It is a fact that people
are always well aware of what is due them.
Unfortunately, they remain
oblivious of what they owe to others.
~ St. Francis de Sales*
O Lord,
I am chastened by the recognition of how often I do the check-list thing and think about how to get all that I deserve. Then I look back over my life and worry that I might actually get all that I deserve...Please, God, spare me that, at least some of it!
Help me, again and always, to discover Your peace within myself, so that I can work to reflect it outwardly to others. Help me to measure my life in gratitude, not wants or expectations. Grant me the consciousness to spend more of my allotted days seeking forgiveness for my faults and forgiving others for theirs, rather than me judging us both harshly. I want to wake each morning, remember each noon, and when I lay me down to sleep, feeling and knowing the grace You bestow on us all. I want to look beyond myself and live into the gifts You have given each of us to use generously on behalf of all Your people.
O Lord, I am also chastened by the recognition that what good I perceive is owed to me in this life is exponentially less than what I owe You, Your People, and, Your Creation. It is past time for me to begin re-payment so I'll start today even if slowly. amen.
I am chastened by the recognition of how often I do the check-list thing and think about how to get all that I deserve. Then I look back over my life and worry that I might actually get all that I deserve...Please, God, spare me that, at least some of it!
Help me, again and always, to discover Your peace within myself, so that I can work to reflect it outwardly to others. Help me to measure my life in gratitude, not wants or expectations. Grant me the consciousness to spend more of my allotted days seeking forgiveness for my faults and forgiving others for theirs, rather than me judging us both harshly. I want to wake each morning, remember each noon, and when I lay me down to sleep, feeling and knowing the grace You bestow on us all. I want to look beyond myself and live into the gifts You have given each of us to use generously on behalf of all Your people.
O Lord, I am also chastened by the recognition that what good I perceive is owed to me in this life is exponentially less than what I owe You, Your People, and, Your Creation. It is past time for me to begin re-payment so I'll start today even if slowly. amen.
*Francis de Sales [1567-1622], a saint on the Roman Catholic
calendar, was Bishop of Geneva but not allowed to live there as it was under
Calvinist control. Of great accomplishment as a bishop, he is best known now as
a mystical writer who championed the laity and provided gentle spiritual
direction and counsel. His best known work is Introduction to the
Devout Life, still read today, in which he emphasized charity
over penance as a means to progress in spiritual pursuit whatever your station
in life, from the wealthiest to the poorest. He did not define charity in
terms of money but rather caring consideration in whatever way is available to
us. He is said to have struggled with a short temper but through his writings we
only know him with an inner calm and deep faith.
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