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December 14, 2009
St. John of the Cross, priest and doctor of the Church

Read

Read the eigth lesson from this year’s celebration
of “Lessons and Carols.”

 

 

Daily Readings

Pray

The Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi
Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;
Where there is hatred, let me sow charity;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is error, the truth;
Where there is doubt, the 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 to ourselves that we are born to eternal life. Amen.

Reflect

Pope Benedict XVI , Saints, p. 83 (1540/1542–1591; December 14)
The Gospel Lived from Love
At the end of his life, St. John of the Cross loved to repeat that we will be judged on love. What is necessary even today, indeed, especially in this our epoch marked by so many human and spiritual challenges, is for Christians to proclaim with their works the merciful love of God! Every baptized person must “live the Gospel.” In fact, many people who do not welcome Christ and his exigent teachings easily are nevertheless sensitive to the witness of those who communicate his message through the concrete witness of charity. Love is a language that directly reaches the heart and opens it to trust. I exhort you, then, as St. Peter did to the first Christians, to be ever ready to reply to anyone who asks you the reason “for the hope that is in you” (1 Pt 3:15).

Address to members of the Italian voluntary service organizations
February 10, 2007

Act

After reading the story of Noah, reflect on how you would respond to God’s request.  What “impossible” requests have been made of you?  How did you react to them?  What impossible thing is being asked of you now? Have you sought God’s help with it?