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ANNUAL APPEAL
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Shalom Place (http://shalomplace.com) continues to be the primary domain for our Internet ministry. The site was launched in
1998 and has since been a popular Internet touchpoint for Christian spirituality resources.
At this time, we make available: - Opportunity to sign up for spiritual direction/consultation - Numerous retreats/workshops, many
of them free - Links to numerous youtube teachings, all free - Links to dozens of podcasts on Christian spirituality - Numerous presentations, with handouts — all free - 25 books/eBooks, most in paperback and digital format - Numerous booklets/worksheets/handouts, all free - Discussion board with hundreds of open topics (averages over 400,000 views per month) - A Daily
Spiritual Seed eNewsletter Your donation helps to keep these resources available for everyone, so thank you for considering this appeal request. Philip St. Romain Internet Ministry
Coordinator
____________ 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
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Message of the Day
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Paradoxically, we achieve true wholeness only by embracing our fragility and sometimes, our brokenness. Wholeness is a natural radiance of Love, and Love demands that we allow the destruction of our old self for the sake of the new.
- Jalaja Bonheim (Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Jn. 12:24.)
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Readings of the Day
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Rom 13:8-10; Ps 112:1b-2, 4-5,
9 Lk 14:25-33 Great crowds were traveling with Jesus,
and he turned and addressed them,
"If anyone comes to me without hating his father and
mother,
wife and children, brothers and sisters,
and even his own life,
he cannot be my disciple.
Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me
cannot be my disciple.
Which of you wishing to construct a tower
does not first sit down and calculate the cost
to see if there is enough for its completion?
Otherwise, after laying the foundation
and finding himself unable to finish the work
the onlookers should laugh at him and say,
'This one began to build but did not have the resources to
finish.'
Or what king marching into battle would not first sit down
and decide whether with ten thousand troops
he can successfully oppose another king
advancing upon him with
twenty thousand troops?
But if not, while he is still far away,
he will send a delegation to ask for peace terms.
In the same way,
everyone of you who does not renounce all his
possessions
cannot be my
disciple." USCCB lectionary
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Reflection on the Scripture
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“If anyone comes to Me without hating his father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, yes and his own life too, he cannot be My disciple.” —Luke 14:26,
JB
It takes everything we’ve got to live the Christian life. If we don’t make our relationship with Jesus our “all in all” (see Lk 14:26), if we don’t take up His cross daily (Lk 9:23; 14:27), if we don’t renounce all our possessions (Lk 14:33), we will not have what it takes to build the tower (Lk 14:28), fight the war (Lk 14:31), or run the race of the Christian life (2 Tm 4:7). If we successfully
complete the Christian life, we will have crossed the finish line with nothing to spare. It takes every ounce of strength, every second of time, and our last penny — all that we have. “Our God is a consuming Fire” (Heb 12:29). If we give anything less than everything, we will fall short of what is necessary to obtain the kingdom of God (Mt 13:44-46).
Therefore, amazed that the Lord would accept our
little “everythings,” let us pour out our lives “like a libation” (see 2 Tm 4:6). Let us love Jesus as He loves us — with all our hearts, with all our souls, with all our strength, and with all our minds (Lk 10:27). With great joy and thanksgiving, let us give the Lord our “all”; constantly, daily, till our dying day. Let us drain our lives to the last drop in imitation of Jesus, Who poured out His blood and life for love of us. Prayer: Father, use me and use me up. Promise: “Owe no debt to anyone except the debt that binds us to love one another. He who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.” —Rm 13:8 Presentation Ministries
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Spiritual Reading
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-Readings from Jesus Alive in Our Lives, by Philip St. Romain. Ave Maria Press, 1985. Contemplative Ministries, Inc. 2011. Part Two, Encountering the Risen Christ Chapter 7: The Cosmic Christ, part
I - Selected quotes Another—and far more likely—type of encounter with Christ in creation is of the sort I mentioned from my own life. If one has not gone very far into the religious modes of union, then the Christic dimension might not be recognized. Still, it can be experienced, and just
as a newcomer to a Christian community can have a sense of Christ’s presence and love without being able to identify it as such, so, too, can we encounter him in creation without recognizing him there. The reason for this is because God is good and whatever God has created is good; therefore, everything in nature reflects something of God’s creativity and goodness. Furthermore, because we believe that God created through the Word or Second Person of the Trinity—the very Person Who
became incarnate in Christ—every created thing is a word of that Word. And so it is impossible to have a deep and authentic encounter with nature without also touching something of Christ, even if indirectly. That is how I understand my own earlier experiences now.
Two exciting possibilities suggest themselves to me about all this. One is that many Christians whose
experience of Christ has been primarily through religious modes can also come to a deeper encounter with him by learning to recognize him in his cosmic mode. The second is that there are many who love nature and who, with the right kind of teaching, could be led to recognize the Christic aspects therein and, perhaps, become interested in finding Christ in the religious modes where he presents himself to us most powerfully as well. Space does not permit an adequate treatment of the
second possibility; it is one that I think the creation theologians and spiritualities have tried to explore.
Paperback and eBook versions
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Please support this outreach with a tax-deductible donation.
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