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O Lord our God, grant us grace to desire Thee with our whole heart; that, so desiring, we may seek, and seeking find Thee; and so finding Thee may love Thee; and loving Thee, may hate those sins from which Thou hast redeemed us.
... St. Anselm (1033-1109) |
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RV 21:9B-14; PS 145:10-11, 12-13, 17-18
Mt 22:34-40
But when the Pharisees heard that
he had silenced the Sadducees, they came together.
And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, to test him.
"Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?"
And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
and with all your soul, and with all your mind.
This is the great and first commandment.
And a second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
On these two commandments depend all the law
and the prophets."
USCCB Lectionary
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Praying the Daily Gospels: A Guide to Meditation, by Philip St. Romain,
2018 (3rd ed.) ____________
Matthew 22: 34-40 (The two great commandments)
Still trying to discredit Jesus, the Pharisees attempt to bait him into heresy. Jesus again proves the wiser, simplifying the Old Testament to two laws of love, both of which are dependent on and inseparable from the other.
• “The brotherhood of man is impossible unless we recognize the fatherhood of God,” Taylor Caldwell wrote. Do you agree?
• “You are as close to God as you are to your neighbor” is another popular saying. Think of one
way
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 8: Mystical Union: Self and God
Prayer of Union and Beyond
I think many Christians who are consistent in their practice of prayer and other spiritual disciplines come upon the Prayer of Quiet at times. It also seems that a similar union with God at the level of the will can become established through the active life as well.
Perhaps the Prayer of Quiet isn’t really the cause of deeper union so much as the graced awareness of a level of union that has already been developed through living a life of love, spiritual gifts, and so forth. It is not an either/or situation, of course. But what is certain is that something of the Ego remains in those who experience this type of union.
The Christian mystical literature speaks
of deeper states of contemplation beyond the Prayer of Quiet. In the Prayer of Union, there are no longer thoughts coming and going, for the intellect and imagination have also become absorbed in the divine. One is still aware that one is present in the body and its senses, and is content to abide in God’s peaceful presence, resting deeply. The literature speaks of Ecstatic Union as well, where even awareness is absorbed; during such experiences, there is no sense of an “I” resting in God. Such
ecstasies are usually short-lived and are probably consequences of the brain being overwhelmed by the powerful energies awakened from deepening union. In time, the brain adjusts, and the ecstasies come to pass. Hardback, paperback, eBook and free preview versions.
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