- This Thursday!
Forum on Christianity and Spirituality
October 3, 2024, 7:30 p.m. CDT Mary - A Woman Clothed With the Son
by Carla Mae Streeter, OP See https://shalomplace.com/inetmin/forum.html for more information and
registration.
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Message of the Day
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Oh, how few find time for prayer! There is time for everything else, time to sleep and time
to eat, time to read the newspaper and the novel, time to visit friends, time for everything else under the sun, but - no time for prayer, the most important of all things, the one great essential! - Oswald J. Smith
(What priority does prayer have in your life? Take time for prayer
today.)
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Readings of the Day
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Jb 9:1-12, 14-16; Ps 88:10bc-11, 12-13,
14-15 Mt 18:1-5, 10 The disciples approached Jesus and said,
"Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven?"
He called a child over, placed it in their midst, and said,
"Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children,
you will not enter the Kingdom of heaven.
Whoever humbles himself like this child
is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.
And whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me. "See that you do not despise one of these little ones,
for I say to
you that their angels in heaven
always look upon the face of my heavenly
Father." USCCB lectionary
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Reflection on the Scripture
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Feast of the Guardian Angels
“See that you never despise one of these little ones. I assure you, their angels in heaven constantly behold My heavenly
Father’s face.” —Matthew 18:10 Guardian angels don’t just guard us. They are very specialized guards. They don’t so much guard us from attacking enemies as much as they guard us when attacking enemies. Guardian angels have the job of guarding us as we attack the gates of hell (Mt 16:18). They guard us “on the way” to war and then in war (Ex 23:20). Their job is not so much to protect us from our enemies but to wipe out our enemies (Ex
23:23). We as Christians are called to be militant — not in physical violence but in spiritual warfare (see Eph 6:12). We are to turn the world right side up (see Acts 17:6) and be a force to be reckoned with. When we fight this good fight (see 2 Tm 4:7), we need this specialized type of guard duty from the guardian angels. However, if we aren’t militantly attacking the gates of hell, our guardian angels are
underemployed. If you want to see your guardian angel at work, then fight for the Kingdom of God against the kingdom of darkness. Prayer: Father, make me such a threat to the kingdom of darkness that I will need my guardian angel. Promise: “Unless you change and become like little children, you will not enter the
kingdom of God.” —Mt 18:3 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 Three, Gift of the Spirit Chapter : The Holy Spirit and the
Trinity - Selected quotes
You might think of it (the Trinity) this way: - There is one God, or supernatural nature, consisting of three Persons.
- The Father is the unmanifest Creator, who begets the
- Son, or Word, the One
through whom the Creator gives form and existence to creatures,
- and Spirit, who communicates the love of the Son for the Father and with Whom the Son effects the work of creation.
- This progression in the Trinity is eternal, having no beginning and no end, existing outside of all dimensions of time (which is, ultimately, related to matter—created stuff).
The tragedy of
Original Sin was that the human form/nature became disordered so that the innate guidance of the Spirit within was lost; willfulness, anxiety, shame, etc. contaminated human nature, overshadowing the still, small voice of the Spirit within. The created human spirit and its natural tendency to find its happiness in God became severely damaged, so much so that its tendency was to seek happiness by perpetuating its own contrived image and identity (illusion). Out of this spiritual
sickness, cultures of injustice were formed, reinforcing and perpetuating the disorder within.
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