LOVE the Word®

Rest is not a luxury, it is a spiritual discipline.

The key to finding balance in your life, to having a well-ordered life, is to follow the pattern God embedded in creation. And that rhythm involves worship/rest as the crown of the week, followed by six days of work. Worship/rest is a commandment. A proper Sunday observance helps balance our lives and gives meaning to our time.

“[Christians] are obliged in conscience to arrange their Sunday rest in a way which allows them to take part in the Eucharist, refraining from work and activities which are incompatible with the sanctification of the Lord’s Day, with its characteristic joy and necessary rest for spirit and body . . . Understood and lived in this fashion, Sunday in a way becomes the soul of the other days, and in this sense we can recall the insight of Origen that the perfect Christian “is always in the Lord’s Day, and is always celebrating Sunday”  (St. John Paul II, Dies Domini) 

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LOVE the Word® is a Bible study method based on Mary’s own practice: lectio without the Latin. Get the book based on her method in the right margin, How to Pray Like Mary.

L – Listen (Receive the Word.)

O – Observe (Choose one or more of the following personality approaches to connect the passage to your life and recent events.)

F | Franciscan – Does it change how you see Sundays to know that rest/worship is a Commandment and not optional? What gesture can you offer God this week to make your Sunday more worshipful and restful, for you and your family?

I | Ignatian –  After Communion this Sunday, kneel with God and remember how your past work week went. What was good, what was bad, what was expected and unexpected? How did you cooperate with God’s work in the world in the week past? Imagine how the coming work week will look. Ask Him for a new consciousness of how you can work with Him more deliberately next week. 

A | Augustinian – Often we have a hard time resting on Sundays because the laundry screams to us from the laundry room, the dirty dishes demand attention from the sink, and the Monday schedule creeps in with it’s looming morning gauntlet and must-do checklists. List three concrete steps you can take this week to prepare early for Sunday, so that these distractions do not prevent a real worship/rest for you and your family.

T | Thomistic – Use this guide to help you memorize the Ten Commandments. Teach your children and grandchildren to memorize them too!

V – Verbalize (Pray about your thoughts and emotions.)

Remembering that He loves you and that you are in His presence, talk to God about the particulars of your O – Observe step. You may want to write your reflections in your LOVE the Word® journal. Or, get a free journal page and guide in the right-hand margin.

E – Entrust (May it be done to me according to your word!)

O God, by the resurrection of your Son Jesus Christ on the first day of the week, you conquered sin, put death to flight, and gave us the hope of everlasting life. Redeem all our days by this victory; forgive our sins, banish our fears, make us bold to praise you and to do your will; and steel us to wait for the consummation of your kingdom on the last great Day; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.+
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*Find out your prayer temperament with this quiz! LOVE the Word® exercises are offered according to FIAT: the four personalities, or “prayer forms,” explored in Prayer and Temperament, by Chester Michael and Marie Norrisey: Franciscan, Ignatian, Augustinian, and Thomistic: FIAT! These prayer forms correspond to the Myers-Briggs personality types.

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