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“An elder replied, ‘I tell you, many have ruined their bodies with no discernment and gone away without finding anything. We may have evil-smelling breath because of our fasting, we may know the Scriptures by heart, we may recite all
the psalms. . . and still lack what God is looking for—love and humility.”
- Anonymous Sayings of the Desert Fathers -
(Whatever helps us become more loving and humble is good for us; whatever hinders us is not. What does this mean in your
life?)
Come Holy Spirit: a study series for the Easter season.
Free access to 16 video teachings on the Holy Spirit, with handouts
Two Zoom sessions for
discussion and sharing.
Registration is open.
https://shalomplace.com/inetmin/holyspirit.html
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Daily Readings
Acts 4:32-37; Ps
93:1ab, 1cd-2, 5
Jn 3:7b-15
Jesus said to Nicodemus:
"'You must be born from above.'
The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it
makes,
but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes;
so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit."
Nicodemus answered and said to him,
'How can this
happen?"
Jesus answered and said to him,
"You are the teacher of Israel and you do not understand this?
Amen, amen, I say to you,
we speak of what we know and we testify to what we
have seen,
but you people do not accept our testimony.
If I tell you about earthly things and you do not believe,
how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?
No one
has gone up to heaven
except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man.
And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert,
so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
so
that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life."
Praying the Daily Gospels: A Guide to Meditation, by Philip St. Romain, 2018 (3rd ed.) John 3: 7-15 (Jesus the revealer of God) In today's reading
John proposes that we accept Jesus as the one who reveals to us what we need to know about God. Human reason is confined to knowledge of this world, Jesus tells Nicodemus. Knowledge of God must come from one who is of God. Faith in Jesus lets us share in this knowledge. * Do you believe that the truths of divine revelation conflict in any way with what human reason can
demonstrate to be true? If so, what are you doing to clarify your thinking? * What did Jesus reveal to us about God that is most important to you? Spend some time thanking God for this gift.
Treatise on the Love of God, by St. Francis de Sales (1567-1622) ____________ BOOK IV: OF THE DECAY AND RUIN OF CHARITY Chapter 10: How dangerous this imperfect love is.
Alas! my
Theotimus, behold, I pray you, the poor Judas after he had betrayed his Master, how he goes to return the money to the Jews, how he acknowledges his sin, how honourably he speaks of the blood of this immaculate Lamb. These were effects of imperfect love, which former charity, now past, had left in his heart. We descend to impiety by certain degrees, and hardly any one arrives in an instant at the extremity of malice. Perfumers, though out of their shops, bear about with them for a long time the scent of the perfumes which they have handled. In like manner, those who have been in the cabinet of heavenly ointments, that is in holy charity, keep for some time afterwards the scent of it. Where the hart (type of deer) has lodged by night, there, the morning after, is a fresh scent or vent of
him; towards night it is harder to perceive; and as his strain grows older and harder, the hounds lose it more and more. When charity has reigned for a time in the soul, one may find there its path, marks, strain or scent for a time after it has departed, but little by little all this quite vanishes, and a man loses all knowledge that charity was ever there.
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