Our Lady of Angels Association

by Michael January 7, 2013

For you yourselves know that our reception among you was not without effect. Rather, after we had suffered and been insolently treated, as you know, in Philippi, we drew courage through our God to speak to you the gospel of God with much struggle.

Our exhortation was not from delusion or impure motives, nor did it work through deception. But as we were judged worthy by God to be entrusted with the gospel, that is how we speak, not as trying to please human beings, but rather God who judges our hearts.

We did not appear with flattering speech, as you know, or with a pretext for greed – God is witness – nor did we seek praise from human beings, either from you or from others, although we were able to impose our weight as apostles of Christ.

Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love. In this way the love of God was revealed to us: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might have life through him. In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also must love one another. No one has ever seen God. Yet, if we love one another, God remains in us, and his love is brought to perfection in us.

I John 4:7-12

Whatever gains I had, these I have come to consider a loss because of Christ. More than that, I even consider everything as a loss because of the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have accepted the loss of all things and I consider them so much rubbish, that I may gain Christ, and be found in him, not having any righteousness of my own based on the law but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God, depending on faith to know him and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by being conformed to his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection form the dead.

Philippians 3:7-11

Turn from evil and do good, that you may inhabit the land forever. For the Lord loves justice and does not abandon the faithful. When the unjust are destroyed, and the children of the wicked cut off, the just will possess the land and live in it forever. The mouths of the just utter wisdom; their tongues speak what is right. God’s teaching is in their hearts; their steps do not falter.

Psalm 37 continued – verses 27-31

Happy those who do not follow
the counsel of the wicked,
nor go the way of sinners,
nor sit in company with scoffers.
Rather, the law of the Lord is their joy;
God’s law they study day and night.
They are like a tree
planted near streams of water,
that yields its fruit in season;
Its leaves never whither;
whatever they do prospers.

Psalm 1:1-3

Let my cry come before you, Lord; in keeping with your word give me discernment. Let my prayer come before you; rescue me according to your promise. May my lips pour forth your praise, because you teach me your laws. May my tongue sing of your promise, for all your commands are just. Keep your hand ready to help me, for I have chosen your precepts. I long for your salvation, Lord; your teaching is my delight. Let me live to praise you; may your edicts give me help. I have wandered like a lost sheep; seek our your servant, for I do not forget your commands.

Psalm 119 continued – verses 169-176

Beloved, do not be surprised that a trial by fire is occurring among you, as if something strange were happening to you. But rejoice to the extent that you share in the sufferings of Christ, so that when his glory is revealed you may also rejoice exultantly. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.

I Peter 4:12-14

It is not that I have already taken hold of it (the power of the resurrection) or have already attained perfect maturity, but I continue my pursuit in hope that I may possess it, since I have indeed been taken possession of by Christ. I for my part do not consider myself to have taken possession. Just one thing: forgetting what lies behind but straining forward to what lies ahead, I continue my pursuit toward the goal, the prize of God’s upward calling, in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 3:12-14

I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that he may grant you in accord with the riches of his glory to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner self, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, rooted and grounded in love, may have the strength to comprehend with all the holy ones what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to accomplish far more than all we ask or imagine, by the power at work within us, to him be glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Ephesians 3:14-21

The way we came to know love was that he laid down his life for us; so we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. If someone who has worldly means sees a brother in need and refuses him compassion, how can the love of God remain in him? Children, let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth.

I John 3:16-18

Love never fails. If there are prophecies, they will be brought to nothing; if tongues, they will cease; if knowledge, it will be brought to nothing. For we know partially and we prophesy partially, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I used to talk as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I put aside childish things. At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face. At present I know partially; then I shall know fully, as I am fully known. So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

I Corinthians 13:8-13