Message of 7-10-09
Published: Mon, 07/06/09
- resources for prayer and spiritual growth
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MESSAGE OF THE DAY
Help me, Lord, to remember that religion (Christianity) is not to
be confined to the church ... nor exercised only in prayer and
meditation, but that everywhere I am in Thy Presence.
- Susanna Wesley
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Wherever you are, be all there. Live to the hilt every situation
you believe to be the will of God.
- Jim Elliot
(Be here now in love, and all shall be well.)
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SCRIPTURE READINGS
http://www.nccbuscc.org/nab/
Gn 46:1-7, 28-30; Ps 37:3-4, 18-19, 27-28, 39-40; Mt 10:16-23
R. (39a) The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.
Trust in the LORD and do good,
that you may dwell in the land and be fed in security.
Take delight in the LORD,
and he will grant you your heart's requests.
The LORD watches over the lives of the wholehearted;
their inheritance lasts forever.
They are not put to shame in an evil time;
in days of famine they have plenty.
Turn from evil and do good,
that you may abide forever;
For the LORD loves what is right,
and forsakes not his faithful ones.
The salvation of the just is from the LORD;
he is their refuge in time of distress.
And the LORD helps them and delivers them;
he delivers them from the wicked and saves them,
because they take refuge in him.
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GOSPEL MEDITATION
- from
http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html
Every gym rat knows that you start an endurance program by slowly
increasing the exercise you have been doing. You aren't likely to
stick with anything else. That might also be a good approach to
building up our spiritual endurance. What's our current base line?
Do we just show up at church fairly regularly? Do we practice any
of the spiritual or corporal works of mercy or just throw our loose
change in a bell ringer's kettle at Christmas? Do we pray regularly?
Maybe we can start increasing our strength by adding just one small
practice to our daily routine such as praying every morning or
evening. When that has become a habit, we might branch out to
something else such as volunteering once a week for a worthy cause.
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PRAYING WITH SCRIPTURE (Benedictine Approach)
1. Relax. Settle in. Be aware that God is here, now, loving you.
2. Read a short passage of Scripture as though God were speaking
directly to you in it.
3. Choose a phrase from the passage that strikes you and repeat it
slowly, prayerfully, non-analytically.
4. When your heart is full, express to God the needs and sentiments
awakened by your meditation. When you're done, read another passage
and repeat steps 3 and 4.
5. If, at any time, you feel moved to simply be present to God in
loving silence, put the Scripture aside and rest in God.
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NOTES FROM A CLASSICAL WORK
- "The Practice of the Presence of God," by Brother Lawrence
When the mind, for want of being sufficiently reduced by
recollection, at our first engaging in devotion, has contracted
certain bad habits of wandering and dissipation, they are difficult
to overcome, and commonly draw us, even against our wills, to the
things of the earth.
I believe one remedy for this is, to confess our faults, and to
humble ourselves before GOD. I do not advise you to use
multiplicity of words in prayer; many words and long discourses
being often the occasions of wandering: hold yourself in prayer
before GOD, like a dumb or paralytic beggar at a rich mans gate:
let it be your business to keep your mind in the presence of the
LORD. If it sometimes wander, and withdraw itself from Him, do not
much disquiet yourself for that; trouble and disquiet serve rather
to distract the mind, than to re-collect it; the will must bring it
back in tranquillity; if you persevere in this manner, GOD will
have pity on you.
- 8th letter, on wandering thoughts in prayer.
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