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The best way to prepare for the coming of Christ is never to forget the presence of Christ.
- William Barclay
(What helps you to remember Christ's presence?)
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IS 2:1-5; PS 122:1-2, 3-4B, 4CD-5, 6-7, 8-9
MT 8:5-11
When Jesus entered Capernaum,
a centurion approached him and appealed to him, saying,
"Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, suffering dreadfully."
He said to him, "I will come and cure him."
The centurion said in reply,
"Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof;
only say the word and my servant will be healed.
For I too am a man subject to authority,
with soldiers subject to me.
And I say to one, 'Go,' and he goes;
and to another, 'Come here,' and he comes;
and to my slave, 'Do this,' and he does it."
When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him,
"Amen, I say to you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith.
I say to you, many will come from the east and the west,
and will recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
at the banquet in the Kingdom of heaven."
USCCB Lectionary
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Praying the Daily Gospels: A Guide to Meditation, by Philip St. Romain, 2018 (3rd ed.)
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Matthew 8: 5-11. Jesus brings health and wholeness to a Gentile.
For the early Church, this incident was a reminder that the Messiah and the graces he won for us are to he extended to all people and not just to converts from Judaism. Jesus wants to come to everyone.
• Let your imagination re-create this gospel scene; put yourself in the place of the centurion. See Jesus walking along the road; watch as he notes your approach and gives you his full attention; note his response to your requests for healing in your life and in the lives of your loved ones.
• Make a list in your journal of the people in your life for whom you have been called to be an incarnation of God’s grace. How can you be a better channel of grace to each of them?
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.)
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Chapter 9: Spiritual Transformation -- God, Self and Ego
Summary
I have often wondered what religions are trying to do with people. In the Catholic Christianity with which I am most familiar, we obviously want them to know about God and what God expects of us during our earthly sojourn. We try to form communities, in which we make the Sacraments available as opportunities for living contact with God. We undertake works of service, take stands for justice issues, and
try to be a force for good in the world. But our primary emphasis, it seems, is largely in the arena of “right beliefs leading to moral behavior,” and there is nothing wrong with that. This is part of the mission of the Church, and we would be remiss if we neglected these matters.
In light of what we have reflected on in this book, I have often felt like what we are mostly about is trying to form Egos in Christian values. This is preferable to having the Ego directed by worldly values, but it’s clearly inadequate to facilitating deeper connection between the Ego and its roots in the Self-God zone of consciousness. That’s what spirituality is about, only there are many different types of spirituality that go about this in different ways. What I have been
suggesting throughout and would like to make explicit by way of summary is that the ideal to strive for in the spiritual life is an approach that addresses the range of issues and possibilities discussed in chapters 5-8, an integration we shall call God-Self-Ego. This is what I mean when I use the term, “True Self.
Hardback, paperback, eBook and free preview versions.
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