Deuteronomy 10:12-21

“And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the LORD’S commandments and His statutes which I am commanding you today for your good? Behold, to the LORD your God belong heaven and the highest heavens, the earth and all that is in it. Yet the LORD set His affection on your fathers, to love them, and He chose their descendants after them, you over all the other peoples, as it is this day. So circumcise your heart, and do not stiffen your neck any longer. For the LORD your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who does not show partiality, nor take a bribe. He executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and shows His love for the stranger by giving him food and clothing. So show your love for the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. You shall fear the LORD your God; you shall serve Him, and cling to Him, and you shall swear by His name. He is your glory and He is your God, who has done these great and awesome things for you which your eyes have seen.

Deuteronomy 11:22

For if you are careful to keep all of this commandment which I am commanding you to do, to love the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and cling to Him,

does god favor some over others

God's favor is not based on personal merit but rather on humility and openness to His grace

His grace is available to all who seek perfection

all humans are called to cooperate with the grace of the Holy Spirit, which is a gift available to everyone, further supporting the notion that God's grace is not exclusive

God does not favor some individuals over others; rather, He extends His grace and invitation to all, regardless of their circumstances.

1 Corinthians 15:1-4

The Fact of Christ’s Resurrection

Now I make known to you, brothers and sisters, the gospel which I preached to you, which you also received, in which you also stand, by which you also are saved, if you hold firmly to the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.

For I handed down to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,

W]hen you do confess, you should do so in this manner:

In regard to thoughts and imaginings (whether they concern judgments, or other inordinate objects or representations, or any other motions) that occur without being desired or accepted or deliberately adverted to: Do not confess them or pay attention to them or worry about them. It is better to forget them no matter how much they afflict the soul. At most, you can mention in general any omission or remissness as regards the purity and perfection you ought to have in the interior faculties: memory, intellect, and will.

In regard to words: Confess any want of caution in speaking with truthfulness and rectitude, out of necessity, and with purity of intention.

In regard to deeds: Confess any lack of the proper and only motive—God alone without any other concern.

By such a confession you can be content and need not tell any other particular thing, however much it may battle against you. Receive Communion on Pentecost in addition to those days on which you usually receive.

When something distasteful or unpleasant comes your way, remember Christ crucified and be silent.

Live in faith and hope, even though you are in darkness, because it is in these darknesses that God protects the soul.

Cast your care on God, for he watches over you and will not forget you. Do not think that he leaves you alone; that would be an affront to him.

Read, pray, rejoice in God, both your good and your salvation. May he grant you this good and this salvation and conserve it all until the day of eternity. Amen. Amen.

SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS

Letter 20 to a Discalced Carmelite nun suffering from scruples
Shortly before Pentecost, 1590

A Good Confession:

In regard to thoughts: lack of purity and goodness you ought to have in memory, intellect, and will.

In regard to words: lack of truthfulness and purity of intention.

In regard to deeds: Confess any lack of the proper and only motive—God alone without any other concern.

When something distasteful or unpleasant comes your way, remember Christ crucified and be silent.

Live in faith and hope, even though you are in darkness, because it is in these darknesses that God protects the soul.

Cast your care on God, for he watches over you and will not forget you. Do not think that he leaves you alone; that would be an affront to him.

Read, pray, rejoice in God, both your good and your salvation. May he grant you this good and this salvation and conserve it all until the day of eternity. Amen.

A Good Confession

A Good Confession:

In regard to thoughts: lack of purity and goodness you ought to have in memory, intellect, and will.

In regard to words: lack of truthfulness and purity of intention.

In regard to deeds: Confess any lack of the proper and only motive—God alone without any other concern.

When something distasteful or unpleasant comes your way, remember Christ crucified and be silent.

Live in faith and hope, even though you are in darkness, because it is in these darknesses that God protects the soul.

Cast your care on God, for he watches over you and will not forget you. Do not think that he leaves you alone; that would be an affront to him.

Read, pray, rejoice in God, both your good and your salvation. May he grant you this good and this salvation and conserve it all until the day of eternity. Amen.

St John of the Cross to a Nun with Scruples

W]hen you do confess, you should do so in this manner:

In regard to thoughts and imaginings (whether they concern judgments, or other inordinate objects or representations, or any other motions) that occur without being desired or accepted or deliberately adverted to: Do not confess them or pay attention to them or worry about them. It is better to forget them no matter how much they afflict the soul. At most, you can mention in general any omission or remissness as regards the purity and perfection you ought to have in the interior faculties: memory, intellect, and will.

In regard to words: Confess any want of caution in speaking with truthfulness and rectitude, out of necessity, and with purity of intention.

In regard to deeds: Confess any lack of the proper and only motive—God alone without any other concern.

By such a confession you can be content and need not tell any other particular thing, however much it may battle against you. Receive Communion on Pentecost in addition to those days on which you usually receive.

When something distasteful or unpleasant comes your way, remember Christ crucified and be silent.

Live in faith and hope, even though you are in darkness, because it is in these darknesses that God protects the soul.

Cast your care on God, for he watches over you and will not forget you. Do not think that he leaves you alone; that would be an affront to him.

Read, pray, rejoice in God, both your good and your salvation. May he grant you this good and this salvation and conserve it all until the day of eternity. Amen. Amen.

SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS

Letter 20 to a Discalced Carmelite nun suffering from scruples
Shortly before Pentecost, 1590

The holiest, most ordinary, and most necessary practice of the spiritual life is that of the presence of God. It is to take delight in and become accustomed to his divine company, speaking humbly and conversing lovingly with him all the time, at every moment, without rule or measure, especially in times of temptation, suffering, aridity, weariness, even infidelity and sin. 

During our work and other activities, even during our reading and writing, no matter how spiritual—and I emphasize, even during our religious exercises and vocal prayers—we must stop for a moment, as often as possible, to adore God in the depths of our hearts, to savor him, even though in passing and stealthily. 

All these adorations must be made by faith, believing that God is truly in our hearts, that we must adore, love, and serve him in spirit and in truth, [cf. Jn 4:23] that he sees everything that happens and will happen in us and in all creatures; that he is independent of everything and the one on whom all creatures depend, infinite in every kind of perfection. 

He is the one who, by virtue of his infinite excellence and sovereign domain, deserves all that we are as well as everything in heaven and on earth, of which he can dispose as he wishes in time and in eternity. 

All our thoughts, words and actions belong by right to him. Let's put this into practice.

BROTHER LAWRENCE 

God’s Gifts

Grace of Justification is

God’s gifts of:

Belief 

Hope

Love

Repentance 

By the Holy Spirit

Bestowed upon him

Upon which we have a choice to cooperate or not 

The Council of Trent included a canon that states, 

"If anyone says that without the predisposing inspiration of the Holy Ghost and without His help, man can believe, hope, love or be repentant as he ought, so that the grace of justification may be bestowed upon him, let him be anathema.”

God is God

He is Faithful 

He keeps His covenant 

To those who love Him he is faithful to his covenant 

(If you love Him you will keep his commandments)

He will repay those who hate him 

(If you hate him you disregard his commandments)

He will repay to their fave those who hate him

He will eliminate them

He does not hesitate 

Deuteronomy 7:9-10

Know therefore that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His faithfulness to a thousand generations for those who love Him and keep His commandments; but He repays those who hate Him to their faces, to eliminate them; He will not hesitate toward him who hates Him, He will repay him to his face.

God leads you 

All your life he has been leading you

You have obstacles to keep you humble

This humility is to test you

Humility shows what is in your heart 

Obedience or self direction 

Are you keeping commandments or disobedience 

He let you go hungry to feed you to show you need Him

You did not lack

He disciplines to make you children of God

Deuteronomy 8:2-5

And you shall remember all the way which the LORD your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, in order to humble you, putting you to the test, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. And He humbled you and let you go hungry, and fed you with the manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, in order to make you understand that man shall not live on bread alone, but man shall live on everything that comes out of the mouth of the LORD. Your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years. So you are to know in your heart that the LORD your God was disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son.

If you start to disobey and look to idols you will die 

To live you must listen to God and obey

God eliminates those who are disobedient

Deuteronomy 8:19-20

And it shall come about, if you ever forget the LORD your God and follow other gods and serve and worship them, I testify against you today that you will certainly perish. Like the nations that the LORD eliminates from you, so you shall perish, because you would not listen to the voice of the LORD your God.

God will get angry if you disobey 

He will want to destroy you for your disobedience 

Jesus is praying for us

Turn back to God

Deuteronomy 9:19-20

For I was afraid of the anger and the rage with which the LORD was angry with you so as to destroy you; but the LORD listened to me that time as well. The LORD was also angry enough with Aaron to destroy him; so I also prayed for Aaron at the same time.

Do not rebell against God

Do not rebell against his commands 

Trust Him

Listen to Him

Obey Him

Deuteronomy 9:23

And when the LORD sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, ‘Go up and take possession of the land which I have given you,’ you rebelled against the command of the LORD your God; you neither trusted Him nor listened to His voice.