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Speak Lord in the stillness,
While I wait on Thee;
Hushed my heart to listen
In Expectancy
- E. May Crawford
(Advent spirituality!)
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IS 35:1-10; PS 85:9AB AND 10, 11-12, 13-14
LK 5:17-26
One day as Jesus was teaching,
Pharisees and teachers of the law,
who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem,
were sitting there,
and the power of the Lord was with him for healing.
And some men brought on a stretcher a man who was paralyzed;
they were trying to bring him in and set him in his presence.
But not finding a way to bring him in because of the crowd,
they went up on the roof
and lowered him on the stretcher through the tiles
into the middle in front of Jesus.
When Jesus saw their faith, he said,
"As for you, your sins are forgiven."
Then the scribes and Pharisees began to ask themselves,
"Who is this who speaks blasphemies?
Who but God alone can forgive sins?"
Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them in reply,
"What are you thinking in your hearts?
Which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,'
or to say, 'Rise and walk'?
But that you may know
that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins"–
he said to the one who was paralyzed,
"I say to you, rise, pick up your stretcher, and go home."
He stood up immediately before them,
picked up what he had been lying on,
and went home, glorifying God.
Then astonishment seized them all and they glorified God,
and, struck with awe, they said,
"We have seen incredible things today."
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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Luke 5:17-26 (Jesus heals a paralyzed man)
"Who but God alone can forgive sins?" mutter the scribes and the Pharisees in today's reading. Jesus replies by showing them that the same love which heals the body can also heal a guilt-ridden spirit.
• Do you love your body? Do you believe that your own bodily health is a value important to God? Why? Why not? Spend some time thanking God for your health, even if you do not enjoy perfect health.
• Hear Jesus saying, "As for you, your sins are forgiven." Pray for the grace to believe that you are a forgiven sinner.
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
1. Egoic Authenticity is Foundational to Spirituality
First, let us affirm that there can be no True Self realization if the Ego is inauthentic and living by false self concerns. Obviously, this statement assumes that any human who engages the world of duality does so Egoically, to some extent. To put matters this way is to affirm the reality of the Ego as the agent of individual responsibility in the spiritual life. We, in our Egoic endeavors -- which is
to say in our everyday manner of attending, reflecting, deciding and acting -- need to become committed to living our own lives with eyes wide open, in truth and in freedom. If we do not do this, then we shall drift along through the years, victims of various addictions and unhealthy conditioning absorbed from unhealthy family and cultural systems. Then will come the time of approaching death, and we will realize, with great sorrow, that we have missed out on our own lives, never really knowing
what it meant to live.
Hardback, paperback, eBook and free preview versions.
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