Our Lady of Angels Association

by Michael January 9, 2013

I call with all my heart, O Lord; answer me that I may observe your laws.
I call to you to save me that I may keep your decrees.
I rise before dawn and cry out; I put my hope in your words.
My eyes greet the night watches as I meditate on your promise.

Hear my voice in your love, O Lord; by your edict give me life.
Malicious persecutors draw near me; they are far from your teaching.
You are near, O Lord; reliable are all your commands.
Long have I known from your decrees that you have established them forever.

This is the one who came through water and blood, Jesus Christ, not by water alone, but by water and blood. The Spirit is the one that testifies, and the Spirit is truth. So there are three that testify, the Spirit, the water, and the blood, and the three are of one accord. If we accept human testimony, the testimony of God is surely greater. Now the testimony of God is this, that he has testified on behalf of his Son. Whoever believes in the Son of God has this testimony within himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar by not believing the testimony God has given about his Son. And this is the testimony: God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever possesses the Son has life; whoever does not possess the Son of God does not have life.

I John 5:6-12

Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains. You too must be patient. Make your hearts firm, because the coming of the Lord is at hand.

James 5:7-8

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who in his great mercy gave us a new birth to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading kept in heaven for you who by the power of God are safeguarded through faith, to a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the final time. In this you rejoice, although now for a little while you may have to suffer through various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that is perishable even though tested by fire, may prove to be for praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

I Peter 1:3-7

Be sober and vigilant. Your opponent the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, steadfast in faith, knowing that your fellow believers throughout the world undergo the same sufferings. The God of all grace who called you to his eternal glory through Christ Jesus will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you after you have suffered a little. To him be dominion forever. Amen.

I Peter 5:8-11

Lord, your love reaches to heaven; your fidelity, to the clouds. Your justice is like the highest mountains; your judgments, like the mighty deep; all living creatures you sustain, Lord. How precious is your love, O God! We take refuge in the shadow of your wings. We feast on the rich food of your house; from your delightful stream you give us drink. For with you is the fountain of life, and in your light we see light. Continue your kindness toward your friends, your just defense of the honest heart.

Psalm 36:6-10

Rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, insincerity, envy, and all slander; like newborn infants, long for pure spiritual milk so that through it you may grow into salvation, for you have tasted that the Lord is good. Come to him, a living stone, rejected by human beings but chosen and precious in the sight of God, and, like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

I Peter 2:1-5

Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father’s Son in truth and love. I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children in the truth just as we were commanded by the Father. But now, Lady,* I ask you, not as though I were writing a new commandment but the one we have had from the beginning: let us love one another. For this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, as you heard from the beginning, in which you should walk. (*the Christian Community)

II John 3-6

You have given me the strength of a wild bull; you have poured rich oil upon me. My eyes look with glee on my wicked enemies; my ears delight in the fall of my foes. The just shall flourish like the palm tree, shall grow like a cedar of Lebanon. Planted in the house of the Lord, they shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall bear fruit even in old age, always vigorous and sturdy, as they proclaim: “The Lord is just; our rock, in whom there is no wrong.”

Psalm 92 continued – verses 11-16

My soul longs for your salvation; I put my hope in your word. My eyes long to see your promise. When will you comfort me? I am like a wineskin shriveled by smoke, but I have not forgotten your laws. How long can your servant survive? When will your edict doom my foes? The arrogant have dug pits for me; defying your teaching. All your commands are steadfast. Help me! I am pursued without cause. They have almost ended my life on earth, but I do not forsake your precepts. In your kindness give me life, to keep the decrees you have spoken.

Psalm 119 continued – verses 81-88

Join with others in being imitators of me, and observe those who thus conduct themselves according to the model you have in us. For many, as I have often told you and now tell you even in tears, conduct themselves as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction. Their God is their stomach; their glory is in their “shame.” Their minds are occupied with earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we also await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will change our lowly body to conform to his glorified body by the power that enables him also to bring all things into subjection to himself.

Philippians 4:17-21