DAY 14 – MOTHER OF OUR SAVIOR, PRAY THAT WE RECEIVE THE GIFT OF PIETY!

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

The spirit you received is not the spirit of slaves bringing fear into your lives again; it is the spirit of sons, and it makes us cry out ‘Abba, Father!'”

(Romans 8:14-15).

HEROES’ WORDS

In so far as divine love beautifies our souls. And makes us pleasing to His divine Majesty, it is called grace; in so far as it gives us strength to do good, it is called charity; but when it reaches such a degree of perfection, that it makes us not only do the good, but do so carefully, frequently and readily, then it is called devotion. –St. Francis de Sales

Charity and devotion differ no more, the one from the other, than the flame from the fire. –St. Francis de Sales

Devotion is a certain act of the will by which man gives himself promptly to divine service. –St. Thomas Aquinas

Christ said, “I am the Truth”; he did not say “I am the custom.” — St. Toribio

It is better to say one Our Father fervently and devoutly than a thousand with no devotion and full of distraction. — St. Edmund

MEDITATION

The Gift of Piety: A special gift of the Holy Spirit; it perfects the virtue of religion, which is the practice of justice toward God. It produces an instinctive filial affection for God and devotion toward those who are specially consecrated to God. As an infused gift of God, it is ready loyalty to God and the things of God, arising not so much from studied effort or acquired habit as from a supernatural communication conferred by the Holy Spirit.

This gift enables a person to see in God not only one’s sovereign Master but a loving Father, according to the teaching of St. Paul: “Everyone moved by the Spirit is a son of God. The spirit you received is not the spirit of slaves bringing fear into your lives again; it is the spirit of sons, and it makes us cry out ‘Abba, Father!'” (Romans 8:14-15). It engenders in the soul a filial respect for God, a generous love toward him, and an affectionate obedience that wants to do what he commands because it loves the one who commands (Fr. John Hardon, Modern Catholic Dictionary).

BY THY HOLY AND IMMACULATE CONCEPTION, OH MARY, DELIVER US FROM EVIL. AMEN – OUR LADY OF AMERICA