Seek God early in the day

Seek God early in the day, before He gets crowded out by life's
problems, difficulties, or pleasures. In that early quiet time gain a
calm, strong confidence in the goodness and purpose in the universe.
Do not seek God only when the world's struggles prove too much and too
many for you to bear or face alone. Seek God early, when you can have
a consciousness of God's spirit in the world. People often only seek
God when their difficulties are too great to be surmounted in any
other way, forgetting that if they sought God's companionship before
they need it, many of their difficulties would never arise. I pray
that I may not let God be crowded out by the hurly burly of life. I
pray that I may seek God early and often.
--From Twenty-Four Hours a Day

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22 December – Saint Hungerus Frisus of Utrecht
(Also known as Hunger}

Bishop of Utrecht – born in the Low Countries, now the Netherlands
and died in 866 at Prum, Germany of natural causes.

St Hungerus was the Bishop of Utrecht from 854 to 866. We are not sure
when he was born. After the death of his predecessor Luidger of
Utrecht, Luidger’s nephew Craft, was offered the seat. However, Craft,
a very wealthy person, refused because he was afraid that he would
attract Viking raids.

Instead the Canon, St Hungerus was appointed. At first, his relations
with the Vikings were peaceful but eventually Utrecht was threatened
by the Vikings, at which the Bishop and the entire clergy of Utrecht
fled to Saint Odilienberg, near Roermond. During this time of exile,
Hungerus spent his time teaching the faith in the surrounding areas.
In 858 King Lothair II made a Monastery available for them. Later, the
Bishop settled in Prum and then in Deventer.

By all accounts, St Hungerus was a Godly and pious man, who unlike his predecessors, did not engage in nepotism. In the case of the childless
marriage between King Lotharius and his wife, he defended the sanctity
of their marriage on Biblical and theological grounds but against his
counsel, to secure his succession, Lothair repudiated his wife and
married Waldrada, with whom he had a son.

https://anastpaul.com/2020/12/22/


“Mary said: My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour.” – Luke 1:46-47

“The Lord has exalted me by a gift so great,
so unheard of, that language is useless to describe it
and the depths of love in my heart can scarcely grasp it.
I offer then all the powers of my soul
in praise and thanksgiving.
As I contemplate His greatness,
which knows no limits,
I joyfully surrender my whole life,
my senses, my judgment,
for my spirit rejoices in
the eternal Godhead of that Jesus, that Saviour,
whom I have conceived in this world of time.”

“Those who refuse to be humble cannot be saved.
They cannot say with the prophet:
See, God comes to my aid;
the Lord is the helper of my soul.
But anyone who makes himself humble,
like a little child,
is greater in the kingdom of heaven.”
--St Bede the Venerable (673-735)

Bible Quote:
"My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me and I
give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither
shall any man pluck them out of my hand." (John 10:27)


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Saint Alphonsus Liguori, from The Redeeming Love of Christ

God says to each of us: "Give me your heart, that is, your will." We,
in turn, cannot offer anything more precious than to say: "Lord, take possession of us; we give our whole will to you; make us understand
what it is that you desire of us, and we will perform it."

If we would give full satisfaction to the heart of God, we must bring
our own will in everything into conformity with his; and not only into conformity, but into uniformity also, as regards all that God ordains. Conformity signifies the joining of our own will to the will of God;
but uniformity signifies, further, our making of the divine and our
own will one will only, so that we desire nothing but what God
desires, and his will becomes ours. This is the sum and substance of
that perfection to which we ought to be ever aspiring; this is what
must be the aim of all we do, and of all our desires, meditations and
prayers. For this we must invoke the assistance of all our patron
saints and our guardian angels, and, above all, of our divine mother
Mary, who was the most perfect saint, because she embraced most
perfectly the divine will.

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