Guidelines Sheet - Series on the Means of Perseverance: 15-19 July, 2024

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We have been meditating about the sources of spirituality of the Verbum Dei Missionary Family. Our spiritual life as Christians and disciples of Christ will be healthy when we constantly nourished ourselves from the Trinity who dwells in us, from the Eucharistic love of Jesus, from the universal and committed love for the whole Body of Christ and from our Mother Mary’s care and teaching.

We face many challenges to persevere in becoming mature and committed disciples of Christ. But only when we persevere, we can reveal to our world today that Jesus continues His salvation.

All of us have started our journey, we have tasted the love of God in a personal way, we have discovered how beneficial is to pray and to follow Jesus. But if we stop journeying or walking towards the goal, we´ll lose sight or perspective of our discipleship.

When we opt to continue following Him faithfully, then we can be a joyful disciple.

Jn 15:11
"I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.”

What is the meaning of perseverance? Perseverance is not giving up, it is the effort required to do something and keep doing it till the end, even if it´s hard. Close synonyms are persistence, tenacity, determination, and resolution.

Persevering is used to describe people who persevere - continue to do or try to achieve something despite difficulty or discouragement. If you persevere long enough and work hard enough, you´ll eventually succeed.

We are part of the Verbum Dei community which has a specific spirituality to carry out our mission. In our community we all have four means of perseverance for us to practice in our daily life: prayer, fraternal love, cross and mission. These are concrete channels to help us to run towards the goal.

1 Cor 9:24-27
“Surely you know that many runners take part in a race, but only one of them wins the prize. Run, then, in such a way as to win the prize. 
Every athlete in training submits to strict discipline, in order to be crowned with a wreath that will not last; but we do it for one that will last forever.
That is why I run straight for the finish line; that is why I am like a boxer who does not waste his punches.
I harden my body with blows and bring it under complete control, to keep myself from being disqualified after having called others to the contest.”

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MONDAY
WHY PERSEVERE? ALL MAY KNOW GOD IN A PERSONAL WAY

The disciple acknowledges that he/she is thirsty for more experience of the saving love of God. To persevere in searching for him as our defender, protector, shelter, and refuge.  To trust that our salvation comes from him alone leads us to incessantly go to him to be saved.

Ps 62:1-2.5-12 
“I wait patiently for God to save me; I depend on him alone. He alone protects and saves me; he is my defender, and I shall never be defeated. I depend on God alone; I put my hope in him. He alone protects and saves me; he is my defender, and I shall never be defeated. My salvation and honor depend on God; he is my strong protector; he is my shelter. Trust in God always, my people. Tell him all your troubles, for he is our refuge.
Human beings are all like a puff of breath; great and small alike are worthless. Put them on the scales, and they weigh nothing; they are lighter than a mere breath. Do not put your trust in violence; do not hope to gain anything by robbery; even if your riches increase, do not depend on them.
More than once, I have heard God say that power belongs to him and that his love is constant. You yourself, O Lord, reward everyone according to their deeds.”
 
Is God really the person I need more in my life?
Do I appreciate His presence in me and in others?
Do I come back to Him when I find myself lost or confused?
 
Meanwhile we are in this world, it´s necessary to be aware of the temptations and hardships we face every now and then. We´re easily carried by worldly values we are attach to. We experience many times dryness in our spiritual life. What to do? How to quench the hunger and thirst within us? God is always there but are we returning to Him asking for help? Only when we acknowledge this deep thirst for God within us, we´ll go back to Him with the great desire to be satisfied by him.

Jn 4: 10-13
“Jesus said to the Samaritan woman, ´If you only knew what God gives and who it is that is asking you for a drink, you would ask him, and he would give you life-giving water'.
'Sir, the woman said, ´you do not have a bucket, and the well is deep. Where would you get that life-giving water? It was our ancestor Jacob who gave us this well; he and his children and his flocks all drank from it. You do not claim to be greater than Jacob, do you?´
Jesus answered, ´Those who drink this water will get thirsty again, but those who drink the water that I will give them will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give them will become in them a spring which will provide them with life-giving water and give them eternal life.”
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Are the words of Jesus penetrating deeply in me? What life-giving water do I receive from him today?

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TUESDAY
HOW TO PERSEVERE?  BEING FAITHFUL TO A DAILY COMMUNICATION WITH THE TRINITY

Through prayer we connect ourselves with the Trinity. The Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit want to communicate His life and love to every person in this world. When we are in a close relationship with them, we know in a personal way their friendship which is very significant. If the fruit of our prayer is to rediscover every day His love which makes us happy, we´ll persevere in our discipleship.

Jn 6:35
“I am the bread of life," Jesus told them. "Those who come to me will never be hungry; those who believe in me will never be thirsty.”

Rom 8: 31.38-39
“If God is for us, who can be against us? For I am certain that nothing can separate us from his love: neither death nor life, neither angels nor other heavenly rulers or powers, neither the present nor the future, neither the world above nor the world below - there is nothing in all creation that will ever be able to separate us from the love of God which is ours through Christ Jesus our Lord.”
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Do I believe that nothing can separate me from His love? Am I eager to be loved by Him day after day? Is my relationship with Him the most important activity during the day?

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WEDNESDAY
HOW TO PERSEVERE? THROUGH GROWING IN FRATERNAL LOVE

Rom 12:9-21
​“Love must be completely sincere. Hate what is evil, hold on to what is good.
Love one another warmly as Christians, and be eager to show respect for one another.
Work hard and do not be lazy. Serve the Lord with a heart full of devotion.
Let your hope keep you joyful, be patient in your troubles, and pray at all times.
Share your belongings with your needy fellow Christians, and open your homes to strangers.
Ask God to bless those who persecute you - yes, ask him to bless, not to curse.
Be happy with those who are happy, weep with those who weep.
Have the same concern for everyone. Do not be proud, but accept humble duties. Do not think of yourselves as wise.
If someone has done you wrong, do not repay him with a wrong. Try to do what everyone considers to be good.
Do everything possible on your part to live in peace with everybody.
Never take revenge, my friends, but instead let God's anger do it. For the scripture says, "I will take revenge, I will pay back, says the Lord."
Instead, as the scripture says: ´If your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them a drink; for by doing this you will make them burn with shame. ´
Do not let evil defeat you; instead, conquer evil with good.”
 
The manifestation of the Eucharistic love of Jesus rooted in us is written in the letter of Paul to the Romans.

How do I know that I´m becoming a good disciple of Jesus? If I´m ready to love.  In our daily life we have many opportunities to love those with whom we spend our time in our families, in our offices, even going for one place to another or going shopping…

How do I listen to them?  do I offer my time to them? Are they significant people to me? Am I aware that many people can learn how to love through me?

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THURSDAY
HOW TO PERSEVERE? THROUGH EMBRACING THE DAILY CROSS

Lk 9:23-25
And he said to them all, "If you want to come with me, you must forget yourself, take up your cross every day, and follow me. For if you want to save your own life, you will lose it, but if you lose your life for my sake, you will save it. Will you gain anything if you win the whole world but are yourself lost or defeated? Of course not!
 
Luke 14:27-33
“Those who do not carry their own cross and come after me cannot be my disciples.
If one of you is planning to build a tower, you sit down first and figure out what it will cost, to see if you have enough money to finish the job.
If you do not, you will not be able to finish the tower after laying the foundation; and all who see what happened will make fun of you.
´You began to build but cannot finish the job!' they will say.
If a king goes out with ten thousand men to fight another king who comes against him with twenty thousand men, he will sit down first and decide if he is strong enough to face that other king.
If he is not, he will send messengers to meet the other king to ask for terms of peace while he is still a long way off.
In the same way, concluded Jesus, none of you can be my disciple unless you give up everything you have.”
 
What is the message of Jesus in these two passages? He wants to emphasize that His disciples are those who love Him more than themselves. When you love somebody, you make a lot of sacrifices for the loved person. And we don´t mind to do all these sacrifices for the good or the best of the other person. To love Jesus implies to sacrifice something for Him, this is the meaning of the cross. Do I offer my time to pray thinking that He needs my time and my effort in prayer? Do I follow my desires and inclinations or his? How do I listen to His Word: for my own benefits or the health in the Mystical Body of Christ?

Without embracing the cross, meaning to say, without willing to please Jesus through listening to Him in prayer or through loving others, we can´t persevere in our discipleship. Probably we can persevere following him externally but our heart and mind are very far from Him.

Mt 15:8
"These people, says God, honor me with their words, but their heart is really far away from me.”
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What are the sacrifices to make to pray day by day? Do I identify the sacrifices to love those around me?

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FRIDAY
FOR WHAT TO PERSEVERE? BECAUSE PEOPLE NEED TO KNOW GOD IN A PERSONAL WAY

Job 42:1-5
Then Job answered the Lord. “I know, Lord, that you are all-powerful; that you can do everything you want. You ask how I dare question your wisdom when I am so very ignorant. I talked about things I did not understand, about marvels too great for me to know. You told me to listen while you spoke and to try to answer your questions.
In the past I knew only what others had told me, but now I have seen you with my own eyes.”
 
Reason to persevere: people need to see with their own eyes who is God, to know God by having a personal experience of His love. How are we going to transmit who is He if we don´t persevere in knowing Him every day more? We know a person after many years of living together and facing many situations in life.  With our God it´s the same because we know Him more when we live with Him in different situations which sometimes are unexpected. Allow God to enter into your life, into your internal and external situations and to tell you how to live them with Him.

Amos 8:11 
"The time is coming when I will send famine on the land. People will be hungry, but not for bread; they will be thirsty, but not for water. They will hunger and thirst for a message from the Lord. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken.

Do I perceive the thirst and hunger for God of my brothers and sisters? Who is hungry of the Word of God among the people I know? What could be the message of God for them?

Rom 10: 8-11
What it says is this: "God's message is near you, on your lips and in your heart" -that is, the message of faith that we preach.
If you confess that Jesus is Lord and believe that God raised him from death, you will be saved.
For it is by our faith that we are put right with God; it is by our confession that we are saved.
The scripture says, "Whoever believes in him will not be disappointed."
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In what situations do I transmit God´s message? To whom do I transmit? Are they experienced a new life upon receiving His message?

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PRAYER FOR THE CONGRESS
To be held in Loeches, Spain from August 30 – September 27, 2024

“Communion, Consecration and Participation in the Mission"