Examination of
Conscience
As we cap the day, remembering
the Lord’s unfailing Love and graces, mindful of our own shortcomings and
failures to appreciate the Lord’s goodness and the gift of each other, let us
all the more implore God’s mercy- that He would help us know Him more- so we
could live according to His example.
Steadying our focus on God, let
us keep in mind that:
The one who plants and the one who waters really does not matter. It is
God who matters, because He makes the plant grow. [We] must work, pray and
suffer as if all the fruit depended on our efforts, but remember that the one
who plants and the one who waters really does not matter. [We] can do nothing
alone. It is God who produces the fruit.
[Let us] direct all glory to Him, refer everything to Him and for
everything hope in Him. Keep away from vanity, presumption, and even
satisfaction if you see the fruit. Be mindful that all is from God. Beware of
taking any of His glory. Maintain only one desire: that all glory should be for
God, for His is the fruit, the virtue, the power and accomplishment.
With the grace of God working in [us], [our] example should have such
strong influence that no one could remain unaffected by it. [Our] simple and
unaffected style should be such that those around [us] can feel capable of
imitating [us]. [Our] humility and the way [we] attribute everything to God from
whom all good things come, should pave the way for others to do the same. In this
way [our] example and words will help free people [we] meet from corruption.
-“One Desire” by Saint Pedro Poveda
From his book: Following Christ, pp.60-61
There are many workers, the building is one
1 Co 3:1-9
I could not, friends, speak to
you as spiritual persons but as fleshly people, for you are still infants in
Christ. I gave you milk and not solid food, for you were not ready for it and
up to now you cannot receive it for you are still of the flesh. As long as
there is still jealousy and strife, what can I say but that you are at the
level of the flesh and behave like ordinary people.
While one says, “I follow Paul,”
and the other: “I follow Apollos,” what are you but people still at a human
level?
For what is Apollos? What is
Paul? They are ministers and through them you believed, as it was given by the
Lord to each of them. I planted, Apollos watered the plant, but God made it
grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God
who makes the plant grow.
The one who plants and the one who waters work to
the same end, and the Lord will pay each according to their work. We are
fellow-workers with God, but you are God’s field and building.
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