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Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers.
Pray for powers equal to your tasks.
Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle,
but you yourself shall be the miracle.
... Phillips Brooks (1835-1893) |
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ACTS 12:1-11; PS 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9; 2 TM 4:6-8, 17-18
MT
16:13-19
When Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi
he asked his disciples,
"Who do people say that the Son of Man is?"
They replied, "Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah,
still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets."
He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"
Simon Peter said in reply,
"You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
Jesus said to him in
reply, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah.
For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.
And so I say to you, you are Peter,
and upon this rock I will build my Church,
and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.
I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of heaven.
Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven;
and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."
USCCB Lectionary
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Praying the Daily Gospels: A Guide to Meditation, by Philip St. Romain,
2018 (3rd ed.) ____________
- Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul
To call someone a "rock" is one of the greatest of compliments. The ancient rabbis had a saying that when God saw Abraham, he exclaimed: "I have discovered a rock to found the world upon." Abraham put his trust in God and made God's word the foundation of his life and the bedrock of his faith. Through
Abraham God established a nation for himself. Through faith Peter grasped who Jesus truly was. He was the first apostle to proclaim that Jesus was truly the Anointed One (Messiah and Christ) and the only begotten Son of God.
The New Testament describes the church, the people of God, as a spiritual house and temple of the Holy Spirit with each member joined together as living stones (see 1 Peter 2:5). Faith in Jesus Christ makes us into rocks - spiritual stones. The Lord Jesus tests each of us personally with the same question: Who do you say that I am?
"Lord Jesus, I profess and believe that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. You are my Lord and my Savior who has set me free from sin and deception. Make my faith strong like the Apostles Peter and Paul and give me boldness to
speak of you to others that they may come to know you as Lord and Savior."
Paperback, Kindle and eBook
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God and I: Exploring the Connections between God, Self and Ego, by Philip St. Romain, 2016 (2nd
ed.) ____________ Chapter 7: The Journey to Belonging: The Ego-God Relationship Theosis: Being-in-Love
In Isaiah 11:2-3, we read of gifts of the Spirit that characterize the Messiah: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety and fear of the Lord. In the active aspect of the spiritual life, we can take actions to develop each of these -- such as taking a course or reading a book to develop knowledge, or working through our fears to become more courageous. This is necessary to foster receptivity to infused gifts, which are given without our doing
anything. We discover depths of knowledge concerning the things of God that go far beyond our studies, and a deeper courage to live the spiritual life. Our human spirit becomes directly “plugged in” to the Spirit of God, Who augments the operations of our spiritual consciousness most beautifully and peacefully. Our natural spiritual longings are fulfilled by the Spirit as we discover God doing for us far more than we could ever do for ourselves. Even during times of prayer, we might discover
that our efforts at active prayer (reading, reflecting, etc.) are rewarded with periods of contemplative rest, with God’s Spirit drawing us to simply “be” or “be-in-love.” And yet God does not “possess” us in the sense of acting without us. We are still very much alive as individuals, discovering our true identity and purpose through this participation in the life of the Spirit. Hardback, paperback, eBook and free preview versions.
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