Day 29: Strengthening Devotion (Imitation of Christ. Bk. 4. Ch. 11-14)

• 
  Do you only need 2 things in life: food (Eucharist) and light (Scripture)?
• Do you fill yourself fully with Christ and with Scripture?
• Does Christ save you from being unChristlike?
• Do you love God fully and completely?
• Do you ALLOW God to love YOU fully and completely?
• How do I love God back, who has unconditionally loved me?

Ch. 11: The body of Christ and sacred Scripture are most necessary for the faithful soul. Where is my abundant outpouring of holy tears? My eyes could not bear to behold you in your own divine glory. You are my witness, O God, that no thing can console me, no creature bring me rest. I must set myself on great patience and submit myself to God in all I desire. Grant me at least to weep worthily over the evils I have done with a humble spirit and the resolve of a good will to serve you more fervently going forward. [Salvation is being saved from being unChristlike. Salvation is being saved to become more Christlike.]

Ch. 12: One who is going to receive communion should prepare himself for Christ with great care. Cleanse out the old leaven (1 Cor 5:7). Clearn the dwelling place of your heart. Keep the whole world out. Sit like a lonely bird on the housetop (Ps 102:7). Ponder your transgressions in the bitterness (anguish) of your own soul (Isa 38:15). You are like a beggar invited to a rich man's luncheon. I need God. God does not need me. Prepare your heart with all diligence. Be careful about talking too much. 

Ch. 13: The devout soul should long whole-heartedly for union with Christ in the sacrament. When shall I be wholly united to God? Fully absorbed to the point of forgetting myself entirely? Withdraw my heart from all created things? Develop a taste for the things of heaven and eternity? Outside of God are toil, sorrow, and boundless misery. I can give nothing to God except my own heart. All I desire is that my heart is united with God. [Prepare before and especially after communion, to bring Christ into the world after church.]

Ch. 14: Some people's ardent desire for the body of Christ. I find myself disappointed and embarrassed that I approach God so lukewarmly and coldly. I am ashamed of being so dry and affectionless in my heart that I am not thoroughly on fire before God. The kind of love (affection) and ardor (devotion) are so far from me. Though I do not burn with desire as great as your select devout people have, by your grace I at least desire that great and fiery desire. [Expand my capacity to receive God's love.]

How can we love God as the saints did? How does Sacred Scripture and the Eucharist sustain us on the path of holiness? Help us strengthen our devotion to God?