Testimonial to Volume IX: Christian Call to Personal Sanctification
Preface to Volume IX
Earlier Volumes in this series, especially Volume III, on “The Church” and Volume IV, on “Marriage, Family, and Sexuality,” have included excellent magisterial documents proclaiming this truth, in particular, critical documents of Vatican Council II and the Apostolic Exhortation of Pope John Paul II, “Familiaris Consortio” (The Role of the Christian Family in the Modem World) and “Christifideles Laic?’ (The Role of the Lay Faithful in the Church).
This volume includes other essential magisterial teachings from Pope Leo XIII in the nineteenth century to the present.
These truths are developed in the documents whose summary is given in this volume.
Those who read it will see that they are challenged, as Pope John Paul II has said so eloquently, to develop a civilization of love, to resist the “culture of death,” and to sow the seeds of the “culture of life” in the world in which they live.
God Himself honors them by asking them to be His co-workers in redeeming the world. This is the call to perfection. We are grateful to Catholics Committed to Support the Pope for these invaluable volumes of Catholic teaching.
I join His Eminence Cardinal James A. Hickey in encouraging clergy, religious and seminarians to read the volumes often and study them carefully.
Archbishop Alberto Bovone
Pro-Prefect Congregation for the Causes of Saints
Cardinal Alberto Bovone
Alberto Bovone (11 June 1922 – 17 April 1998) was an Italian Cardinal of the Catholic Church. He served as Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints from 1995 until his death and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1998.
Lectio Divina Cordis
Divine Reading of the Heart
H
HEAR the words as you inwardly read or speak
LECTIO
– Read –
E
ENTER the silence to reflect on a core precept
MEDITATIO
– Meditate –
A
ANSWER to the knock at the heart’s door
ORATIO
– Speak –
R
REST silently without words or thoughts
CONTEMPLATIO
– Contemplate –
T
TRUST: “Do not let your HEART be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.” (John 13:1)
CREDE FORMULAE
– Trust in the process –
Lectio Divina (Latin for “Divine Reading”) is a traditional Benedictine practice of scriptural reading, meditation and prayer intended to promote communion with God and to increase the knowledge of God’s Word. It does not treat scripture as texts to be studied, but as the living word.
The focus of Lectio Divina is not a theological analysis of biblical passages but viewing them with Christ as the key to their meaning.
Approaching the Magisterium Summaries from this perspective may lead to a deeper appreciation of its meaning and an appreciation of how it may be applied to one’s life.
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