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It's that time of the year again when I update you on what's happening with the Internet ministry of Heartland
Center for Spirituality and ask for your support to help keep us online. A Daily Spiritual Seed is one part of what we do, but it’s pivotal in reaching out to help nourish the spiritual needs of Christians worldwide. The first newsletters were sent out during April 1997 to a few friends in my email contact list, and it’s gone out to hundreds of voluntary subscribers every weekday since (43 countries from every continent at this time). So thank you for being part of this ministry, which
will hopefully continue for years to come. Your financial support helps us keep going. Thanks for your consideration. Phil St. Romain Internet Ministry
Coordinator
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Donations are eligible for tax-deduction.
Online donations (secure payment link): Check payments: - Heartland Center for Spirituality Internet Ministry 3600 Broadway Great Bend, KS 67530 Gratitude gift will be sent to donors.
"The first and greatest commandment is love. Thanks to love the spirit sees the original Love, namely God. For by our
love we see God's love for us, as the psalm says, 'He teaches his ways to those who are gentle.'"
(Evagrius of Pontus, "Letter 56) (When in doubt about what to do, seek to do the loving
action.)
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Ti 1:1-9; Ps 24:1b-2, 3-4ab, 5-6 Lk 17:1-6 Jesus said to his disciples,
"Things that cause sin
will inevitably occur,
but woe to the one through whom they occur.
It would be better for him if a millstone were put around his neck
and he be thrown into the sea
than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin.
Be on your guard!
If your brother sins, rebuke him;
and if he repents, forgive
him.
And if he wrongs you seven times in one day
and returns to you seven times saying, 'I am sorry,'
you should forgive him." And the Apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith."
The Lord replied, "If you have faith the size of a mustard seed,
you would say to this mulberry tree,
'Be uprooted and planted in the
sea,' and it would obey
you."
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Please help grow this newsletter by forwarding it to others, encouraging them to sign up.
Reflection on the Scriptures
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Faith is a gift freely given by God to help us know God personally, to understand his truth clearly, and to live in the power of his love and mercy freely. God calls us to be like him - holy, loving and wise. God expects more from us than we can simply do by ourselves. That is why the Lord Jesus unites us to himself through the gift of faith so that we may live in the
power of his love through the gift of the Holy Spirit who dwells within us (Romans 5:5). The Lord gives us the strength of the Holy Spirit who helps us to grow strong in faith, persevere in hope, and endure in love. Faith is the key that unlocks God's power in our lives
Faith in God is
the key for removing obstacles and difficulties which keep us from doing his will. We belong to God and our lives are no longer our own. Our joy and privilege is to follow the Lord Jesus and to serve in the power of his love, truth, and goodness. The Lord Jesus is ever ready to work in and through us for his glory. For our faith to be effective it must be linked with trust and with obedience - an active submission to God and a willingness to do whatever he commands. Do you trust in the grace and
strength which God freely gives to help you resist temptation and to overcome obstacles in doing his will? Lord Jesus, you give us victory over the destructive forces of sin and harmful desires that keep us from doing your will. Give me the strength to always choose what is good and to reject what is wrong. May your love and truth rule my heart that I may give good example to others
and guide those who need your wise instruction and help.
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The Ascent of Mount Carmel, by St. John of the Cross E. Allison Peers Translation. Paperback, Kindle, Audio Book.
Click here to purchase on Amazon.com BOOK THE SECOND Wherein is described the nature of dark night and how necessary it is to pass through it to Divine union; and in particular this book describes the dark night of sense, and desire, and the evils which these work in the soul. Of the Ascent of Mount Carmel Wherein is treated the proximate means of ascending to union with God, which is faith; and wherein therefore is described the second part of this night, which, as we said, belongs to the spirit, and is contained in the second stanza, which is as follows. __________________________________________________________________ Second Stanza Chapter 29 Which treats of the first kind of words that the recollected spirit sometimes
forms within itself. Describes the cause of these and the profit and the harm which there may be in them.
5. And, over and above this, the desire which people have for locutions, and the pleasure which comes to their spirits from them, lead them to make answer to themselves and then to think that it is God Who is answering them and speaking to them. They therefore commit great blunders unless
they impose a strict restraint upon themselves, and unless their director obliges them to abstain from these kinds of reflection. For they are apt to gain from them mere nonsensical talk and impurity of soul rather than humility and mortification of spirit, if they think, This was indeed a great thing' and God was speaking'; whereas it will have been little more than nothing, or nothing at all, or less than nothing. For, if humility and charity be not engendered by such experiences, and
mortification and holy simplicity and silence, etc., what can be the value of them? I say, then, that these things may hinder the soul greatly in its progress to Divine union because, if it pay heed to them, it is led far astray from the abyss of faith, where the understanding must remain in darkness, and must journey in darkness, by love and in faith, and not by much reasoning.
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