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Lord’s Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever.

Morning Prayer of (St.) Thérèse of Lisieux

O  my God! I offer Thee all my actions of this day for the intentions and for the glory of Christ Jesus. I desire to sanctify every beat of my heart, my every thought, my simplest works, by uniting them to His infinite merits; and I wish to make reparation for my sins by casting them into the furnace of His Merciful Love.

O my God! I ask of Thee for myself and for those whom I hold dear, the grace to fulfill perfectly Thy Holy Will, to accept for love of Thee the joys and sorrows of this passing life, so that we may one day be united together in heaven for all Eternity.

Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Benediction

Now to him who by his power within us is able to do far more than we ever dare to ask or imagine — to him be glory in the Church through Jesus Christ for ever and ever,

Think of the day ahead in terms of God with you, and visualize health, strength, guidance, purity, calm confidence, and victory as the gifts of His presence.

Who Am I?

1 Corinthians 14:21-25 (ESV)

Tongues and Prophecy [3]

Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature. In the Law it is written, “By people of strange tongues and by the lips of foreigners will I speak to this people, and even then they will not listen to me, says the Lord.”

Thus tongues are a sign not for believers but for unbelievers, while prophecy is a sign not for unbelievers but for believers. If, therefore, the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are out of your minds?

But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all, the secrets of his heart are disclosed, and so, falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you.

Notes on the Scripture

he beginning of this passage echoes Chapter 13: “When I was a child, I spoke as a child . . . ” Thus we remember, when reading it, that the aim of Paul’s advice is love; specifically, here, the love for unbelievers, for what greater act of love can we perform for someone who is lost, than to help him find Christ, to save his soul?

Paul then puts his finger on the biggest problem we have, today, with people speaking in tongues during a church service. Those who hear them, if they are not Christians, or are weak in faith, or are not accustomed to it, will think it is just weird. They will think “these people are nuts.” Remember, at the Pentecost, the people in the street thought the apostles were drunk. (Acts 2:13)

Then Paul says that “tongues are a sign not for believers but for unbelievers,” which sounds exactly backwards. But what he means is this: Speaking in tongues is a sign of conversion, a sign that a person has become filled with the Holy Spirit. The sign of one who is more mature in his faith is to preach the Word and its meaning in his life.

The last paragraph, describing a church service in which an unbeliever is urged to accept Christ, does not sound like something we would see today. The Christians of the first century were burning with faith, and one entering a service would get intense personal attention from the congregation. He would be called to account for his sins until he broke, in effect. Today, we seem to fear unpleasantness more than the loss of a soul. Hearing a Christian witness outside the walls of a church is a rare thing.

Daily Inspiration

“ A Hairbreadth Experience ”

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