Message of 3-18-09
Published: Tue, 03/10/09
MESSAGE OF THE DAY
If you are rushed for time, sow time and you will reap time. Go to
church and spend a quiet hour in prayer. You will have more time
than ever and your work will get done. Sow time with the poor. Sit
and listen to them, give them your time lavishly. You will reap
time a hundredfold.
- Dorothy Day
(Try it! It does work.)
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SCRIPTURE READINGS
http://www.nccbuscc.org/nab/
Dt 4:1, 5-9; Ps 147:12-13, 15-16, 19-20; Mt 5:17-19
R. (12a) Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.
Glorify the LORD, O Jerusalem;
praise your God, O Zion.
For he has strengthened the bars of your gates;
he has blessed your children within you.
He sends forth his command to the earth;
swiftly runs his word!
He spreads snow like wool;
frost he strews like ashes.
He has proclaimed his word to Jacob,
his statutes and his ordinances to Israel.
He has not done thus for any other nation;
his ordinances he has not made known to them.
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SCRIPTURE MEDITATION
From "Daily Bread"
- http://www.preacherexchange.com/daily_bread.htm
"I have not come to abolish but to fulfill."
Moses teaches that the law of God should not be regarded as a
burden because it shows us the path to sanity, happiness and peace.
Jesus does not cancel the law and the prophets but perfectly sums
them up in his life. He invites and empowers us to do the same. The
wisdom of the world teaches us that committing our whole selves to
God, giving of ourselves to others, is foolishness -- but we have
the example of the Word made flesh to show us otherwise. Living for
God and others may bring crosses and sometimes crucifixion, but we
travel in good company through the cross to the glory of Easter.
"Lord, teach me your way, that I may live."
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NOTES FROM A CLASSICAL WORK
- "Meister Eckhart's Sermons"
But here on earth man never attains to being unaffected by external
things. There never was a Saint so great as to be immovable. I can
never arrive at a state when discord shall be as pleasing to my
ears as harmony. Some people wish to do without good works. I say,
"This cannot be." As soon as the disciples received the Holy Ghost,
they began to work. When Mary sat at the feet of our Lord that was
her school time. But afterwards when Christ went to heaven, and she
received the Holy Spirit, she began to serve and was a handmaid of
the disciples. When saints become saints, they begin to work, and
so gather to the refuge of everlasting safety.
- #6 - Outward and inward Morality
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REVIEW OF DAY
- from, "Handbook for Spiritual Directees"
http://shalomplace.com/view/hndbk-lite.pdf
Here is a practice used by many at the end of the day to see what
lessons can be learned and how God was present and active through
the day. Set aside fifteen to twenty minutes at the end of the
day for prayer and review of your day. A suggested format is
described below:.
1. Take a few moments of quiet. Breathe deeply. Ask God to help you
see yourself as you truly were during the day.
2. Look back over your day - not to see what you did wrong but to
honestly acknowledge what was going on with you and others.
* What happened? What did I do today?
* How did I feel? Why did I feel that way?
* Were my expectations and beliefs reasonable?
3. Affirm the healthy things you recognize.
4. Admit to yourself and God the unhealthy things. Ask God's
forgiveness, believe it is yours, then decide if you need to
apologize or make amends.
5. Use creative visualization to grow stronger. Honestly
acknowledge the troubling situations of the day. See and feel
yourself acting honestly and lovingly in these situations. Ask God
for the grace to help you act in this new way.
6. Close with simple awareness of the sights and sounds around you,
grateful for the good things in your life.
This process can be undertaken as a daily journal exercise or by
prayerfully reviewing your day in your own mind. I like to take a
walk before bedtime for examen. The important thing is to do it. It
is a discipline, to be sure, but a very important one.
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SHALOM PLACE PREMIUM GROUPS
- Life-long learning and formation in Christian spirituality.
Groups now open include the following:
A. Psychological Types and Spirituality
B. The Way of Christian Spirituality
C. Freedom from Codependency
D. Christian Spirituality Resources
E. Wonderfully Made (Christian Metaphysics)
F. Growing in Christ
G. Spiral Dynamics®
H. Discerning God's Will
I. Dark Night of the Soul
J. Silence, Solitude and Sabbath
K. Alpha Group -- includes all the above and all to come.
- see http://shalomplace.org/groups.html
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