Tag Archives: perseverance

Lessons from the Cross

Jesus crucified

Our Lord, Jesus Christ, crucified.

Jesus’ passion and death teach us many lessons.  In this meditation we use texts from Scripture and St Thomas Aquinas to consider some of the many virtues Christ teaches us from the Cross:

  • Charity
  • Humility
  • Patience
  • Obedience
  • Fortitude
  • Perseverance
  • Joy

Prayer of the Children of God

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches us to pray to God our Father, giving us, among other things, the Lord’s Prayer, the Our Father. In this meditation we reflect on how we are to pray to our loving Father God, using texts from Scripture, St Augustine, St John Vianney and St Josemaria Escriva. We consider how:

  • Jesus himself prays to his Father
  • Our Father always hears and answers us
  • He always gives us what is best, even if it is not what we asked for
  • The benefits we receive from the very act of praying are themselves an answer to our prayer
  • We should pray with faith, confidence and perseverance

Faith in prayer

Christ and the Canaanite womanThe Canaanite woman who begged Christ to free her daughter from a demon, only to meet with apparent rejection, shows us how to pray. In this meditation we use the text of the gospel of St Matthew plus quotations of St John Chrysostom, St Augustine, St Thomas Aquinas, St John Vianney and others to consider five lessons this woman teaches us:

  1. The need for prayer
  2. God answers the prayers of everyone
  3. The importance of faith
  4. The need for perseverance
  5. The value of humility

Calming the storm

St Matthew relates in his gospel how Christ, after multiplying the loaves and fish to feed the multitude, went up onto the hillside to pray. Before dawn the following day he walked on the water to the apostles who were in the boat and calmed the storm. In this meditation we consider how:

  • Prayer is very important in our life, especially when we are going through storms
  • Sometimes works of charity take precedence over our prayer
  • As a result of original sin, there will always be suffering in various forms
  • Christ does not abandon us; he always comes to our aid
  • We should continue praying with faith, confident that Christ always hears us