Message of 8-10-18

Published: Fri, 08/10/18

To the Christian, love is the works of love. To say that love is a feeling or anything of the kind is really an un-Christian conception of love. That is the aesthetic definition and therefore fits the erotic and everything of that nature. But to the Christian, love is the works of love. Christ’s love was not an inner feeling, a full heart and what-not: it was the work of love which was his life.
... Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855), Journals

(Love as commitment . . . decision . . . act . . . today.)

Readings of the Day

2 COR 9:6-10; PS 112:1-2, 5-6, 7-8, 9

Mt. 16 :24-28

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me,

let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

For whoever would save his life will lose it,

but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world

and forfeits his soul?

Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?

For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels

in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person

according to what he has done.

Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

USCCB Lectionary

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Scripture Reflection

Praying the Daily Gospels: A Guide to Meditation, by Philip St. Romain, 2018 (3rd ed.)

- See http://shalomplace.com/view/praying.html

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Matthew 16:24-28 His own town rejects Jesus

The gospel says we must die to ourselves, so it is important that we understand what this means. Jesus neither calls us to despise ourselves nor to deny our personal dreams and ambitions—unless they lead to sin. The self we are to deny is that strong tendency in each of us to be selfish and unconnected to others—to be ruled by instinct and desire rather than by truth and love. The cross is the way to grow into the higher, spiritual self.

• Review your past day, focusing on a few key events. What decisions did you make? What were your motives behind these decisions?

• “Incarnation happens with every decision to love” is a doctrine of the mystics. How do you understand this? Pray for the grace to be more conscious of the loving alternatives you have for each decision you make.

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Spiritual Reading

God and I: Exploring the Connections between God, Self and Ego, by Philip St. Romain, 2016 (2nd ed.)

- See http://shalomplace.com/view/godandi.html

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Chapter 8: Mystical Union: Self and God

The Prayer of Quiet

The Prayer of Quiet is considered the first stage of mystical prayer in the Christian spiritual tradition. It is prayer because one is communing with God, and it is mystical because it a consequence of God’s grace rather than our efforts. We cannot “do” the Prayer of Quiet; we can only receive it or enter into it when God grants the grace to do so. The most we can do is to pray sincerely, open to receiving whatever God wishes to grant us

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