DEVOTIONAL THOUGHTS FOR JANUARY 2007

+Thoughts for the Month of The Humanity of Our Lord+

Bishop Anthony writes: The turning of the year is symbolically a time of new hope and new resolution and should be,for Christians,a time to renew our trust in God as we vow to be more faithful to Him.
   As this month we reflect on the sacred Humanity of our newly born Lord,let us remember His words:
   “I have come that they may have life,and have it more abundantly.” (St.John,Chapter 10;verse 10)
   But many people are not seeing in the new year with hope and confidence.Many are mourning the loss,
   through death,of someone very close to them;many are mourning the absence of someone they love who has not died – be that absence permanent or temporary.Many seriously ill people will be fearful indeed of the months to come;and many prisoners will be in despair;many elderly are lonely and housebound.
   For Christians there is the never-failing hope that Christ was born at this time to lead us closer to God and,indeed,to give us an abundance of life. These words of the late Cardinal Basil Hume which I have recently re-discovered,will I hope bring comfort to all at this time who are in sorrow.
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GRIEF

Grief cannot be shared for it is mine alone.
Grief is a dying within me,a great emptiness,a frightening void.It is loneliness,a sickening sorrow at night,on awakening a terrible dread.Another’s words do not help.A reasoned argument explains little for having tried too much.Silence is the best response to another’s grief.Not that silence that is a pause in speech,awkward and unwanted,but one that unites heart to heart.
Love,speaking in silence,is the way into the void of another’s grief.
The best of all loves comes silently,and slowly too,
to soften the pain of grief,and begin to dispel the sadness.
It is the love of God,warm and true,which will touch the grieving heart and heal it.
He looks at the grieving person and has pity,for grief is a great pain.
He came among us to learn about grief and much else too – this Man of Sorrows.
He knows.He understands.
Grief will yield to peace – in time.

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Let us pray: O Eternal Lord God,Who hast brought Thy servants to the beginning of another year:pardon,we humbly beseech Thee,our transgressions in the past,and graciously abide with us all the days of our life. Through JESUS CHRIST,our Lord. +Amen+
Lord JESU!May Thy Holy Name be ever in my thoughts,on my lips,and in my heart.Let Thy sweet Name give me strength throughout life and and at the hour of my death sustain me. +For Thy mercy’s sake+
+++Amen+++

And a passing thought

Thinking about God is not really hard,for we normally think about those we love. (St.Teresa of Lisieux)

IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY,PRAY FOR OUR PEACE AND SALVATION!
JESU! HOLY INFANT OF PRAGUE,HAVE MERCY UPON US!