MEDITATIO

Because Christ wished to show his disciples how necessary it is to be rooted in love of him, and how beneficial it is to cling to him, he told them (…) that he was the vine, and that the branches of the vine were those who were united with him, and, so to speak, inserted in him so as to “participate in his nature” (2 Pt 1:4) through a share in the Holy Spirit; for we are made one with Christ the Savior by his Holy Spirit (…). For we have been reborn from him and in him, that is, in the Spirit, in order to bear the fruit of life; not the old life we used to live but the life that consists of newness of faith and of love for him. We are preserved in being if we grow on to him and cling fast to the holy commandment that has been handed down to us, and if we are eager to keep the blessing of nobility, that is to say, if we never consent in any way to “grieve the Holy Spirit” (Eph 4:30), who has come to dwell in us and through whom, we believe, God has made his home in us. (…) For just as the vine-stock supplies and distributes the virtue of its own inherent natural quality to the shoots, so, too, the only-begotten Word of God implants in his people a sort of affinity with his own nature and that of the Father. By the gift of the Spirit they are united with him by every kind of holiness. He nourishes them so that they become devout, and he moves them to knowledge of all virtue and good works.
Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team

Moses wrote in the Torah: “God made humankind in his image and likeness.” (Gen 1:26) (…) So it is up to us to reflect for our God, for our Father, the image of his holiness (…) Let us not be painters of a strange image (…) And so that we don’t bring in to ourselves the image of pride, let us allow Christ to paint his image in us. He painted it when he said: “My peace I give you, I leave you my peace.” But of what use is it to know that that peace is good if we don’t watch over it ? Usually, what is very good is very fragile; and precious possessions require greater care and more vigilant guarding. Peace, which can be lost because of a careless word or a small injury inflicted on a brother or sister, is very fragile. And there is nothing that gives greater pleasure to people than to speak of irrelevant things and to be busy about matters that don’t concern them, to give empty speeches and to criticize those who are not present. From now on, may those who cannot say: “The Lord has given me the tongue of a disciple, that I may know how to sustain the weary with a word,” (Is 50:4) keep silent or, if they say something, may it be a word of peace (…). “The fullness of the law is love.” (Rom 13:8) May our good Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the author of peace and the God of love, deign to inspire us with it.
Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team

Whoever has the Spirit as their teacher has no need of human knowledge but, enlightened by this Spirit’s light, beholds the Son, sees the Father, and worships the Trinity of Persons, the one God, who is inexpressibly one by nature. Stand still, O man ! Tremble, you who are mortal by nature, and consider how you have been taken from nothing and how, in coming from your mother’s womb, you saw the world that was made before you were. And if you could have understood the height of heaven or shown the nature of the sun, the moon and the stars, where they are fixed and how they move (…), or even the nature of the earth from which you were taken, its limits and bounds, its size and greatness (…), if you had uncovered the end of all things and counted the sand of the sea, and if, too, you could have known your own nature (…), then would you be able to consider your creator, how, in the Trinity, Unity dwells without confusion, and how, in the Unity, there is Trinity without division. Seek the Spirit ! (…) Perhaps God will comfort you and grant you, as he has already granted you to see the world, the sun and the light of day, yes, he will deign to enlighten you now in the same way (…), to enlighten you with the light of the Threefold Sun (…), Then you will learn the Spirit’s grace: that, even when absent, he is present by his power and, when present, he is unseen because of his divine nature, and is everywhere and nowhere. If you try to see him with the senses where will you find him? You will simply say: Nowhere. But if you have the strength to contemplate him spiritually it is he, rather, who will enlighten your soul and open the eyes of your heart.
Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team