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How can you give God anything when He owns everything? But does He? How about that power to choose, that precious free will that He has given to every living personality and which He so greatly respects?
That is the only present we can give—ourselves, with all our powers of spirit, mind, and body—willingly, freely, given because we love Him.
That is the best and highest worship that you and I can offer, and I am sure that it is this above all that God most highly appreciates.
- J. B. Phillips (1906-1982), Plain Christianity
(Willingly, freely, offer yourself and your
life to God this day.) |
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1 SM 1:24-28; 1 SAMUEL 2:1, 4-5, 6-7,
8ABCD
Lk 1:46-56
Mary said:
"My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;
my spirit rejoices in God my savior.
for he has looked upon his lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed:
the Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his Name.
He has mercy on those who fear him
in every generation.
He has shown the strength of his arm,
and has scattered
the proud in their conceit.
He has cast down the mighty from their thrones
and has lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has come to the help of his servant Israel
for he remembered his promise of mercy,
the promise he made to our fathers,
to Abraham and his children for ever."
Mary remained with Elizabeth about three months
and then returned to her home.
USCCB Lectionary
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John 5:33-36 (The testimony ofJesus and John)
John the Baptist, our Advent guide, was the one who prepared the people for the works that Jesus was to do among them. In today's reading Jesus points to these works as evidence that God has sent
him.
• Look over the works you have performed during the past two days. To whom do they testify?
• What kinds of charitable works have you neglected lately? Make a resolution to begin at least one of them
today.
Paperback, Kindle
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God and I: Exploring the Connections between God, Self and Ego, by Philip St. Romain, 2016 (2nd ed.) ____________ Chapter 5: The Journey to Egoic Authenticity - Summary The journey to egoic authenticity is an ongoing invitation and challenge. With time and practice, we can become more habitually disposed to being attentive, intelligent, reasonable and responsible. There is usually an initial period of hard work and training that can go on for quite some time, however. Ideally, this would begin early in life so that by the time one is a
young adult and ready to commit to a vocation, authenticity is well-established. Unfortunately (in my experience, at least), this ideal is seldom realized. Often it is mid-life or even later when people begin to take up in earnest the task of examining and working through the false self programming they absorbed during their early years and reinforced through years of acting out. Better late than never, of course. The fruit of this work, as we have noted, is authenticity: experiencing your life, thinking your own thoughts, believing what makes sense to you, and acting according to your own values. A more traditional way of speaking about this would be to say that it is a coming to self-knowledge and acting accordingly. Such self-knowledge is a cornerstone of spirituality, Christian and otherwise. If we do not take responsibility for what
is ours -- namely, our own consciousness -- we cannot expect other people or even God to do it for us. We also come to experience more humility, for we recognize the limitations to our being attentive, intelligent, reasonable and responsible. Lonergan considered these precepts “transcendental” in that they all pointed beyond our inner life to outer engagements.
Attentiveness opens us to a universe filled with wonder; intelligence prompts us to question and understand that we might gain knowledge and wisdom; responsiveness moves us to meet our needs in relationships and in the creation. Through it all, we learn that we cannot do this alone, and so we are led to one another to share together in our attending, wondering, questioning, researching, and so forth. This interactivity, in turn, brings to light aspects of ourselves we would have never known
otherwise, some of it maybe not so pleasant. Even the painful, however, is an occasion for attending, learning and growing. On and on it goes, with the Ego becoming increasingly freed from false self programing and, hence, transparent to the deeper dimensions of our human potentiality.
Hardback, paperback, eBook and free preview versions.
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