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Tuesday, February 7, 2012

first and foremost

been contemplating indifference lots in the past couple of weeks. glad i decided to pick up this prayer card from my altar today! it will be a good day.

The First Principle and Foundation

The Goal of our life is to live with God forever.
God, who loves us, gave us life.
Our own response of love allows God's life
to flow into us without limit.

All the things in this world are gifts of God,
presented to us so that we can know God more easily
and make a return of love more readily.

As a result, we appreciate
and use all these gifts of God
insofar as they help us develop as loving persons.
But if any of these gifts
become the center of our lives,
they displace God
and so hinder our growth toward our goal.

In everyday life, then,
we must hold ourselves in balance
before all of these created gifts
insofar as we have a choice
and are not bound by some obligation.
We should not fix our desires on health or sickness,
wealth or poverty, success or failure,
a long life or short one.
For everything has the potential
of calling forth in us
a deeper response to our life in God.

Our only desire and our one choice should be this:
I want and I choose what better
leads to God's deepening his life in me.

~ St. Ignatius as paraphrased by David L. Fleming, SJ

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