What does it mean to 'consider' for oneself?

May 10, 2019
"The Jews disputed among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?"
John 6:52-59

As I reflected on this Scripture, the Lord spoke to my heart, saying that many do not accept this truth, that they hear it, but they reject it.  He said, "You believe, and so you have life in you."

I was reminded of the words the Lord brought to me on August 11, 2011, when I prayed about being a Minister of Communion.  He had said to me, "There is nothing more desirable in this world, than to offer my Body to eat to another. There is nothing more desirable."

I was filled with gratitude that I have this privilege of being a Minister of Communion.
And I thanked the Lord.

Today, in my devotional, Mary Day by Day, Saint John Eudes speaks of Mary's heart being "a book", and the Prayer speaks of "the science of salvation" found in Mary's Immaculate Heart.

I thought - the Lord took flesh from Mary and this flesh is also part of Jesus.  This unity of human flesh and Holy Spirit, Divinity in Jesus, constitutes truly the science of salvation we have in Jesus Christ, fully human, fully divine.
It is truly the gratitude of the Easter Vigil's Exsultet
"O happy fault
that earned so great, so glorious a Redeemer!"

Filled with peace and gratitude, I  read the Exsultet in my Triduum booklet...
O truly blessed night
when things of heaven are wed
to those of earth
and divine to the human...

and I prayed...

O Mary most wise, help me to contemplate the science of salvation found in your Immaculate Heart.  Grant that I may imitate you in all things, for you were the perfect follower of Jesus.
Amen.

The SPIRITUAL EXERCISES of Saint Ignatius of Loyola
[2] Second Annotation 
DRAW ME INTO YOUR FRIENDSHIP, David L. Fleming, S.J.
... 1 The second is that the person who gives to another the way and order in which to meditate or contemplate, ought to relate faithfully the events of such contemplation or meditation, going over the points with only a short or summary development. 2 For, if the person who is making the contemplation takes the true groundwork of the narrative and, discussing and considering for himself, finds something which makes the events a little clearer or brings them a little more home to him - whether this comes through his own reasoning, or because his intellect is enlightened by the divine power - he will get more spiritual relish and fruit, than if he who is giving the Exercises had much explained and amplified the meaning of the events. For it is not knowing much, but realizing and relishing things interiourly, that contents and satisfies the soul.

The Exsultet in song, Proclamation of the Easter Vigil

excerpt from Exsultet, found in the Triduum for Easter Vigil liturgy
"This is the night
when Christ rose victorious from the underworld.
Our birth would have been no gain,
had we not been redeemed.

O wonder of your humble care for us!
O love, O charity beyond all telling,
to ransom a slave you gave away your Son!

O truly necessary sin of Adam,
destroyed completely by the Death of Christ!

O happy fault
that earned so great, so glorious a Redeemer!

O truly blessed night,
worthy alone to know the time and hour
when Christ rose from the underworld!

This is the night
of which it is written:
The night shall be bright as day,
dazzling is the night for me,
and full of gladness.

The sanctifying power of this night,
dispels wickedness, wastes faults away,
restores innocence to the fallen,
and joy to mourning,

O truly blessed night
when things of heaven are wed
to those of earth
and divine to the human.

On this night of grace,
O Holy Father,
accept this candle, a solemn offering,
the work of bees and of your servants' hands,
an evening sacrifice of praise,
this gift from your most holy church.

Therefore, O Lord,
we pray you that this candle,
hallowed to the honour of your name,
may persevere undimmed,
to overcome the darkness of this night.

Receive it as a pleasing fragrance,
and let it mingle with the lights of heaven.
May this flame be found still burning
by the Morning Star:
the One Morning Star who never sets,
Christ your Son,
who, coming back from death's domain,
has shed his peaceful light on humanity,
and lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen"

This is the Easter Candle, seen now in a new way, thanks be to God!