Today, the words from Lauds particularly speak to the road to perfection. Do not be so active that you miss opportunities to pray and go before the Blessed Sacrament.
It is only in the Illuminative State that we can do the works of God. All out works before that belong to our humanity and not eternal merit or good. I know that sounds harsh but until we are purified all our works are not beginning in the life of the Holy Spirit. One can sense the difference.
Look at the selections I chose from Lauds today. The first selection reminds me of the famous story of Venerable Fulton J. Sheen. He gave a retreat to bishops and opened his talk with this phrase: "I have more power than you!" Then, he proceeded to tell the bishops that Americans listened to him for one reason: he prayed one hour daily before the Blessed Sacrament. This is the meaning of the psalm pericope:
If my people had heard me,
if only they had walked in my ways –
I would swiftly have crushed their enemies,
stretched my hand over those who persecuted them.
If one truly allows God to purify the heart, mind, imagination and will, then one's enemies are swiftly conquered. No purification=no power.
In the second reading, Paul, who experienced the Illuminative State, reveals that righteousness, "Mutual improvement" means surrounding yourself with God's friends.
| Short reading | Romans 14:17-19 © |
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The kingdom of God does not mean eating or drinking this or that, it means righteousness and peace and joy brought by the Holy Spirit. If you serve Christ in this way you will please God and be respected by men. So let us adopt any custom that leads to peace and our mutual improvement.
In the intercessory prayers, we have the sign of the Illuminative State. If one is constantly in the Presence of God, keeping God before us daily and allowing God to destroy our idols, all we do will be for his glory. If we put on the mind of Christ, giving up and letting Him do it all, we shall know and do His Will.
We thank you, Father, for sending us your Son:
let us keep him before our eyes throughout this day.
– Lord, hear us.
Direct our thoughts, our words, our actions today,
so that we may know, and do, your will.
– Lord, hear us.
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