Spiritual snacks

If you have a good conscience, you won't dread death. (CIoC)

You ought to order yourself in all your thoughts and actions, as if today you were to die. (CIoC)

Very quickly there will be an end of you here; see therefore to your state: today one is; tomorrow one is gone. And when one is out of sight, quickly also is one out of mind. (CIoC)

Why defer your good purpose from day to day? Arise and begin in this very instant and say now is the time to be doing, now is the time to be striving, now is the fit time to amend myself. (CIoC) Saskatchewan, Canada

The more spiritual a person desires to be, the more bitter does this present life become to that individual, because one sees more clearly and perceives more sensibly the defects of human corruption. (CIoC) S A 2 Wow, is this what happened to Jesus? I don’t think so.  I think He enjoyed the treats God gave Him here on earth but He chose not to get wrapped up in them. Check out the bibliographies of Christ, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and see if you agree.

Miserable you are, wherever you be, or wherever you turn, unless you turn yourself to God. (CIoC) S A 2 Is this a true statement? Certainly Jesus modelled an authentic relationship with His disciples and for some of us it takes an authentic person in a human body to help us understand the authentic love of God. Gary Chapman was blessed with the ability to summarize what humans need in order to feel loved in his description of the 5 Appreciation/Love Languages yet Christ Himself modelled what Gary labelled.

If also you did but consider within yourself the infernal pains in the other world, I believe you would willingly undergo any labour or sorrow in this world, and not be afraid of the greatest severity. But because these things don’t enter the heart, and we still only love those things that delight us, we remain cold and very dull in religion.   (CIoC)           Take lemons and make lemonade.            Do the possible and leave the impossible to God.            Value every experience as a learning experience S A 2 - V a l u e ( s ) n o t V i o l e n c e

A good person always finds sufficient cause for mourning and weeping. For whether one considers one’s own or one’s neighbour’s estate, one knows that none lives here without tribulation. (CIoC) Meditate on “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted” Saint Matthew 5:4    What if this was not true? Cursed are those who mourn… (a tip from Katie Byron’s material) -- SA2 Value(s) not violence

I participated with some Catholics doing Alpha and was blown away with how lively their worship was and my prejudice (prejudgment) was changed.  Similarly I hope Spiritual Snacks is breaking down barriers between denominations as we all go deeper with God.  The thoughts that I post on facebook are primarily coming from my interpretation of the Imitation of Christ and most days I'm just taking the next thought in the book. May God richly bless you as you go deeper with Him. Here is today's thought from the Contemporary Imitation of Christ (CIoC) "There is no true liberty or right joy without the fear of God accompanied with a good conscience." SA2 -- Value(s) not Violence

Give yourself to reluctance of the heart, and you shall gain much devotion. (CIoC)

If you will make any progress in godliness, keep yourself in the fear of God, and affect not too much liberty. Restrain all your senses under discipline, and don’t give yourself over to foolish entertainment. (CIoC)

Leave vain things to the vain; but be intent on those things which God has commanded you. (CIoC)

Stay with God in the closet; for you shall not find so great of peace anywhere else. (CIoC)

Lift up your eyes to God in the highest, and pray for Him to pardon our sins and negligence. (CIoC)

It is better for a person to live privately and to have regard for oneself than to neglect one’s soul, though one could work wonders in the world. (CIoC)

📖 In silence and in stillness a religious soul advances itself and learns the mysteries of Holy Scripture. (CIoC)

Oftentimes those who have been held in high esteem and count amongst folks have fallen into the greatest danger with too much self-confidence. (CIoC)

No person safely rules, but one that has learned to obey gladly. (CIoC)

If you stop yourself from speaking worthlessly, and from socialising pointlessly, and also from listening after uniqueness that has no depth and gossips; you will find enough leisure and good content to meditate on. (CIoC)

Don’t meddle with things too high for you; but read things that yield hesitation to your heart rather than occupation to your head. (CIoC)

Seek a convenient time of leisure for yourself, and mediate often upon God’s loving-kindness. (CIoC)

Everyone cannot use one kind of spiritual exercise, but one is more useful for this person, another for that; in the time of temptation, we have need of some and of others in time of peace and quietness. (CIoC)

Never be entirely idle; either be reading, or writing, or praying, or mediating, or endeavouring, or playing and/or doing something for the public good or the good of your family and friends. (CIoC)

The purpose of just people depends not upon their own wisdom but upon God’s grace, on whom they always rely for whatever they take in hand. (CIoC)

Daily we should renew our purposes, and stir up ourselves to greater fervor, as though this were the first day of our conversion; and to say, “ Help me, my God! In this Your holy service; and grant that I may now this day begin perfect; for that which I have done previously is as nothing. ” (CIoC)

The life of a good religious person should excel in all virtues so that one is the same inwardly as one is outwardly. (CIoC)