DAY 21 – MARY, MIRROR OF JUSTICE, PRAY THAT WE RECEIVE THE FRUIT OF GOODNESS!

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

“Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets.” (The Golden Rule)

-Matthew 7:12

HEROES’ WORDS

Inasmuch as we exist, we are good. –St. Augustine

Be a good child, and God will help you. -St. Joan of Arc

To attribute to God, and not to self, whatever good one sees in oneself; but to recognize always that the evil is one’s own doing, and to impute it on one’s self. –St. Benedict

MEDITATION

Goodness: In general, whatever is suitable or befitting someone or something. Practically, however, it is that which all things tend toward or desire. The good is the desirable, and therefore the object of the natural (or supernatural) needs or tendencies of a being (Fr. John Hardon, Modern Catholic Dictionary).

God created the world to show forth and communicate his glory. That his creatures should share in his truth, goodness and beauty – this is the glory for which God created them. (CCC 319)

Man participates in the wisdom and goodness of the Creator who gives him mastery over his acts and the ability to govern himself with a view to the true and the good. The natural law expresses the original moral sense which enables man to discern by reason the good and the evil, the truth and the lie: “The natural law is written and engraved in the soul of each and every man, because it is human reason ordaining him to do good and forbidding him to sin . . . But this command of human reason would not have the force of law if it were not the voice and interpreter of a higher reason to which our spirit and our freedom must be submitted.” –Pope Leo XIII (CCC 1954)

The “divine and natural” law shows man the way to follow so as to practice the good and attain his end. The natural law states the first and essential precepts which govern the moral life. It hinges upon the desire for God and submission to him, who is the source and judge of all that is good, as well as upon the sense that the other is one’s equal. (CCC 1955)

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