Weekly Prayer Guidelines: September 2-8, 2019

Today I am giving you a choice…

c.f. Dt. 30:15

September 2-8, 2019

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General Theme:
Unawareness of Life and Love
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General Objective: That we may discover why we do not live fully the plan of God for our lives

Objective of the week:
To discover that everything comes from the living ignorance of God’s Life and Love.

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INTRODUCTION

God created us with a gift of free will. As human, we are free and can choose. There are moments in our lives that we are unaware that our free will or freedom to choose separates us from the knowledge of our true identity as sons and daughters of God. We, sometimes without discernment, choose to live our own way setting aside the prompting of the Spirit through our conscience. A formed conscience guides us to the path that leads us to the fulfillment of the will of the Father. God places His law in each one of us. In prayer, he reveals His will for each one of us. When we choose to do our will that is not of God’s we destroy ourselves and our happiness. Indeed, lack of discernment is unawareness.

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MONDAY
God’s law is engraved in our minds and hearts

Dt 28:1-2
Well now, if you obey in truth the voice of Yahweh, your God, practicing and observing all the commandments which I give you today, Yahweh, your God shall raise you high above all the nations of the earth. Then all these blessings shall reach you and come upon you for having obeyed the voice of Yahweh, your God.

Heb 8:10-11
But this is the covenant that I will make with the people of Israel in the days to come I will put my laws into their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God and they will be my people. None of them will have to teach one another or say to each other know the Lord, for they will know me from the least to the greatest. I will forgive their sins and no longer remember their wrongs.

At the womb of our mother, God already imprints in us His law, His law that is bind by love. His Love and voice resounds in our whole being.
 
Do we recognize the truthfulness of His laws? Are we using His laws for self- justification? ​​

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TUESDAY
God reveals His will to us
(St. Gregory the Great, Pope and Doctor)

Rom 2:15
Showing that the commandments of the law are engraved in their minds. Their conscience speaking within them also shows it, when they condemn and or approved their actions.

God speaks in many ways, even in the smallest details of our daily experiences. Sometimes we recognize we are wrong after committing an action because of our impulsive ways.  
Are we sensitive to God’s will today?

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WEDNESDAY
God gives us freedom to choose

Dt 30:19
I am now giving you the choice between life and death, between God’s blessing and God’s curse, and I call heaven and earth to witness the choice you make.

God gives us this special gift of freedom to choose. He respects this free will so much that He allows us to choose. Even if there are a lot of moments that we make His heart bleeds because of our wrong choices, even so God takes the risk of giving it to us.
 
Are we using this gift of free will wisely?

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THURSDAY
Choosing our own will breaks our conscience

Rom 7:19
I don’t do the good I want to do; instead, I do the evil that I do not want to do.

A formed conscience guides us to do what is good and gives us courage to do what is right. But when our conscience is not properly formed, we choose what we think is right and act accordingly on what we believe which is wrong in the eyes of God. 
 
Am I allowing God to form my conscience?

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FRIDAY 
Going against our conscience destroys us and our happiness

Dt 30:17
But if you refuse to listen, and are led away to worship other gods, you will be destroyed -- I warn you here and now.

When we choose to do our own will that is not aligned with the will of the Father, it destroys us and our happiness.
 
Do we attentively listen to our conscience nowadays?

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SATURDAY
Lack of discernment is unawareness

Is 1:2-3
Listen, O heavens! Give heed, O earth! For the Lord speaks: I raised children, I brought them up, but they have risen against me.

Lack of discernment brings forth unawareness of the great love of the Father for each one of us. Thus, we deviate to the real identity we have as heirs of the kingdom of God. 
 
Do we keep on discerning to be aware of God’s presence in us?

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SUNDAY
Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
 
23TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

1st Reading –  Wisdom 9:13-18
Responsorial Psalm – Ps 90:3-6;12-17
2nd Reading – Philemon 9-17
Gospel – Luke 14:25-33