Message of 11-3-09
Published: Sat, 10/31/09
- resources for prayer and spiritual growth
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MESSAGE OF THE DAY
You are leaving port under sealed orders and in a troubled period.
You cannot know whither you are going or what you are to do.
But why not take the Pilot on board who knows the nature of your
sealed orders from the outset,
and who will shape your entire voyage accordingly?
He knows the shoals and the sandbanks, the rocks and the reefs,
He will steer you safely into that celestial harbor where your
anchor will be cast for eternity.
Let His mighty nail-pierced hands hold the wheel, and you will be
safe.
- Peter Marshall (1902-1949), "John Doe, Disciple: sermons for the
young in spirit"
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SCRIPTURE READINGS
http://www.nccbuscc.org/nab/
Rom 12:5-16ab; Ps 131:1bcde, 2, 3; Lk 14:15-24
R. In you, O Lord, I have found my peace.
O LORD, my heart is not proud,
nor are my eyes haughty;
I busy not myself with great things,
nor with things too sublime for me.
Nay rather, I have stilled and quieted
my soul like a weaned child.
Like a weaned child on its mother's lap,
so is my soul within me.
O Israel, hope in the LORD,
both now and forever.
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GOSPEL MEDITATION
- from http://www.dailyscripture.net/
Dieterich Bonhoeffer contrasts cheap grace and costly grace: "Cheap
grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves ..the preaching of
forgiveness without requiring repentance ..grace without
discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ,
living and incarnate. ..Costly grace is the gospel which must be
sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door
at which a man must knock. Such grace is costly because it calls us
to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his
life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life."
[Excerpt from the Cost of Discipleship]
God invites each of us to his banquet that we may share in his joy.
Are you ready to feast at the Lord's banquet table?
"Lord Jesus, you withhold no good thing from us and you lavish us
with the treasures of heaven. Help me to seek your kingdom first
and to lay aside anything that might hinder me from doing your
will."
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PRAYING WITH SCRIPTURE (Ignatian Method)
A. Preparation: acts of faith and reverence in the presence of God;
asking grace of a good meditation; petition for specific graces
sought in meditation.
B. Reading the Scriptures slowly, prayerfully.
C. Exercise of the memory, imagination, and intellect:
consideration of the material.. What practical applications are
suggested?
D. Expression of feelings and sentiments awakened in meditation.
Conversation with God.
E. Exercise of will and imagination in making resolutions. Prayer
for grace to fulfill resolutions.
F. Vocal prayer (Our Father, Hail Mary, other prayers).
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NOTES FROM A CLASSICAL WORK
"Sayings of Light and Love," by St. John of the Cross (jottings
from his notebooks)
141. Speak little and do not meddle in matters about which you are
not asked.
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