JOIN ME for Day 6? We’re spending 9 days in the Upper Room of our hearts with both 💘 Saints & Sinners as we prepare to celebrate the true meaning behind Saint Valentine’s Day:
📖 READ SCRIPTURE:
“Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act. He will bring forth your vindication as the light, and your right as the noonday. The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom, and his tongue speaks justice. The law of his God is in his heart; his steps do not slip.” – Psalms 37:5,6,30,31
💝 REFLECT:
The law of his God is in his heart; his steps do not slip. And yet, how many times did we see King David slip, into lust, adultery, and then murder? What are we to make of the Word which assures our steps and yet seems so contradictory in the life of DAVID, God’s Beloved. Let’s take a look at something Jesus says in Mark chapter 7 to see if we can find the answer.
“And he called the people to him again, and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside a man which by going into him can defile him; but the things which come out of a man are what defile him.
“For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, fornication, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a man.”
How can the law of God be in our hearts when it is filled with such defilement? The answer is it can’t.
We cannot have assurance that we will not slip when we are not coveting our hearts in righteousness. Stumbling is a clear sign our hearts need recalibration.
Prayer is one form of recalibration we can use. Eucharistic prayer is even higher. The Mass is considered to be the highest form of prayer offered by men on earth. Each time we pray the Mass, we are turning our hearts back to the Father, just as David did. Our eyes are fixed on the altar of His love and His grace washes us clean of any defilement in our heart.
“But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain thee; how much less this house which I have built!
Yet have regard to the prayer of thy servant and to his supplication, O LORD my God, hearkening to the cry and to the prayer which thy servant prays before thee this day; that thy eyes may be open night and day toward this house, the place of which thou hast said, ‘My name shall be there,’ that thou mayest hearken to the prayer which thy servant offers toward this place.”
– 1 Kings 8:27-29
Spend some time this week gazing at the altar while pondering these reflections from the saints. Pay attention to what God is showing you.
🍎 SAINT WISDOM:
“For me prayer is a surge of the heart, it is a simple look towards Heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy.” -St. Therese of Lisieux
“Holy Communion assures me that I will win the victory; and so it is. I fear the day when I do not receive Holy Communion. The bread of the Strong gives me all the strength I need to carry on my mission and to do whatever the Lord asks of me.” – Saint Faustina
“I have no taste for corruptible food nor for the pleasures of this life. I desire the bread of God, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ, who was of the seed of David; and for drink I desire his blood, which is love incorruptible”
-St. Ignatius of Antioch
“You must ask God to give you power to fight against the sin of pride which is your greatest enemy – the root of all that is evil, and the failure of all that is good. For God resists the proud.”
-St. Vincent de Paul
“When you approach the tabernacle remember that he has been waiting for you for twenty centuries.”
– St. Josemaria Escriva
“Pray with great confidence, with confidence based upon the goodness and infinite generosity of God and upon the promises of Jesus Christ. God is a spring of living water which flows unceasingly into the hearts of those who pray.”
-St. Louis de Montfort
“Apart from the cross, there is no other ladder by which we may get to heaven.”
-St. Rose of Lima
“He loves, He hopes, He waits. If He came down on our altars on certain days only, some sinner, on being moved to repentance, might have to look for Him, and not finding Him, might have to wait. Our Lord prefers to wait Himself for the sinner for years rather than keep him waiting one instant.”
-St. Julian Peter Eymard
Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at thy altars, O LORD of hosts, my King and my God.
Blessed are those who dwell in thy house, ever singing thy praise! [Selah] – Psalms 84:3-4
🕊 LET US PRAY:
Father, your mercy is everlasting and your love for us unwavering. Though we stumble you send your angels that we might not fall into the pit. May your Name be praised forever in your house! Oh Jesus, Lover of my soul, lead me like the swallow to rest upon your altar, which is the marriage bed of your love and fidelity. Holy Spirit, Come! Remove from my eyes any blindness that keeps my heart from seeing behind the veil my Lord has torn for me.
Blessed Mother of Our Lord, Blessed Joseph “Shadow of the Father”, Holy angels and saints of Heaven, especially Saint Valentine, pray for me, that my heart may become more like God’s Beloved ones, so that I too may be a light to others from that city on a hill. In the Holy name of Jesus, King of My Heart, Amen.
