We are getting close to the end of our examination of the seven deadly sins, but first we must take a look at gluttony: never being satisfied (or complete)
Scripture for meditation: Romans 13: 11-12, 14
Besides, you know the time has come: you must wake up now: our salvation is even nearer than it was when we were converted. The night is almost over, it will be daylight soon...Let your armor be the Lord Jesus Christ; forget about satisfying your bodies with all their cravings.
Christ tells us: Luke 16:19-26
"There was a rich man who used to dress in purple and fine linen and feast magnificently every day. And at his gate there lay a poor man called Lazarus covered with sores, who longed to fill himself with the scraps that fell from the rich man's table. Dogs even came and licked his sores. Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to the bosom of Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. In his torment in Hades he looked up and saw Abraham a long way off with Lazarus in his bosom. So he cried out, "Father Abraham, pity me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in agony in these flames.' 'My son,' Abraham replied, 'remember that during your life good things came your way, just as bad things came the way of Lazarus. Now he is being comforted here while you are in agony.'"
St. Thomas More instructs us, in The Last Four Things:
Now we need to consider how this part of our medicine, that is, the remembrance of death, can be applied to the treatment and cure of gluttony....Since it is a fact that this old scourge of gluttony... joined with pride... was the vice and sin by which our first parents, in eating the forbidden fruit, fell from the felicity of paradise and from their immortality into death and into the misery of this wretched world, we well ought to hate and abhor it even if no further harm came of it every day...To the soul, no one doubts how deadly it is. For since the body is always rebelling against the spirit, what can be more venomous and fatal to the soul than potbelllied gluttony, which so pampers the body that the soul can have no rule of it...And yet gluttony is not as pernicious and poisonous to the soul for the harm it itself does, as it is for the harm and destruction done by the other vices that commonly come with it. For no one doubts that sloth and lust are true daughters of gluttony. It must, then, be a deadly enemy to the soul, since it brings forth two such daughters, either of which can kill the soul eternally.
Prayer: Calm and Divine
Abide in me: o'ershadow by Thy love,
each half-formed purpose and dark thought of sin;
Quench, ere it rise, each selfish, low desire,
And keep my soul as Thine, calm and divine.
Harriet Beecher Stowe, The Book of Uncommon Prayer
My thoughts: I can only tell you that reading St. Thomas More's full description of the sin of gluttony will make you never, ever over-eat again. I have tried to condense it here, but he makes it perfectly clear that this is a deadly sin, obviously to the body, but even more so to the soul. If we cannot tame our desires, we cannot even notice the Lazarus at our door. If we choose to forget that death awaits us all, and is closer every day, then earthly pleasures will cost us heavenly delight. We should learn to fast, mortify our senses, and free ourselves from anything which causes us to "overdo" it. What are we trying to fill, if not the soul's longing for God? If we meet our daily needs, and no more, we will have plenty to share with others. Then we, too, can be comforted at the bosom of Abraham. The alternative is too hot for my taste.
Your prayer: Harriet Beech Stowe asks God to keep her soul calm and divine. Let us ask God for the gift of temperence, to moderately approach the things of this earth, and to hunger only for Him.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Devotion for Saturday/ Sunday: The House by the Side of the Road
The House by the Side of the Road
Sam Walter Foss (1858-1911)
There are hermit souls that live withdrawn
In the peace of their self-content;
There are souls, like stars, that swell apart,
In a fellowless firmament;
There are pioneer souls that blaze their paths
Where highways never ran;
But let me live by the side of the road
And be a friend to man.
Let me live in a house by the side of the road,
Where the race of men go by -
The men who are good and the men who are bad,
As good and as bad as I.
I would not sit in the scorner's seat,
Or hurl the cynic's ban;
Let me live in a house by the side of the road
And be a friend to man.
I see from my house by the side of the road,
By the side of the highway of life,
The men who press with the ardor of hope,
The men who are faint with the strife.
But I turn not away from their smiles not their tears - Both parts of an infinite plan;
Let me live in my house by the side of the road
And be a friend to man.
Let me live in my house by the side of the road
Where the race of men go by -
They are good, they are bad, they are weak,
they are strong.
Wise, foolish - so am I.
Then why should I sit in the scorner's seat
Or hurl the cynic's ban?
Let me live in my house by the side of the road
And be a friend to man.
This is my mother's favorite poem! I dedicate this page to you, Mum! xxoo
Devotion for today: greed- but I don't want to share
Ascending the mountain of capital or deadly sins, we move today into the sins of too much love, beginning with greed.
Scripture passage for meditation: Exodus 16: 15-16; 19-21
When they saw this, the sons of Israel said to one another, "What is that?" not knowing what it was. "That," said Moses to them, "is the bread Yahweh gives you to eat. This is Yahweh's command: everyone must gather enough of it for his needs....No one must keep any of it for tomorrow." But some would not listen to Moses and kept part of it for the following day, and it bred maggots and smelled foul: and Moses was angry with them.
Christ tells us: Matthew 19:23-26 "The danger of riches"
Then Jesus said to His disciples, "I tell you solemnly, it will be hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Yes, I tell you again, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven." When the disciples heard this they were astonished. "Who can be saved, then?" they said. Jesus gazed at them. "For men," He told them, "this is impossible; for God everything is possible."
St. Francis de Sales warns us in An Introduction to the Devout Life:
He is rich in spirit whose heart is in his riches, and whose riches fill his heart. He is poor is spirit who has not riches in his heart, nor his heart in riches....Your heart should be open only to heaven and impenetrable to riches and earthly things; if you possess them preserve your heart from loving them; let it rise above them, and be poor in the midst of wealth, and master of its riches....It is a great happiness for a Christian to be actually rich but poor in spirit, for thus he can use wealth and its advantages in this world and yet have the merit of poverty as regards the next.
Prayer: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven"
These are Your words, my Jesus. You spoke them long ago, but they are still true. How few have bothered to understand them, much less practice them! We claim to be wise, yet how often we fail to place You first in our daily life. We admit in word that You are our greatest treasure, and yet we seldom think of limiting our earthly interests in order to give You more attention and better service. I am tired of living this illogical life of mine. I want to begin this day trying to have fewer things in my daily life, so that I may have less to draw my attention away from You. Fill my thoughts with You. Direct my intentions to Yourself, so that I may begin at last to live for Your praise, honor, and glory. Amen.
Anthony J. Paone, SJ, My Daily Bread, Confraternity of the Precious Blood, 1954.
My thoughts: There are many kinds of greed in the world. Some of us are greedy for power: we want to control everyone and everything, take credit for all successes and no responsibility for failures. Others are greedy for fear of want: they never have enough of anything, including money, food and clothes, for fear a day will come when they won't have enough. Then there is the greed of acquisition: if it is out there, I must have it. The best cure for any type of greed is to turn to the word of God. "For Thine is the kingdom, and the power and the glory;" "Perfect Love casts out fear." "You can't take a U-Haul to the grave with you." Okay, the last one is not in the Bible, but you get my point. If your treasure is not God, your camel is not going to be able to fit into the passage, and all your excess will be like the excess Manna taken by the Israelites. Do as St. Francis de Sales tells us, and make the world a better place. Praise others for successes, keep only what you need, and pass up the desire for more things. The world will be better and you will be lighter!
Your prayer to God: The words in the above prayer are so beautiful. Let us repeat over and over again as we begin to give away our desire for power, our fear of the future, and our obsession for earthly toys: "Fill my thoughts with You...so that I may begin at last to live for Your praise, honor and glory."
For a really good explanation of the material I presented under My Thoughts, go to the website http://whitestonejournal.com/index.php/greed. That is where I learned those wonderful ideas!
Scripture passage for meditation: Exodus 16: 15-16; 19-21
When they saw this, the sons of Israel said to one another, "What is that?" not knowing what it was. "That," said Moses to them, "is the bread Yahweh gives you to eat. This is Yahweh's command: everyone must gather enough of it for his needs....No one must keep any of it for tomorrow." But some would not listen to Moses and kept part of it for the following day, and it bred maggots and smelled foul: and Moses was angry with them.
Christ tells us: Matthew 19:23-26 "The danger of riches"
Then Jesus said to His disciples, "I tell you solemnly, it will be hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Yes, I tell you again, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven." When the disciples heard this they were astonished. "Who can be saved, then?" they said. Jesus gazed at them. "For men," He told them, "this is impossible; for God everything is possible."
St. Francis de Sales warns us in An Introduction to the Devout Life:
He is rich in spirit whose heart is in his riches, and whose riches fill his heart. He is poor is spirit who has not riches in his heart, nor his heart in riches....Your heart should be open only to heaven and impenetrable to riches and earthly things; if you possess them preserve your heart from loving them; let it rise above them, and be poor in the midst of wealth, and master of its riches....It is a great happiness for a Christian to be actually rich but poor in spirit, for thus he can use wealth and its advantages in this world and yet have the merit of poverty as regards the next.
Prayer: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven"
These are Your words, my Jesus. You spoke them long ago, but they are still true. How few have bothered to understand them, much less practice them! We claim to be wise, yet how often we fail to place You first in our daily life. We admit in word that You are our greatest treasure, and yet we seldom think of limiting our earthly interests in order to give You more attention and better service. I am tired of living this illogical life of mine. I want to begin this day trying to have fewer things in my daily life, so that I may have less to draw my attention away from You. Fill my thoughts with You. Direct my intentions to Yourself, so that I may begin at last to live for Your praise, honor, and glory. Amen.
Anthony J. Paone, SJ, My Daily Bread, Confraternity of the Precious Blood, 1954.
My thoughts: There are many kinds of greed in the world. Some of us are greedy for power: we want to control everyone and everything, take credit for all successes and no responsibility for failures. Others are greedy for fear of want: they never have enough of anything, including money, food and clothes, for fear a day will come when they won't have enough. Then there is the greed of acquisition: if it is out there, I must have it. The best cure for any type of greed is to turn to the word of God. "For Thine is the kingdom, and the power and the glory;" "Perfect Love casts out fear." "You can't take a U-Haul to the grave with you." Okay, the last one is not in the Bible, but you get my point. If your treasure is not God, your camel is not going to be able to fit into the passage, and all your excess will be like the excess Manna taken by the Israelites. Do as St. Francis de Sales tells us, and make the world a better place. Praise others for successes, keep only what you need, and pass up the desire for more things. The world will be better and you will be lighter!
Your prayer to God: The words in the above prayer are so beautiful. Let us repeat over and over again as we begin to give away our desire for power, our fear of the future, and our obsession for earthly toys: "Fill my thoughts with You...so that I may begin at last to live for Your praise, honor and glory."
For a really good explanation of the material I presented under My Thoughts, go to the website http://whitestonejournal.com/index.php/greed. That is where I learned those wonderful ideas!
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