unanimity of your faith. Nothing is better than peace, in which all warfare between heaven and earth is brought to an end.
Daily homily thoughts, 1/17
Love vs Lust
by June Hunt
Lust is temporary
Love is enduring
Lust is sudden
Love is gradual
Lust is selfish
Love is unselish
Lust is untrustworthy
Love is trustworthy
Lust is impatient – can’t wait to get
Love is patiebt – can’t wait to give
Lust is unctonrolled desire
Love is controled desire
Lust is emotioanlyl shallow
Love is emotioanlyl deep
Lust is fantasy
Love is reality
Lust is full of emotion
Love is full of devotion
Lust is driven by one’s passion
Love is driven by the will
Lust focuses on external looks
Love focuses on internal character
Lust is established on faulty reasoning
Love is established on solid reasoning
Lust is set on getting “happiness”
Love is set on giving happiness
Lust is eager to get
Love is eager to give
Lust is cheap
Love is sacramental
Daily homily thoughts, 1/16
From Matins today:
“God’s blessing must be our objective and the way to win it is our study. Search the records of ancient times.” St Clement I, pope
Daily homily thoughts, 1/15
“The prayer of the righteous man is powerful indeed” Jas 5:16