https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/kng/hebrews-11.html
⚠️MAJOR MARNING = DISPENSATIONALISM ⚠️
(i.e. five solas, no unified historical church, premillennialism, Christian zionism, literal interpretation of Scripture, rapture, no purgatory, only 2 sacraments, no pope, penal substitutionary atonement)
(snip)
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INSERTING THIS ARTICLE AS FURTHER CONTEXT AND SUPPORT OF THIS HUGE TANGENT I APOLOGIZE
➕ https://www.catholic365.com/article/58210/become-like-god.html
[Father Augustine Mang] Father said that in the beginning, in the garden of Eden, God gave a command to Adam and Eve not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge... He said the Tree of knowledge was DIVINE knowledge, so that when the serpent said, “you will be LIKE GOD ”, there WAS a SLIVER OF TRUTH in that statement, but AS ALWAYS when it comes to the devil, it was TWISTED.
Father went on to say that this Divine knowledge from this tree would have EVENTUALLY been GIVEN to Adam and Eve as a GIFT, but the TEST for them was OBEDIENCE to the COMMAND. He said the idea that God WOULD have eventually gifted the tree to them can be INFERRED in Scripture by the NATURE of WHO GOD IS, A GIVER OF GIFTS.
We all know that they failed the test. Father Mang explained, they GRASPED for what had NOT BEEN GIVEN, rather than WAITING for GOD to give it. They grasped at DIVINE KNOWLEDGE BEFORE IT WAS THEIRS TO HAVE and BECAUSE of this they KNEW they were NAKED. It brought SHAME. THEY HAD GAINED KNOWLEDGE THAT WAS NOT NATURAL TO WHAT GOD HAD GIVEN THEM AT THAT TIME.
They [now] had a MORAL AWARENESS where they would know right from wrong INDEPENDENTLY FROM GOD.
IN DOING THIS their human nature becomes FALLEN, and DEATH comes into the world, BECAUSE THEY GRASPED AT THIS DIVINE KNOWLEDGE THAT WAS NOT THEIRS TO TAKE.
OBEDIENCE TO GOD is that path to SHARING IN GOD’S LIFE, [but in contrast,] THEIR DISOBEDIENCE made them become "INDEPENDENT of God".
KNOWLEDGE APART FROM SUBMISSION TO GOD BRINGS FEAR AND CONSEQUENCES.
OBEDIENCE WOULD HAVE BROUGHT DIVINE KNOWLEDGE AND DIVINE NATURE.
Instead, their HUMAN NATURE FALLS EVEN AS THEY HOLD ON TO THIS KNOWLEDGE.
...It was out of LOVE that God expelled them. HE DID NOT WANT THEM TO LIVE FOREVER IN A FALLEN STATE. This would have brought not just PHYSICAL death, but a SPIRITUAL death– DEVOID OF DIVINE LIFE. He wanted to GIVE A PATHWAY BACK TO DIVINE KNOWLEDGE WITH DIVINE LIFE.
...And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became bright as light. Matthew 17:2
Though Jesus could have remained that way, He didn’t. He was letting Peter, James and John see the GIFT, the gift they WOULD RECEIVE if they WAITED for it TO be given, IF THEY SUFFERED IN THEIR HUMAN NATURE LIKE HE HAD. BY suffering in our HUMAN NATURE IN OBEDIENCE, God elevates us into his DIVINE NATURE. We CAN become like the Apostles at Pentecost, Divine knowledge AND Divine nature POURED INTO US.
OBEDIENCE brings harmony with God. [And in God's Perfectly Ordered and Beautifully Symmetrical Plan of Salvation, since] the DISOBEDIENCE CAME FROM EATING, SO THE RESTORATION WOULD COME ALSO FROM EATING. Which brings us to the LAST SUPPER where Jesus stated, “this is my body and this is my blood” but in relation to bread and wine. JESUS IS GOD, WHATEVER HE SAYS IS ACCOMPLISHED... This ABILITY for us to receive Jesus’ [ACTUAL AND REAL] Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity, in Sacrament, ENABLES US TO BE PURIFIED. THIS PURIFICATION ENABLES US TO SUFFER WELL.
We move forward [IN RECEPTIVE OBEDIENCE TO GOD'S WILL] on a path to WHO WE REALLY ARE, instead of GRASPING at WHAT WE THINK WE SHOULD BE.
We become MORE HUMAN, MORE FULLY ALIVE, and OUR NATURE IS ELEVATED. WE SHARE IN GOD’S DIVINE NATURE.
I know the devil did everything he could to get Adam and Eve to eat from the Tree of Knowledge so they could fall. I also know he is doing everything he can now to either get us to deny the real presence or to have us partake in a state of mortal sin. We partake in a state of grace because the church asks us to and OBEDIENCE IS KEY TO DIVINE LIFE. By making obedience "no big deal" we [WILL] be in the same STATE OF REBELLION as Adam and Eve.
...We have [wrongly] used our divine knowledge to make ourselves "god". The TECHNOLOGY we have "created" gets MORE advanced, and WE become LESS HUMAN. We DEHUMANIZE one another.
But to that I say NO. Saying NO to the WORLD means SUFFERING. SUFFERING DRAWS YOU CLOSER TO CHRIST Whose Promises are TRUE.
Let us SUFFER WELL as we TRUST IN THE LORD and AWAIT A NEW PENTECOST.
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🔙 https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/kng/hebrews-11.html
(snip)
The FUTURE BECOMES PRESENT by faith, and in that way also the INVISIBLE BECOMES VISIBLE.
(snip)
Faith SEES:
1. that [ALL] the visible things CAME FROM what is NOT visible;
⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️ 2. that the OFFERING is the ONLY GROUND in order to EXIST BEFORE GOD;
🌟🌟🌟3. that "a walk to the pleasure of God" IS POSSIBLE, by BELIEVING THAT HE IS (looking UPWARD),
❤❤❤ 4. and that A NEW WORLD IS AWAITING (looking FORWARD).
THIS is the faith that “the men of old”, the faith heroes from the Old Testament, the former generations of Israel, had. They DEMONSTRATED, AGAIN AND AGAIN, that they were SURE of what they hoped for, and were CONVINCED of what they did not see.
🌟🌟🌟🌟‼️‼️‼️‼️Therefore they "received the testimony from God." God gave His approval IN THEIR CONSCIENCE. God STILL does that in EVERYONE who LIVES IN DAILY CONFIDENCE IN HIM, WHATSOEVER THE CIRCUMSTANCE.
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TWOIP DAY ONE
God shares in the deeds of men only in so
far as He contributes to the exterior movement. The bad
intention underlying the act proceeds from our will; and in
this God has no part. You have abused your honor, your
riches God wills that you should-lose the one or the other;
but He takes no part in the sin of either the robber or the
calumniator.
God wills you to be humbled and deprived of temporal goods, that thereby you may become better and more virtuous. This, in His eternal goodness, is His only intention; and this He might effect by thousand other means if He so willed.
But He in no way contributes to the sin of men, though He may make use of them as instruments for the fulfilment of His designs. It is, then, really not the sin that humbles you, that plunges
you into poverty or misery; it is the blow dealt at your
honor, the loss of your wealth, that produces those effects,
for the sin itself hurts him only who commits it. We must
always discriminate between what God accomplishes through
the instrumentality of men and what their own evil will
may add thereto.
A physician has ordered leeches. The little creatures are intent only on satisfying their thirst. They would for this end deprive the sick man of the very last drop of the vital fluid; but the physician seeks only to withdraw the impure blood and, by so doing, restore his patient to health.
The leeches are merely his instruments. He has nothing
in common with their thirst for blood. God makes use
of man in precisely the same way that physician does
of leeches. As for the patient himself, he feels no anxiety.
He does not look upon the leeches as enemies; on the contrary, he endeavors to suppress the disgust aroused by the
sight of them. Yes, he even does all in his power to facilitate their action, for he knows very well that it will be continued no longer than the physician considers efficacious."
In like manner, should we endure those to whom God has
given command over us. We should neither judge their
intentions nor harbor aversion against them. We should
rest satisfied that, however hostile or inimical they may be
toward us, they are only instruments of salvation in the
hands of an All-good, All-wise, All-powerful God. He will
give them no more power over us than is for our good.
Our own interest should impel us to embrace rather than
to withdraw from their guidance for they exercise over us,
not their own, but the Lord's authority. Creatures can do
us no harm, unless power is given them from on high.
All enlightened souls have been firmly convinced of this
truth. The history of Job presents beautiful illustration
of it. Job is bereft of his children, and stripped of all his
wealth; from the pinnacle of human happiness he falls to
the depths of earthly misery, and what does he say The
Lord gave, the Lord hath taken away: as it hath pleased
the Lord, so is it done: blessed be the name of the Lord."
Behold," says St. Augustine, how this holy man un
derstood the great mystery of God's providence! He did not
say: 'The Lord hath given me children and riches, and
the devil hath taken them from me. But he said: The
Lord hath given, the Lord hath taken. As it has pleased
the Lord, and not as it has pleased the devil, also is it
done.'"
We must not attribute our losses, our misfortunes, our
sufferings, our humiliations, to the evil spirit or to man;
but to their true author, God. Let us not venture to say:
This one or that one is the cause of my misfortune, my
ruin." No, our trials are not the work of man. They are
God's own work. This will redound to our greater tran
quillity, for all that God, the best of fathers, does is full
of infinite wisdom all is subservient to His highest and
holiest purposes.
"All God's works," say the holy Fathers, "are perfect,
performed with weight and measure." They are so good
that they could not possibly be better. We should, as St.
Basil recommends, be thoroughly convinced that we are
the work of good Master, who, with infinite foresight, is
at all times occupied with us, His creatures. Under His
loving protection, nothing can befall us contrary to His
will. Nothing can hurt us without His permission.
Whatever happens to us is so good that nothing better can be
imagined. Great are the works of the Lord sought out
according to all His wills." The most striking character
istic of God's wisdom is the perfect conformity of the
means He employs to the end. And as His wisdom cannot
be separated from His love, He sends us nothing that is
too hard or too painful for us to bear...
He deals with us in mildness. He takes into consideration
the natural character, the talents of each individual. He
assigns to each the place in which he can best work out his
salvation. Yes, we may even venture to say that He treats
us with deference and respect, because He recognizes in ue
His living image. He commands us, not imperiously as
slaves, but with forbearance and all possible consideration
Is He, for our good, compelled to visit us with sickness,
trouble, or other painful afflictions, He acts like good
physician who must effect cure by using the knife. But
how gently He makes the incision With what tender
care He dresses our wounds His whole aim is to cause us
no more pain than is indispensably necessary for the suc
cess of the operation. How lovingly He sweetens the bitter
potion!
Ah God tries us only that we may attain perfection
and this for the holiest and noblest end that can be con
ceived, His own honor and glory.
What God sends us is always proportioned to our
strength and abilities. It is suited to our needs... All things would contribute to our perfection if we corresponded to the intentions of Divine Providence.
He metes out our trials and temptations. He has measured
their extent, He has set limits to their duration, He
watches that they should further our salvation and not
our ruin. Tribulations are, indeed, an essential feature in
the means that work unto salvation. For gold and silver
are tried in the fire, but acceptable men in the furnace of
humiliation." Temptations are necessary. In refusing
to accept them, we become our own enemies. We are in
the hands of God like block of marble in the hands of
the sculptor. To form beautiful statue, the workman
must use the chisel and the hammer; he must hew and
hack the marble; he must make the splinters fly. God
intends to fashion us to His own image; therefore, we must
passively submit to His skilful hand. Every stroke is
master-touch toward our sanctification. For this is the
will of God, your sanctification," says St. Paul.' Yes, our
sanctification is the only end God has in view in all that
He sends us. what would He not effect in us for His
glory and our perfection if we allowed Him
Direct your prayer to one thing only, that is, to conform your will perfectly to the Divine Will. Be assured that there is
no greater perfection attainable than this conformity, and
that they -who most earnestly strive for it will receive from
God the richest graces and most quickly advance in the
interior life. Believe me, this is the secret. Upon this
point alone rests our sanctification.
The submission of our will is, in truth, the most pleasing
sacrifice that we can make to God, and the one that honors
Him most. It is the most perfect act of love, the most
elevating and meritorious virtue.
Success does not elate me, nor does misfortune cast me
down; for, without losing time in examining, take the
one and the other equally from the hand of God. do not
desire things to turn out as might naturally wish, but
simply and only as God wills.
I know that God, if we confide in Him, can
feed us with scrap of bread as well as with whole barn
full of grain. Hence, come what may, am always peaceful and joyful."
Good-will, or conformity to the will of God, is also the
condition of that blessed interior peace which, according to
St. Paul, surpasseth all understanding. Would we enjoy
peace? Then nothing must resist our will; all must go ac
cording to our wishes. But such happiness here below is
reserved for those only whose will is entirely one with the
will of God. All that such one wills shall be exactly ac
complished.- for he wills only what God wills.
"I firmly believe," said the eloquent Salvianus, "that
no one on earth is happier than the righteous, for nothing
can happen to them that they do not desire." But shall
even the righteous endure humiliation and contempt?"
Yes, indeed; but they long for them. Are they poor?"
They are; but they love poverty, and consequently they
are happy. For who is happier, who more at rest, than he
that is what he wishes to be Solomon says: Whatsoever
shall befall the just man, it shall not make him sad."'
Nothing shall disturb the peace of his soul, because noth
ing happens to him contrary to his will.
Not that wish in any manner to imply that man in this
happy state shall experience no more sufferings. We shall
assuredly feel our sorrows even after we have perfectly
conformed to the will of God; but we feel them only in the
inferior part of the soul. They do not disturb the superior,
the nobler part, wherein dwells the peace of God.
The soul truly resigned to God is like our Divine Lord, who, though
scourged and fastened to the ignominious wood of the cross,
yet ceased not to be happy. Immersed as He was in an
ocean of suffering, His Sacred Heart still overflowed with
infinite joy.
Doubtless, to our nature the thought of suffering, hu
miliation, confusion, and poverty is directly opposed to our
ideas of happiness; and only by miracle of grace can we
rejoice in the midst of such evils. But such miracle will
certainly be wrought in the souls of all that give themselves
up unreservedly to the accomplishment of the Divine Will.
The honor of God demands that all who generously devote
themselves to His service should experience therein con
tentment and happiness.
Not adversity, not suffering, but our own impatience brings us
bad days. And why are we impatient, if it is not because
our will revolts against duty instead of subjecting itself as
reason requires; instead of praising and glorifying God
with all our strength? have, moreover, told you that
have never been unhappy; that in the course of my life
have never met with an accident; and you yourself may
judge whether or not have told you the truth. All es
teem themselves happy when their desires are fully satis
fied. Now, this happiness is always mine. You express
surprise; but what say is true, as you will soon compre
hend. You know that nothing happens to us that God
does not will, and that what He does will is always the
best for us. Hence it follows that should esteem my
self happy, let God send me what He will. And why
should not, since am thoroughly convinced that what
ever happens to me is the best for me ?"
ith the most tender of fathers," answered the beg
gar. never forget that this All-wise, Almighty Father
knows well what is best for His children, and that He al
ways gives it to them. Things may oppose or flatter na
ture, may appear honorable or dishonorable in the eyes of
men, sweet or bitter, conducive or prejudicial to health.
accept them in the conviction that, at 'the present mo
ment, they are the very best for me. feel satisfied that
nothing could render me happier. In this way, have
peace in all events; and for all, without exception, thank
the dear God!"
"surely he is blessed whose will is never opposed, whose desires
are fully satisfied. True, no man can fully attain such
happiness in this life. That is reserved for the saints in
heaven, whose union with God's will has reached the high
est consummation. But we are called even here below to
share in it by conforming our will to that of God. No
obstacle crosses the path of him who wills only what God
wills; all his wishes accord with the good pleasure of God
and, therefore, must infallibly be fulfilled; he is, conse
quently, blessed. It is this blessedness that enjoy. The
will of God constitutes my whole happiness. All that God
wills so rejoices me that experience thousand times
more pleasure in its fulfilment than another would over
the highest gratification of his natural inclinations."
"My dear child," says the Lord, "know that am your
Creator, your Saviour, and your God. Your body and soul
are in My hands; give you all that you possess, the air
you breathe, the bread you eat. By My orders the ele
ments, the planets, and even the angels serve you. have
created heaven and earth for you.1 And, more than all
that, love you, and for love of you became worm of
the earth.' willed to be born in stable and to die on
cross, and all because of your sins. Now, can you think
that would do you any wrong? What more can you ex
pect- from Me, since have washed you in My blood, fed
you Vith My flesh, and given you My body and soul, Mylife and divinity? What stronger evidence could give
you of My loving designs in your regard?
"Never, then, harbor the thought that hate you when
send you sufferings, or that will crush you under their
weight. Afflictions are proof of My love, of that love
which gave you existence. They flow to you from hand
tfiat was once nailed to the cross for you. Do you think
you could find safer way than that of suffering when I,
your Lord and your God, chose it as the path to My glorv'
Know you not that men must labor in the sweat of their
brow, and encounter thousand dangers in order to ac
quire earthly goods? See you not that earthly crowns are
given only to him who fights courageously and gains the
victory? If you suffer with Me you shall rejoice with Me;
if you share My humiliations you shall have part in My
glory, but not otherwise.
*' If knew higher, more precious blessing upon earth
than suffering, should have given it to you and should
have chosen it for My own portion in this world. But be
cause know that nothing leads more quickly and securely
to the highest pinnacle of happiness than the cross, pre
sent it to you with the same love with which embraced it
Myself.
"It is who placed those difficulties in your way; there
fore, blame no one else, for alone have so ordained it.
Complain not of chance. By so doing, you would act
against your conscience, as you well know nothing happens
by chance. Accuse not the hostile elements of earth, nor
yet the stars of heaven, for they are but weak creatures,
inanimate instruments which My hand wields according to
My good pleasure. Neither complain of the world, nor of
the wicked spirits. Their malice can do you no harm, for
their power is subject to Me; they can exercise it only in
so far as permit. To Me alone, therefore, should you
ascribe whatever evil creatures do you. Your illness, your
tribulations, your afflictions and contradictions are sent
you from Him who created you and who has you engravenin His hands and in His Sacred Heart. They are the
love- tokens of My Heavenly Father, and He shares them
only with His well-beloved children; they are thorns from
My crown, splinters from My holy cross, which He distrib
utes to them as to His favorites; they are the chalice from
which, in obedience to His will, I, because the first-born
and dearest of His children, more than any other drank,
yea, to the very dregs!"
Who would not eagerly respond to the call of Divine
Love that leads him to the marriage of the cross? my
Father, my Lord and my God, be it done unto me accord
ing to Thy divine good-pleasure! To follow Thy inspira
tions and guidance shall henceforth be my only aim!
will suffer because Thou willest it. will suffer what Thou
willest, although other crosses might be lighter for me.
Yes, Lord, submit with perfect docility to Thy holy will.
Yes, Father, praise and bless Thee from my heart, for
so it hath seemed good to Thee.' So great is my confi
dence in Thy goodness and infinite love that can value
nothing more than what Thou ordainest for me. Thou
hast created me that might attain the highest degree of
happiness, and am firmly persuaded that all that Thou
sendest me tends to that end. Even if Thou hadst not
called me to eternal happiness, would not follow any
other will than Thine. Thy will is my whole happiness;
without it could taste no joy in heaven or on earth."
Thus do all souls speak that have wholly given them
selves to the guidance of Divine Providence.
"God will never weary of doing good. He allows no occasion for doing so to pass unimproved." What evil then can we apprehend?
Should we not rather hope for all good?
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🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔
https://www.thecatholicthing.org/2026/08/17/i-want-to-believe/
I sometimes hear people say something like this: “I want to believe, but I just can’t,” or “I would like to believe, but I just don’t.” I don’t wish to be critical of such people. I assume their reserve about “faith” comes out of a good-willed desire to be honest about themselves – like someone admitting, “I wish I were a calm, temperate person, but I’m just not.”
So, although I respect the goodwill, I still would wish to ask this person: “What do you think faith is?” “What do you think having faith is like?” I fear sometimes that people think “having faith” is the same as “being certain,” or that “having faith” is a feeling you get when you’re sure of something. What if it’s not? What if it’s something else? What if it’s like love – not quite a feeling as much as a way of living?
Before we could explore the question of faith, we would need to get clear on something else. People don’t just “have faith”; they have faith in something. In God. In God’s love for us. That God’s love for us is expressed and embodied in Christ. So, we wouldn’t just ask about faith – that’s much too vague. We would start by asking what this person believes or doesn’t believe in.
So, for example, we might ask: Does it seem reasonable to you that the entire universe, with all its beauty and order, and especially with human beings capable of knowing, loving, and sacrificing for each other, came from nothing, by nothing, and for nothing? It is hypothetically possible, but is that what you believe? Some people do. Do you?
Are you convinced that life – all life – and all existence is essentially meaningless? Because if you’re not convinced of that, then it is possible that life is meaningful. And in fact, don’t you live your life that way? Haven’t you shown by the way you live your life – caring for people, trying to do good things rather than selfish things, appreciating beauty, and trying to understand the things around you more profoundly – that you do believe in something?
If we look at the way you actually live, wouldn’t we have to conclude that you actually believe that living this way is meaningful, not meaningless? You act as though selfless care for others is meaningful, as though acting with love and care for others is good. You don’t have any scientific proof that this sort of life is intrinsically meaningful and good. But you live as though it were. That’s a kind of faith.
So what if I said to the person who claims they wish they had faith but just can’t: “But wait, you actually do have faith; you just haven’t realized it or reflected on it.” That presupposition you bring to the way you look at the world and the way you live your life when you assume that courage and kindness and generosity and care are better than cowardice and cruelty and arrogance and selfishness – that is part and parcel of what Christians call “faith.”
There’s no scientific proof that this life is better. Indeed, there are plenty of reasons to suppose that being selfish makes more sense than being selfless. Do you sometimes say to yourself: “I must be crazy to live this way, giving myself selflessly to others rather than just getting everything I can for myself?”
So, what keeps you coming back to selflessness and care and generosity? Is it something you’ve noticed in your experience? Is it something you just sense is true? That sense you have that something you can’t touch or measure or prove scientifically is in fact true – true with the kind of truth you would be willing to bet your whole life on, even though sometimes you’re not entirely certain about it – this is what Christians call “faith.”
There’s no need to get caught up in the word. Call it what you like. But just so you know: you have faith. You just haven’t examined it.
So, for example, if you realized that you do believe that life is intrinsically meaningful – not only your life, but the life of all creatures – then you might start asking other questions, such as: How could that be? How could a meaningless universe have love and meaning? Was it perhaps the case that this meaningfulness that exists in all beings was a gift from a loving Creator? Where else would we have gotten it?
People often imagine that a person first says: “God exists,” and then he says, “Oh, I guess I better be moral.” But what if it’s the reverse? What if people realize that the only meaningful life is a moral one of love and care and concern for others and then say to themselves: “I guess there must be a God who made all this possible”?
You want to live a life of selfless love? Great. Do it. That sort of life requires a certain kind of faith. If you live it, you have it. Christians have an account of why that sort of life makes sense. It involves a loving God who loves us so much He was willing to embrace our humanity and die for us. In this, He revealed Himself as a selfless gift of love.
But don’t mistake the fact that you don’t quite “get” the account of why that life of love makes sense for a lack of faith. When you despair of being the person you know you want to be, that is a lack of faith. When you’re failing but still trying – when you still hold out for yourself the paradigm of goodness – then you’ve still got faith. So stop worrying about whether you have it or not and just live it.
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DIVINE OFFICE HITS DIFFERENT IN LIGHT OF TWOIP
You are total light and day, Illumining the innermost heart Of our breast.
May the purity of our soul prevail Over what unruly flesh desires;
May the Spirit preserve the holy Shrine of our chaste body.
So we are destroyed in your anger,
struck with terror in your fury.
Our guilt lies open before you;
our secrets in the light of your face.
All our days pass away in your anger.
Our life is over like a sigh.
Our span is seventy years,
or eighty for those who are strong.
And most of these are emptiness and pain.
They pass swiftly and we are gone.
Who understands the power of your anger
and fears the strength of your fury?
Make us know the shortness of our life
that we may gain wisdom of heart.
Lord, relent! Is your anger for ever?
Show pity to your servants.
In the morning, fill us with your love;
we shall exult and rejoice all our days.
Give us joy to balance our affliction
for the years when we knew misfortune.
Show forth your work to your servants;
let your glory shine on their children.
Let the favour of the Lord be upon us:
give success to the work of our hands,
give success to the work of our hands.
The Lord goes forth like a mighty man,
like a man of war he stirs up his fury;
he cries out, he shouts aloud,
he shows himself mighty against his foes.
For a long time I have held my peace,
I have kept still and restrained myself;
now I will cry out like a woman in travail,
I will gasp and pant.
I will lay waste mountains and hills,
and dry up all their herbage;
I will turn the rivers into islands,
and dry up the pools.
And I will lead the blind
in a way that they know not;
in paths that they have not known
I will guide them.
I will turn the darkness before them into light,
the rough places into level ground.
Praise the Lord for the Lord is good.
Sing a psalm to his name for he is loving.
For the Lord has chosen Jacob for himself
and Israel for his own possession.
For I know the Lord is great,
that our Lord is high above all gods.
The Lord does whatever he wills,
in heaven, on earth, in the seas...
The first-born of the Egyptians he smote,
of man and beast alike.
Signs and wonders he worked
in the midst of your land, O Egypt,
against Pharaoh and all his servants.
Nations in their greatness he struck
and kings in their splendour he slew...
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God who, as he tested our ancestors, is now testing us. Remember how he treated Abraham, all the ordeals of Isaac and all that happened to Jacob. For as these ordeals were intended by him to search their hearts, so now this is not vengeance that God exacts against us, but a warning inflicted by the Lord on those who are near his heart.
Rejoice in the Lord, O you just; for praise is fitting for loyal hearts.
A saviour who would free us from our foes,
from the hands of all who hate us.
So his love for our fathers is fulfilled
and his holy covenant remembered.
He swore to Abraham our father to grant us,
that free from fear, and saved from the hands of our foes,
we might serve him in holiness and justice
all the days of our life in his presence.
As for you, little child,
you shall be called a prophet of God, the Most High.
You shall go ahead of the Lord
to prepare his ways before him,
To make known to his people their salvation
through forgiveness of all their sins,
the loving-kindness of the heart of our God
who visits us like the dawn from on high.
He will give light to those in darkness,
those who dwell in the shadow of death,
and guide us into the way of peace.
We praise you as your children;
may your name be kept holy in the hearts of all mankind.
– Father, may your Kingdom come!
Help us to live in the hope of heaven today:
make us ready to do your will on earth.
– Father, may your Kingdom come!
Father, be with us in all our trials:
do not allow us to fall away from you.
– Father, may your Kingdom come!
Your will is wonderful indeed;
therefore I obey it.
The unfolding of your word gives light
and teaches the simple...
Turn and show me your mercy;
show justice to your friends.
You are just, Lord God, and righteous are your judgements. Deliver those who cry to you in their affliction; give them peace and calm to reflect on your commands.
You declared peacemakers happy, Lord Jesus, since they will be called sons of God. Give us that peace which the world cannot give so that your Church may be freed from the schemes of arrogant men, and, devoted to works of peace, go forward joyfully to meet you, the King of Peace.
Jesus, our Lord and our God, rise up to judge the earth. You were judged on earth in our place, and you were condemned to absolve the guilty. By your death you give life to the dead; by your resurrection you give strength to the doubtful. All who confess that you rose from the dead for our sake shall come into your inheritance.
You, our God, are kind, loyal and slow to anger, and you govern all things with mercy. To acknowledge you is indeed the perfect virtue, to know your power is the root of immortality.
℣. You, Lord, are a God of love and mercy.
℟. You are patient, full of loving kindness and truth.
God, Lord and master of the vineyard and harvest,
you allot us our tasks and determine the just rewards of our labours.
Help us to bear the burden of the day
and accept your will in all things without complaint.
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"The Lord has given the Holy Spirit upon the earth, and in whomsoever He dwells, that one feels paradise within himself. You might say: why hasn't this happened to me? Because you have not given yourself over to the will of God, but you live according to yourself. Look at the one who loves his own will. He never has peace in himself and is always displeased with something. But whoever has given himself over to God's will perfectly has pure prayer. His soul loves the Lord, and everything is acceptable and good to him."
- St. Silouan the Athonite
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