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God is no White Night who charges into the world to pluck us like distressed damsels from the jaws of dragons, or diseases. God chooses to become present to and through us. It is up to us to rescue one another.
- Nancy Mairs
(How are you being called to be a means of God's presence and action these days?)
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April 8, 2019: 6:30-8:00 p.m. CDT
Free-will donation
Why did Jesus of Nazareth die on the cross?
This web video presentation will explore different ways the Christian community has understood the theological and spiritual meaning of the crucifixion of Jesus. We will review popular explanations like substitutionary atonement, the New Adam, and others that we find in the New Testament and in teachings through the centuries.
Registration, Information
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IS 65:17-21; PS 30:2 AND 4, 5-6, 11-12A AND 13B
JN 4:43-54
At that time Jesus left [Samaria] for Galilee.
For Jesus himself testified
that a prophet has no honor in his native place.
When he came into Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him,
since they had seen all he had done in Jerusalem at the feast;
for they themselves had gone to the feast.
Then he returned to Cana in Galilee,
where he had made the water wine.
Now there was a royal official whose son was ill in Capernaum.
When he heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea,
he went to him and asked him to come down
and heal his son, who was near death.
Jesus said to him,
"Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will not believe."
The royal official said to him,
"Sir, come down before my child dies."
Jesus said to him, "You may go; your son will live."
The man believed what Jesus said to him and left.
While the man was on his way back,
his slaves met him and told him that his boy would live.
He asked them when he began to recover.
They told him,
"The fever left him yesterday, about one in the afternoon."
The father realized that just at that time Jesus had said to him,
"Your son will live,"
and he and his whole household came to believe.
Now this was the second sign Jesus did
when he came to Galilee from Judea.
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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John 4: 43-54 (The official’s son is healed)
The royal official in this reading is a Gentile, a non-Jew, but his belief that Jesus can heal his sick boy transcends all racial and credal boundaries. This is the kind of simple faith to which we are called.
• Picture in your imagination the scene between Jesus and the official. Hear the man continue pleading, despite Jesus’ objections. See Jesus’ face as he recognizes the great faith the official has in him.
• Rise from your prayer position and begin walking slowly around the room. With each step you take, believe that God will grant you the strength to persevere in love through any problems you might be having now. After awhile, relax again and give thanks to God for the gift of faith.
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
5. We Strive to "Be All We Can Be"
Some might wonder why this emphasis on individuation has been given such priority in this book, for it seems that it belongs more to psychological concerns rather than spirituality. But psyche, as we noted in Chapter 2, is not a separate, compartmentalized aspect of human experience. Psyche is en-spirited. It is that dimension of human consciousness that we share with the higher animals, only
it has become transformed through its subsistence in the human spirit to actualize and express the human spirit imaginatively, symbolically, mythically, emotionally, artistically, and liturgically. Human life would be greatly impoverished without the depth, fabric and texture contributed by the psyche. Every religious tradition knows this and has developed means for engaging the psyche with its message of liberation. In a sense, then, psychological development is really an aspect spiritual
development, though it is not an exercise of the human spirit per se.
Hardback, paperback, eBook and free preview versions.
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