The Simple Path
Silence > Prayer > Faith > Love > Service > Peace
Silence > Prayer > Faith > Love > Service > Peace
“Let us love one another as God loves each of us. And where does this love begin?
In your own home. How does it begin? By praying together.” (Mother Teresa)
"Man must stand silently before God and tell Him:
God, since You gave me knowledge and the desire for perfection,
lead me continually toward the absolute of love…
I surrender wordlessly to You, O Lord.
I want to be docile and malleable like clay in your hands,
for you are a skillful, benevolent potter." (Cardinal Robert Sarah)
In your own home. How does it begin? By praying together.” (Mother Teresa)
"Man must stand silently before God and tell Him:
God, since You gave me knowledge and the desire for perfection,
lead me continually toward the absolute of love…
I surrender wordlessly to You, O Lord.
I want to be docile and malleable like clay in your hands,
for you are a skillful, benevolent potter." (Cardinal Robert Sarah)
What Kind of Love?
I consider it one of the most significant advances in my spiritual life. After many years as a Christian, it occurred to me that I had no concept of the kind of love that was expected of me in God’s Word; the kind of love that led God to allow His own Son to be crucified for us, “while we were yet sinners”, and allowed Jesus to willingly suffer and give up His life for us. I acknowledged to God my lack of understanding, and beyond that, the impossibility of my understanding the love that God required of me through my own efforts, and prayed for God to empty me and cleanse me of anything that would block my understanding of His love, and to fill me with the joyful fire of His merciful love.
Filled With God's Love
I soon found myself loving God, my family members, my fellow parishioners, and my neighbors with a much deeper, more selfless love than I ever could have imagined before. My old self is still around trying to reestablish the more selfish type of love I had experienced for my entire life. I still have “pride alerts” and “selfish thought alerts” when I sense this old aspect of my personality trying to reassert itself, but the good news is that I sense it almost immediately when it raises its ugly head, confess it to God and ask for Him to continue to empty me and cleanse me of my old self, so He can fill me with even more of His merciful love.
As Mother Teresa indicates, the ability to love God and others as He loves us becomes available to us out of the natural progression of increased external and internal silence opening us to an increase in prayer that God uses to greatly deepen our faith in Him. This sequence forms both the path to seeking and receiving the joyful fire of God’s merciful love, and the foundation that maintains and continues to deepen that love.
It is only true humility born of a deep, abiding faith that allows us to “stand silently before God and tell Him: God, since You gave me knowledge and the desire for perfection, lead me continually toward the absolute of love.” It is this same humility born of our faith that allows us to “surrender wordlessly to God,” seeking to be docile and malleable like clay in the hands of the Divine potter.
Consider/Discuss:
- Have you fully opened yourself to God so He can empty you of your old selfish desires, and fill you with the joyful fire of His merciful love?
- If so, what impact did this have on your relationship with others, and on your participation in the Mass?
Scripture Memory Verse
And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love. (1 Cor 13:1)
Let's Pray! - Two Prayers of Surrender
I consider it one of the most significant advances in my spiritual life. After many years as a Christian, it occurred to me that I had no concept of the kind of love that was expected of me in God’s Word; the kind of love that led God to allow His own Son to be crucified for us, “while we were yet sinners”, and allowed Jesus to willingly suffer and give up His life for us. I acknowledged to God my lack of understanding, and beyond that, the impossibility of my understanding the love that God required of me through my own efforts, and prayed for God to empty me and cleanse me of anything that would block my understanding of His love, and to fill me with the joyful fire of His merciful love.
Filled With God's Love
I soon found myself loving God, my family members, my fellow parishioners, and my neighbors with a much deeper, more selfless love than I ever could have imagined before. My old self is still around trying to reestablish the more selfish type of love I had experienced for my entire life. I still have “pride alerts” and “selfish thought alerts” when I sense this old aspect of my personality trying to reassert itself, but the good news is that I sense it almost immediately when it raises its ugly head, confess it to God and ask for Him to continue to empty me and cleanse me of my old self, so He can fill me with even more of His merciful love.
As Mother Teresa indicates, the ability to love God and others as He loves us becomes available to us out of the natural progression of increased external and internal silence opening us to an increase in prayer that God uses to greatly deepen our faith in Him. This sequence forms both the path to seeking and receiving the joyful fire of God’s merciful love, and the foundation that maintains and continues to deepen that love.
It is only true humility born of a deep, abiding faith that allows us to “stand silently before God and tell Him: God, since You gave me knowledge and the desire for perfection, lead me continually toward the absolute of love.” It is this same humility born of our faith that allows us to “surrender wordlessly to God,” seeking to be docile and malleable like clay in the hands of the Divine potter.
Consider/Discuss:
- Have you fully opened yourself to God so He can empty you of your old selfish desires, and fill you with the joyful fire of His merciful love?
- If so, what impact did this have on your relationship with others, and on your participation in the Mass?
Scripture Memory Verse
And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love. (1 Cor 13:1)
Let's Pray! - Two Prayers of Surrender