Sunday
**Excerpts this week for Fr Gabriel’s ‘Divine Intimacy’
Charity seeketh not her own (1 Cor 13,5). Attention to the needs and sorrows of others, with a constant readiness to give one s help, is no justification for expecting a like return. Do good, and lend,hoping for nothing thereby; and your reward shall be great, and you shall be the sons of the Highest; for He is kind to the unthankful and to the evil (.Lk 6,35). Charity does not give in order to receive; it gives without counting the cost and without measure, for it knows that the honor of serving and loving God in His creatures is ample reward. Charity loves, serves, gives, and spends itself lavishly, solely for the sake of loving and serving God in others, for the joy of imitating His infinite generosity, for the joy of feeling itself the child of the heavenly Father who bestows His favors upon all without distinction. What greater reward can there be than to be able to call ourselves, and to be in all truth, children of God! To enjoy this reward, charity seeks to fly from every earthly recompense and hides the good it does. Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doth (Mt 6,3). It seeks by preference to benefit those from whom it can expect nothing in return : When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren. . . lest perhaps they also invite thee again and a recompense be made to thee. But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, and the blind; and thou shalt be blessed, because they have not wherewith to make thee recompense (Lk 14, 12-14). How the logic of the Gospel differs from the logic of human calculations!

Prayer: For as many have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ…Alleluia

Monday
Whenever a strong desire to give ourselves to God arises in our heart, it is accompanied by a similar longing to give ourselves to others solely for love of God. Then we no longer distinguish between serving God and serving others : we see God in everyone, we give ourselves to them in order to give ourselves to God, and we give ourselves to all as we would give ourselves to God. This was the attitude in the heart of St. Paul when he exclaimed : But I most gladly will spend and be spent myself for your souls, although loving you more, I be loved less (2 Cor 12,15).
Charity is patient, is kind. . .is not provoked to anger (1 Cor 13,4.5). Charity is never wearied, is never impatient with the ungrateful, is not irritated when repulsed, but perseveres in loving and doing good. Charity does not look for gratitude, is not ungracious. It is not offended when it meets with a lack of refinement or consideration; but, in spite of the coldness and hostility which it may encounter, it continues its one work : to give itself, and to give itself always, for the love of God. At the same time, however, charity is not insensible to ingratitude and offenses; on the contrary, the more a heart is refined in love, the more sensitive it is to everything which is opposed to love.
But it does not make use of its sensitiveness to defend its own rights, to protest against the ingratitude of others, or to demand some degree of justice; it sacrifices all these to God for the benefit of those who have caused its suffering. This is the characteristic of charity : it does not permit itself to be overcome by evil, but it overcomes evil by good (Rom 12,21).

Prayer: St. Therese, the Little Flower, please pick me a rose from the Heavenly Garden and send it to me with a message of love. Ask God to grant me the favor I thee implore, and tell Him I will love Him each day more and more. Amen.

Tuesday
We all know, however, how difficult this is, how hard for selfish, demanding nature. Sometimes, just when one is about to perform an especially delicate act of charity for another, a strong feeling of antipathy toward that person arises from the sensitive part of the soul because of the absence of some sign or token of respect or consideration. This is manifestly a temptation which must be overcome as soon as it appears, that it may not take root. Anyone who would yield to these feelings and act accordingly, under the pretext of justice or of teaching a lesson, would soon become very exacting to the great detriment of charity. In community life especially, patient charity must be practiced, the charity which knows how to pass over wrongs, little or great, misunderstandings and offenses; one which knows how to accept calmly every pinprick, without even appearing to feel it or trying to show others that they have hurt us.

Prayer: Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of the faithful and kindle in them the fire Thy love. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created. And You shall renew the face of the earth.

Wednesday
Prayer by St. Catherine of Siena …. O eternal God, the soul who truly loves You spends itself for its neighbor and cannot do otherwise, for its love for You and its love of neighbor are one and the same thing; the more the soul loves You, the more it loves its neighbor, because love of neighbor has its source in You.
You have given us this means of proving and practicing virtue, O Most High God, so that, since we cannot benefit You, we can benefit others. Therefore, a soul in love with You, most amiable Lord, never ceases to spend itself in doing good to others, striving to discover their needs and hastening to help them.
O God, eternal Trinity, You ask us to love You with the same love with which You love us. This we cannot do, for You loved us when we were as yet Your enemies; and however great our love for You, we would always owe You this love, as due to You; it is therefore, not gratuitous, because You loved us first. As it is impossible for us to give You the love You desire, You have given us our neighbor, that we may do for him what we cannot do for You, that is, love him without having been loved by him gratuitously without expecting any benefit from it.
Teach me, O Lord, to love my neighbor even when not loved by him, to love him with no concern for my own benefit, but solely because You love me, solely to repay Your gratuitous love. Then I shall fulfill the commandment of the law : to love You above all things, and my neighbor as myself

Prayer: Create in me a clean heart of God and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not from thy presence nor take thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation and by thy governing spirit establish me.

Thursday
Charity has no rigid requirements; it does not expect, and even less pretend, that others should adapt themselves to it, but it is always ready to accommodate itself to the neighbor. God adapted Himself to us when He became man; yet, we do not know how to come down from the little pedestal of our personality to adapt ourselves to the mentalities, preferences, and needs of our brethren. We excuse ourselves by saying, They are wrong; they are rude and ungrateful, they do not understand my needs, my sensibilities. . . . How we deceive ourselves! How petty we are in our demands on others! Let us look at the Son of God, the eternal Word, who did not disdain to put Himse1′ on our level, to the extent of taking on our mortal fl^h and living a human life in the midst of us. During His earthly life, He did not choose for His companions intellectual men of refined education; He chose ignorant men of rude mentality, men of simple tastes who kwew very little about the refinements of life. He lived them and adopted their ways quite naturally, with thout any singularity aside from His unlimited charity.

Prayer: Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy, our life, our sweetness and our hope! To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve. To thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears! Turn, then, O most gracious Advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us, and after this, our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus. O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary.
V. Pray for us, O holy Mother of God.
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
*Salve Regina

Friday
Certainly, we cannot conform to the *desires f our neighbor when there is question, however sligbt something, in opposition to the honor of God and t^ observance of His law. To do so in such cases would be <palpable weakness. But there are many other occasions wenn it 1S simply a matter of not insisting upon our persona feelings, our point of view, our own tastes, but of effacing our’rselves, and considering the mentality and tastes of others. Then condescension is solid virtue, and far from being wetness, it is a beautiful proof of moral strength, of that strength which knows how to overcome self and sacrifice its ego for e love of God. Lasting charity and perfect harmony are rot possible without this flexibility which makes us capable of adapting ourselves to others. When we have firmly resolved to overlook all differences of temperament, mentality, education and tastes, when we are determined to give up our own ideas to accommodate ourselves to the ideas and desires of others, then only can it be said that the goal of fraternal charity has been attained.
Hail Mary, full of Grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners now and in the hour of our death.

Saturday
We find in the Gospel most beautiful examples of this condescension. And if a man will contend with thee in judgment, and take away thy coat, let go thy cloak also unto him. And whosoever will force thee one mile, go with him other two. Give to him that asketh of thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not away (Mt 5,40-42). The divine Master strongly exhorts us to patience, meekness, and the renouncement of our rights, so as to put ourselves humbly at the service of our neighbor, sacrificing ourselves generously for him, for his interests and his joy. Instead of quarreling and arguing with a troublesome person, Jesus teaches us to yield always, even if that person s demands are \ unreasonable. St. Therese of the Child Jesus comments on this passage in the Gospel : It seems to me that to give up one s cloak is to renounce every right, and look upon oneself the slave of all. . . . Hence, it is not enough for me to gh~ to the one who asks, I ought to anticipate the wish; I sfhould show myself honored by the request for service, and anything set apart for my use be taken away, I should appear Jac| to be rid of it (St, 1 o). However, the Saint has no illusuis . she knows very well that our being asked in a truths way Gr with a pretentious, commanding tone to render stne service, to do a favor, or to give some object, will bring fcth resentment and protests from our self-love, ^ here is ai inward rebellion unless we are perfect in charity. We no end of reasons for refusing (ibid.). But he who willes tQ have perfect charity does not yield to these interior rebellions; doing violence to himself, he graciously places him mself at the disposal of his neighbor.

Prayer: O Mary Help of Christians grant me to have a spirit of chastity, humility meekness, love and temperance.