Message of 9-7-09
Published: Sat, 09/05/09
- resources for prayer and spiritual growth
- - -
MESSAGE OF THE DAY
Give me a stout heart to bear my own burdens. Give me a willing
heart to bear the burdens of others. Give me a believing heart to
cast all burdens upon Thee, O Lord.
- John Baillie
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
SCRIPTURE READINGS
http://www.nccbuscc.org/nab/
Col 1:24-2:3; Ps 62:6-7, 9; Lk 6:6-11
R. (8) In God is my safety and my glory.
Only in God be at rest, my soul,
for from him comes my hope.
He only is my rock and my salvation,
my stronghold; I shall not be disturbed.
Trust in him at all times, O my people!
Pour out your hearts before him;
God is our refuge!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
REFLECTION ON THE SCRIPTURES
- from "Daily Bread"
http://www.preacherexchange.com/daily_bread.htm
"I ask you, is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath rather than to
do evil, to save life rather than to destroy it?"
On a day that we in the United States traditionally pause from our
labor, it's fitting to note that our duty to what is right and good
knows no rest. We may grow weary and feel as if we've already
labored long for the Lord and our brothers and sisters. Certainly
Jesus recognized the beauty and value of rest and the Sabbath, as
well as the trap that the scribes and Pharisees set for him;
however, he also saw the affliction of the man with the withered
hand and his need for healing and comfort. We must look beyond the
obvious pitfalls that keep us from laboring for what is just. If
others scrutinize our actions, let them see that we do more than
what's acceptable. Let them see how we labor with love.
"Lord, guide our hands to do your work, we pray."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Amazon.com gift cards - good for any occasion
- http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00067L6TQ/?tag=christianspiritu
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
LECTIO DIVINA PROCESS
- http://heartlandspirituality.org/vocations/prayer.html
First, you choose a passage of Scripture that you will pray with.
It might be the Gospel reading used in the liturgy of the day, or
anything else you want. The process then follows these steps:
* Reading (lectio) After settling in and quieting yourself,
read the passage slowly, prayerfully. Just let it sink in for a
minute or two, then read it a second time, paying closer attention
to the words or phrases that speak to you.
* Reflecting (meditatio) What do you hear God saying to you in
this passage? What words or phrases caught your attention?
* Responding (oratio) What do you want to say to God in
response to what you've heard? Here you can also voice your prayers
of petition, remorse, thanksgiving, praise, and so forth. If you
sense God speaking to you in your thoughts, feelings or
imagination, you respond as you would in any conversation.
* Resting (contemplatio) If, at any time, you feel drawn to
simply rest in the awareness of God's loving presence, you let
yourself do so. Remain in loving silence as long as you feel
comfortable, perhaps using a simple word or phrase from the
Scripture passage to help deepen your openness to rest in God.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
THE ADORNMENT OF THE SPIRITUAL MARRIAGE
by St. John of Rusybroeck (1293-1381)
(On patient endurance) We should mark this point carefully, for it
adorned Christ our Bridegroom during all His life. For His
sufferings began very early, as soon as He was born; they began
with poverty and cold. Then He was circumcised and shed His blood;
He was driven to a strange country; He served the lord Joseph and
His mother; He suffered hunger and thirst, shame and contempt, the
vile words and works of the Jews. He fasted, He watched, and He was
tempted by the devil. He was subject to all men; He wandered from
country to country, from town to town, with much labour and great
zeal, that He might preach the Gospel.
At last He was taken prisoner by the Jews, who were His enemies,
though He was their friend. He was betrayed, mocked and insulted,
scourged and buffetted, and condemned by false witness. He bore His
cross with great pains up to the highest point of the land. He was
stripped stark naked. So fair a body neither man nor woman ever saw
so cruelly ill-used. He suffered shame, and anguish, and cold,
before all the world: for He was naked, and it was cold, and a
searching wind cut into His wounds. He was nailed to the wood of
the cross with blunt nails, and so stretched out that His veins
were torn asunder. He was lifted up and then flung down, and
because of the blow His wounds began to bleed again. His head was
crowned with thorns; His ears heard the Jews cry in their fury:
Crucify Him, Crucify Him, with many other infamous words. His eyes
saw the hardness and malice of the Jews, and the anguish of His
mother. And His eyes overflowed with the bitterness of sorrow and
death; His nose smelt the filth which the Jews spat out of their
mouths into His face; His mouth and tongue dripped with vinegar
mingled with gall, and every sensitive part of His body had been
wounded by the scourge.
Christ our Bridegroom, wounded to the death, forsaken of God and of
all creatures, dying on the cross, hanging like a log for which no
one cared, save Mary, His poor mother, who could not help Him!
- Chapter 5, Of Patient Endurance
_________________________________________________
* Web Archive: http://www.aweber.com/z/article/?dailyseed
* RSS: http://www.aweber.com/z/rss/?dailyseed