Reading 1 - President Harold B. Lee wrote: "Christ came
not only into the world to make an atonement for the sins of mankind but to set
an example before the world of the standard of perfection of God's law and of
obedience to the Father. In his Sermon on the Mount the Master has given us
somewhat of a revelation of his own character, which was perfect, or what might
be said to be an 'autobiography, every syllable of which he had written down in
deeds,' and in so doing has given us a blueprint for our own lives."
(Stand Ye In Holy Places, pp341-342)
Reading 2 – Beatitudes –Bible Dictionary – page 620
Reading 3 – 3 Nephi 12:1-2
Reading 4 – Moroni 10:32-33
Reading 5 - Elder
Neal A. Maxwell has written, “In daily discipleship, the many ways to express
selfishness are matched by many ways to avoid it. Meekness is the real cure,
for it does not merely mask selfishness but dissolves it! Smaller steps could
include asking ourselves inwardly before undertaking an important action, Whose
needs am I really trying to meet? Or in significant moments of self expression,
we can first count to 10. Such thoughtful filtering can multiply our offering
by 10 as a mesh of reflective meekness filters out destructive and effusive
ego.” (Neal A. Maxwell, "Repent of [Our] Selfishness" Ensign, May
1999, p. 23, emphasis added)
Reading 6 – Hugh Nibley has written, “Zion is the pure in
heart, the pure in heart, not merely the pure in appearance. It is not a
society or religion of forms and observances, of pious gestures and precious
mannerisms: it is strictly a condition of the heart. Above all, Zion is pure,
which means ‘not mixed with any impurities, unalloyed’; it is all Zion and
nothing else. “(Collected Works of Hugh Nibley, Vol.9, Ch.2, p.26)
Reading 7 - President Brigham Young explained that "we
all occupy diversified stations in the world and in the kingdom of God. Those
who do right, and seek the glory of the Father in heaven, whether they can do
little or much, if they do the very best they know how, they are perfect ....
'Be ye as perfect as ye can,' for that is all we can do .... To be as perfect
as we possibly can according to our knowledge is to be just as perfect as our
father in Heaven is. He cannot be any more perfect than he knows how, any more
than we. When we are doing as well as we know in the sphere and station which
we occupy here we are justified." (Journal of Discourses, 2:129-130)
Reading 8 - Joseph Fielding McConkie & Robert L. Millet
have written: "We are perfect when
we are whole, fully formed, finished. The word finished is most important here.
We cannot through discipline and self-will be perfect in the sense that we are
finished. We cannot conquer the flesh, overcome the trials and tribulations and
sins of this world, on our own. We become finished only in and through Christ.
Moroni explained that the Saints of God are ‘continually watchful unto prayer,
relying alone upon the merits of Christ, who was the author and the finisher of
their faith’ (Moroni 6:4, italics added). In short, we become perfect, fully
formed, finished, in Christ (Moroni 10:32). His grace is a divinely given
enabling power, a sacred source of strength which enables us to accomplish what
we could never accomplish, worlds without end, on our own. We become perfect in
Christ to the degree that we trust perfectly in his infinite ability to make of
us, now unworthy creatures, persons capable of and comfortable with celestial
society. In speaking of that celestial glory, the revelation attests: ‘These
are they who are just men made perfect through Jesus the mediator of the new
covenant, who wrought out this perfect atonement through the shedding of his
own blood’ (D&C 76:69, italics added)." (Doctrinal Commentary on the
Book of Mormon, 4:78)
Reading 9 - Elder Bruce R. McConkie has written: “Among the ancient Hebrews salt … was used as
a preservative, in seasoning food, and in all animal sacrifices. (Lev. 2:13;
Ezek. 43:24; Mark 9:49–50. [Leviticus 2:13; Ezekiel 43:24]) So essential was it
to the sacrificial ordinance that it was the symbol of the covenant made
between God and His people in connection with that sacred performance. (Lev.
2:13; Num. 18:19; 2 Chron. 13:5.)
Accordingly, our Lord’s statement, made first to the Jews and then to
that other great body of Hebrews, the Nephites, that they had power ‘to be the
salt of the earth,’ takes on great significance. … They had power, in other
words, to be the seasoning, savoring, preserving influence in the world, the
influence which would bring peace and blessings to all others” (Mormon
Doctrine, 2nd ed. [1966], 667–68).
Reading 10 – Doctrine and Covenants 101:39-40, Doctrine and
Covenants 103:9-10
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