Copyright ) 2004 Father Angelus Shaughnessy, Order of Friars Minor Capuchin
LOVE...
To Love is our only duty. To be loved is our greatest need. This is why we pray.
God is love. Exposure to God in prayer is exposure to love. Prayer is really allowing God, watching God, love you and love me.
If we do not love ourselves enough with legitimate self-love, it is probably because we have not exposed ourselves sufficiently to the God of love and the love of God in prayer.
We must love ourselves. It is the fulfillment of a commandment: "Love your neighbor as you love yourself!"
Love yourself physically by eating the proper food, getting the necessary rest and exercise, doing what your physician has asked you to do to maintain your health.
Love yourself intellectually by cultivating habits of reading and study and thinking.
Love yourself emotionally by sharing your feelings with a trusted friend.
Love yourself spiritually by giving yourself the time and the space to pray and to be silent.
When you love in this way, it is not selfishness. It is God's will for you - - just the opposite of selfishness and sin.
Most of the sinning that we do is the result of not caring for ourselves in a balanced way, like the irritability that comes from lack of sleep.
If we burn out in our commitments to and relationships with others, it is most likely because we have not prayed enough.
If a person admits that he has been unkind, impatient, and selfish, invariably that is caused by his failure to let God love Him enough in prayer. No one confesses sins against charity who in the same breath does not confess missing his time for God in prayer.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be loved as to love. If we pray, we won't have to seek the love of others. They will love us freely because God makes us lovable in prayer. Then there will be no end to the generosity that we will be capable of. Nothing will be too much for us. No sacrifice will be too hard or demanding. We will have been energized into life and love.
Isn't that what saints are? People who love God very much? But even before that: Saints are people who are absolutely convinced that God loves them. Remember: There is only one sadness in life; and that is, not to be a saint.
Lord, teach us to love and to be loved.
Teach us our duty!!
Fulfill our deepest need!!
Copyright ) 2004 Father Angelus Shaughnessy, Order of Friars Minor Capuchin
All Rights Reserved Annunciation Friary 5821 Old Leeds Road Irondale, Alabama 35210 Web site: www.fatherangelus.com e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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May the Holy Cross be to you light and health, the benediction and the Will of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Jento http://disc.server.com/Indices/220566.html
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