DAY 1 – HOLY MARY, HELP US TO STRIVE FOR PERFECTION!

Becoming “Masters of Mental Prayer.” Each day, during Lent, we will practice “Mental Prayer,” as we reflect on, and desire the greatest gifts, so God may show each one of us a “More Excellent Way” (1 Cor. 12:13). Do your best to find a minimum of 15 minutes each day. By the regular practice of Mental Prayer, you will become more attuned to the “Still Small Voice.”

GUIDE TO MENTAL PRAYER: HERE

GOD’S WORD

“So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Matthew 4:48

 

HEROES’ WORDS

“If you are what you should be, you will set the whole world ablaze!” -St. Catherine of Sienna

This is the very perfection of a man, to find out his own imperfections. -St. Augustine

To live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often. -Bl. John Henry Cardinal Newman

“He who climbs never stops going from beginning to beginning, through beginnings that have no end. He never stops desiring what he already knows.” –St. Gregory of Nissa

‘Let us begin in earnest to work out our salvation, for no one will do it for us, since even He Himself, Who made us without ourselves, will not save us without ourselves. -St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

 

MEDITATION

“All Christians in any state or walk of life are called to the fullness of Christian life and to the perfection of charity.” All are called to holiness: “Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (CCC 2013)

Spiritual progress tends toward ever more intimate union with Christ. This union is called “mystical” because it participates in the mystery of Christ through the sacraments – “the holy mysteries” – and, in him, in the mystery of the Holy Trinity. God calls us all to this intimate union with him, even if the special graces or extraordinary signs of this mystical life are granted only to some for the sake of manifesting the gratuitous gift given to all. (CCC 2014)

The way of perfection passes by way of the Cross. There is no holiness without renunciation and spiritual battle. Spiritual progress entails the ascesis and mortification that gradually lead to living in the peace and joy of the Beatitudes. (CCC 2015)

Coach Lombardi said, “Perfection is not attainable. But if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence.”

BY THY HOLY AND IMMACULATE CONCEPTION, OH MARY, DELIVER US FROM EVIL. AMEN