Forum on Christianity and Spirituality
November 6, 2025, 7:30 p.m. CDT Topic: What is Christian Nationalism? by Jerry Truex, Ph.D. See https://shalomplace.com/inetmin/forum.html for more information and registration.
|
Message of the Day
|
|
The truth is that the only key to the Christian life is the life of Christ; that the only solution to the many problems that thicken round our lives as we live them is to be found in the study of His life as He lived it; and that we shall never begin to understand what we ourselves are until we have begun to understand what He is.
… R. H. J. Steuart (1874-1948) (". . . your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory." Col. 3:3-4)
|
|
Readings of the Day
|
Romans 12:5-16ab
Psalm 131:1bcde, 2,
3 Luke 14:15-24 One of those gathered round the table said to Jesus, ‘Happy the man who will be at the feast in the kingdom of God!’ But he said to him, ‘There was a man who gave a great banquet, and he invited a large number of people. When the time for the banquet came, he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, “Come along: everything is ready now.” But all
alike started to make excuses. The first said, “I have bought a piece of land and must go and see it. Please accept my apologies.” Another said, “I have bought five yoke of oxen and am on my way to try them out. Please accept my apologies.” Yet another said, “I have just got married and so am unable to come.”
‘The servant returned and reported this to his master. Then the householder, in a rage, said to his servant, “Go out quickly into the streets
and alleys of the town and bring in here the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.” “Sir” said the servant “your orders have been carried out and there is still room.” Then the master said to his servant, “Go to the open roads and the hedgerows and force people to come in to make sure my house is full; because, I tell you, not one of those who were invited shall have a taste of my banquet.”’ Podcast reflection on Jesus at the home of Martha and
Mary. USCCB lectionary
|
|
Reflection on the Scripture
|
“I want my house to be full.” —Luke 14:23
Are you God-centered or self-centered? In the parable in today’s Gospel reading, the master of the
house brings into the banquet “the poor and the crippled, the blind and the lame” (Lk 14:21). He does this not so much to help the poor and handicapped but rather to fill His house. We want to lead others to salvation for their benefit but even more to give glory to the Savior. We should pray and go to Church not primarily to be blessed but to give our lives to the Lord and worship Him. We shouldn’t overcome temptations primarily to live free and victorious on earth and then go to heaven;
rather, our motivation should be to become holy and thereby make hallowed the name of God, our Father (Mt 6:9).
When we pray, are we asking Jesus to answer our prayers, or are we trying to answer His prayers? Do we ask Jesus to do things for us, or do we ask for the privilege of doing everything for Him? When we ask Jesus to come into our hearts, we shouldn’t assume that Jesus needs to center Himself on us. Rather, we should beg Jesus for
the privilege of entering into His heart. “All that matters is that in any and every way...Christ is being proclaimed!” (Phil 1:18) Prayer: Father, use me for the greater glory of Your name. Promise: “We, though many, are one body in Christ and individually members one of another.” —Rm
12:5 Presentation Ministries
|
|
Spiritual Reading
|
|
|
|
Dilexi Te: On the Human and Divine Love of the Heart of Jesus Christ, by Pope Francis (completed by Pope Leo XIII), 2025.
https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/20241024-enciclica-dilexit-nos.html
CHAPTER ONE
RETURNING TO THE HEART
9. In this “liquid” world of ours, we need to start speaking once more about the heart and thinking about this place where every person, of every class and condition, creates a synthesis, where they encounter the radical source of their strengths,
convictions, passions and decisions. Yet, we find ourselves immersed in societies of serial consumers who live from day to day, dominated by the hectic pace and bombarded by technology, lacking in the patience needed to engage in the processes that an interior life by its very nature requires. In contemporary society, people “risk losing their centre, the centre of their very selves”. [6] “Indeed, the men and women of our time often find themselves confused and torn apart, almost bereft of an
inner principle that can create unity and harmony in their lives and actions. Models of behaviour that, sadly, are now widespread exaggerate our rational-technological dimension or, on the contrary, that of our instincts”. [7] No room is left for the heart.
10. The issues raised by today’s liquid society are much discussed, but this depreciation of the deep core of our humanity – the heart – has a much longer history. We find
it already present in Hellenic and pre-Christian rationalism, in post-Christian idealism and in materialism in its various guises. The heart has been ignored in anthropology, and the great philosophical tradition finds it a foreign notion, preferring other concepts such as reason, will or freedom. The very meaning of the term is imprecise and hard to situate within our human experience. Perhaps this is due to the difficulty of treating it as a “clear and distinct idea”, or because it entails the
question of self-understanding, where the deepest part of us is also that which is least known. Even encountering others does not necessarily prove to be a way of encountering ourselves, inasmuch as our thought patterns are dominated by an unhealthy individualism. Many people feel safer constructing their systems of thought in the more readily controllable domain of intelligence and will. The failure to make room for the heart, as distinct from our human powers and passions viewed in isolation
from one another, has resulted in a stunting of the idea of a personal centre, in which love, in the end, is the one reality that can unify all the others. |
Please support this outreach with a tax-deductible donation. |
|
|
