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As our staff will attest, I’ve never been short on ideas for ministry, and have a long list of possible future projects.
During the coming year, you can expect one or two webinars on topics pertaining to spiritual development. I’ve also been thinking of offering an occasional open video forum on . . . well, open forum allows participants to surface the topics. Zoom has emerged as a good technology for hosting this kind of gathering. Zoom would also be a good way to host an online book discussion,
or even a spiritual direction group.
You will be the first to know when any of these new projects invite participation, so stay tuned.
Also, if you have any suggestions for program offerings, or for improving Daily Spiritual Seed, please contact me. This email address will
work.
Until next year (God-willing) . . .
Peace,
Phil St. Romain
Internet Ministry Coordinator
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All donations are
tax-deductible.
- A special gratitude gift will be sent to all donors.
Check payments:
- Heartland Center for Spirituality
Internet Ministry
3600 Broadway
Great Bend, KS 67530
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In response to “I have difficulty praying.”
Why then, do you not try this? As you go to your inner chamber, however cold and dark your heart may be, do not try in your own might to force yourself into the right attitude. Bow before Him, and tell Him that He sees in what a sad state you are, and that your only hope is in Him. Trust Him, with a childlike trust, to have mercy upon you, and wait upon Him. In such a trust you are in a right relationship to Him. You have nothing - He has everything.
- Andrew Murray
(Can’t find God? Go ahead and be a “lost sheep” and ask God to find you.)
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2 JN 4-9; PS 119:1, 2, 10, 11, 17, 18
LK 17:26-37
Jesus said to his disciples:
"As it was in the days of Noah,
so it will be in the days of the Son of Man;
they were eating and drinking,
marrying and giving in marriage up to the day
that Noah entered the ark,
and the flood came and destroyed them all.
Similarly, as it was in the days of Lot:
they were eating,
drinking, buying,
selling, planting, building;
on the day when Lot left Sodom,
fire and brimstone rained from the sky to destroy them all.
So it will be on the day the Son of Man is revealed.
On that day, someone who is on the housetop
and whose belongings are in the house
must not go down to get them,
and likewise one in the field
must not return to what was left behind.
Remember the wife of Lot.
Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it,
but whoever
loses it will save it.
I tell you, on that night there will be two people in one bed;
one will be taken, the other left.
And there will be two women grinding meal together;
one will be taken, the other left."
They said to him in reply, "Where, Lord?"
He said to them, "Where the body is,
there also the vultures will gather."
USCCB Lectionary
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Praying the Daily Gospels: A Guide to Meditation, by Philip St. Romain,
2018 (3rd ed.) ____________
Luke 16: 1-8 (The clever manager)
At first glance, this appears to be a parable of forgiveness, but it is much more. When Jesus commends the manager for his cleverness in assuring his future, he also chides his followers for their lack of initiative in the things of God. What if we were to give as much time and effort to building the reign of God as we do to securing a living and
advancing ourselves professionally? What would the world be like?
Divide a sheet of paper into three columns.
- In the first column, list activities in which you are regularly engaged (work, sleep, TV, for example).
- In the second column, write the amount of time you spend each week on each activity.
- In the third column, list the reasons why you engage in each activity.
- Study this list awhile, praying for wisdom to help you reorganize your life, if necessary.
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
Summary This chapter does not propose to account for every possible type of trans-egoic
experience of the Self-God ground of existence. The intent was to indicate that such experience is possible, and to say something about how one might come to growing familiarity with this mystical consciousness.
In the way of contemplation, one is drawn to an interpersonal union that is, in part, a consequence of the Ego’s response to grace. The absorption of the Ego in the Self-God ground is described in terms of union, with degrees of awareness of the divine characterizing the theotic process. What counts most is ongoing surrender of Egoic willfulness for the sake of growing in love,
enabling deeper participation in the divine life. The paradigm is relational, and this structure is never lost, even in the deepest stages of union where even Self seems to be lost for awhile in mystical ecstasy. The observational “I” endures, for God does not destroy what has been created, but transforms it to participate fully in the divine life. Just as a human cell in the body participates somehow in the life of the mind, so does the “I” come to know and love with God’s own knowing and
loving.
Hardback, paperback, eBook and free preview versions.
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