The everlasting God has in His wisdom, foreseen from eternity the cross that He now presents to you as a gift from His inmost heart. This cross He now sends you, He has considered with His all-knowing eyes, understood with His Divine mind, tested with His wise justice, warmed with His loving arms and weighed with His own hands, to see that it be not one inch too large and not one ounce too heavy for you. He has blessed it with His holy Name, anointed it with His grace, perfumed it with His consolation, taken one last glance at you and your courage, and then sent it to you from heaven, a special greeting from God to you, an alms of the all-merciful love of God. Our business is to love what would have done. He wills our vocation as it is. Let us love that and not trifle away our time hankering after other people’s vocations. – St. Francis de Sales
Abba, Father, thank You for all Your blessings, mercy and grace; for opening my mind and guiding my heart in Your Word in all its forms and from all Your sources, through Christ Jesus with the Spirit. I am truly blessed this day and pray that You will touch those I love, those I know and those throughout the world who do know You as I or feel You as I. Open their hearts so that their mind can feel the good and overcome the bad that traps their spirit under the sun. If only for this day free them so that they may have a glimpse of Your presence to serve as a reminder what can be or a vision of what is possible in and with You their life. This I ask in Jesus name, Amen.
Abba, Father, fill my heart with Your unconditional love so that I will have what is needed to meet the needs of those who look to me, Amen.
Abba, Father, empty me of self, fill me with Your Spirit, liken my heart to that of Jesus, Amen.
22 And now bless the God of all, who in every way does great things; who exalts our days from birth, and deals with us according to his mercy. 23 May he give us gladness of heart, and grant that peace may be in our days in Israel, as in the days of old. 24 May he entrust to us his mercy! And let him deliver us in our days!
1 I give thee thanks, O LORD, with my whole heart; before the gods I sing thy praise; 2 I bow down toward thy holy temple and give thanks to thy name for thy steadfast love and thy faithfulness; for thou hast exalted above everything thy name and thy word. 3 On the day I called, thou didst answer me, my strength of soul thou didst increase. 4 All the kings of the earth shall praise thee, O LORD, for they have heard the words of thy mouth; 5 and they shall sing of the ways of the LORD, for great is the glory of the LORD.
3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 4 I give thanks to God always for you because of the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus, 5 that in every way you were enriched in him with all speech and all knowledge — 6 even as the testimony to Christ was confirmed among you — 7 so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ; 8 who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
11 On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Sama’ria and Galilee. 12 And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance 13 and lifted up their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” 14 When he saw them he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed. 15 Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; 16 and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. 17 Then said Jesus, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? 18 Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” 19 And he said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.”

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