Our Lady of Angels Association

by Michael January 7, 2013

We were gentle among you, as a nursing mother cares for her children. With such affection for you, we were determined to share with you not only the gospel of God, but our very selves as well, so dearly beloved had you become to us.

You recall our toil and drudgery. Working night and day in order not to burden any one of you, we proclaimed to you the gospel of God. You are witnesses, and so is God, how devoutly and justly and blamelessly we behaved toward you believers. As you know, we treated each one of you as a father treats his children, exhorting and encouraging you and insisting that you conduct yourselves as worthy of the God who calls you into his kingdom and glory.

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of the great love he had for us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, brought us to life with Christ (by grace you have been saved), raised us up with him, and seated us with him in the heavens in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from you; it is the gift of God; it is not from works, so no one may boast. For we are his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for the good works that God has prepared in advance, that we should live in them.

Ephesians 2:4-11

Lord, I call to you; come quickly to help me; listen to my pleas when I call. Let my prayer be incense before you; my uplifted hands an evening sacrifice. Set a guard, Lord, before my mouth, a gatekeeper at my lips. Do not let my heart incline to evil or yield to any sin. I will never feast upon the fine food of evildoers. Let the just strike me; this is kindness; let them rebuke me; that is oil for my head. All this I shall not refuse, but will pray despite these trials. When their leaders are cast over the cliff, all will learn that my prayers were heard. As when a farmer plows a field into broken clods, so their bones will be strewn at the mouth of Sheol. My eyes are upon you, O God, my Lord; in you I take refuge; do not strip me of life. Guard me from the trap they have set for me, from the snares of evildoers. Into their own nets let all the wicked fall, while I make good my own escape.

Psalm 141

I want you to know that my situation has turned out rather well to advance the gospel, so that my imprisonment has become well known in Christ throughout the whole praetorium and to all the rest, and so that the majority of the brothers, having taken encouragement in the Lord from my imprisonment, dare more than ever to proclaim the word fearlessly. Of course, some preach Christ from envy and rivalry, others from good will. The latter act out of love, aware that I am here for the defense of the gospel; the former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not from pure motives, thinking that they will cause me trouble in my imprisonment. What difference does it make, as long as in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is being proclaimed? And in that I rejoice.

Philippians 1:12-18

… put on the new self, created in God’s way of righteousness and holiness in truth. No foul language should come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for needed edification, that it may impart grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were sealed for the day of redemption. All bitterness, fury, anger, shouting, and reviling must be removed from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving on another as God has forgiven you in Christ.

Ephesians 4:29-32

Much have they oppressed me from my youth, now let Israel say. Much have they oppressed me from my youth, yet they have not prevailed. Upon my back the plowers plowed, as they traced their long furrows. But the just Lord set me free from the ropes of the yoke of the wicked. May they be scattered in disgrace, all who hate Zion. May they be like the grass on the rooftops withered in early growth, never to fill the reaper’s hands, nor the arms of the binders of sheaves, with none passing by to call out: “The blessings of the Lord be upon you! We bless you in the name of the Lord!”

Psalm 129

Consider this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each must do as already determined without sadness or compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. Moreover, God is able to make every grace abundant for you, so that in all things, always having all you need, you may have an abundance for every good work. As it is written: “He scatters abroad, he gives to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.

II Corinthians 9: 6-9

Happy those concerned for the lowly and poor; when misfortunate strikes, the Lord delivers them. The Lord keeps and preserves them, makes them happy in the land, and does not betray them to their enemies. The Lord sustains them on their sickbed, allays the malady when they are ill.

Psalm 41:1-4

Do not be yoked with those who are different, with unbelievers. For what partnership do righteousness and lawlessness have? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness? What accord has Christ with Beliar? Or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said: “I will live with them and move among them, and I will be their God and they shall be my people.”

II Corinthians 6:14-16

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we shall go into such and such a town, spend a year there doing business, and make a profit – you have no idea what your life will be like tomorrow. You are a puff of smoke that appears briefly and then disappears. Instead you should say, “If the Lord wills it, we shall live to do this or that.” But now you are boasting in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So for one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, it is a sin.

James 4:13-17

I must boast; not that it is profitable, but I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. I know someone in Christ who, fourteen years ago (whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows), was caught up to the third heaven. And I know that this person (whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows), was caught up into Paradise and heard ineffable things, which no one may utter. About this person I will boast, but about myself I will not boast, except about my weaknesses.

II Corinthians 12:1-5