Message of 1-8-10
Published: Sun, 12/27/09
- resources for prayer and spiritual growth
Note - no weekend edition again this week as my father has died and
I'm off to Louisiana for the funeral.
- Phil
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MESSAGE OF THE DAY
There are four ways God answers prayer: 1) No, not yet; 2) No, I
love you too much; 3) Yes, I thought you'd never ask; 4) Yes, and
here's more.
- Anne Lewis
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SCRIPTURE READINGS
http://www.nccbuscc.org/nab/
1 Jn 5:5-13; Ps. 147:12-13, 14-15, 19-20; Lk 5:12-16
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 has granted peace in your borders;
with the best of wheat he fills you.
He sends forth his command to the earth;
swiftly runs his word!
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. Alleluia.
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SCRIPTURE MEDITATION
- from
http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html
"It happened that there was a man full of leprosy in one of the
towns where Jesus was;
and when he saw Jesus, he fell prostrate, pleaded with him, and
said, "Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean."
When I read this passage from Luke, I had a flashback to a girl
from childhood named Billie. Billie stuttered and dressed oddly.
She lived with her single mother on the wrong side of the tracks.
As a class, we were cruel to her. She was our leper.
I think of Billie in terms of today's Gospel because just as the
physical lepers of biblical days were cast out of their
communities, our social lepers are isolated from the supportive
communities that help most of us survive. When Jesus cured lepers,
he also cured their social leprosy. They could return to their
communities.
I think this passage challenges us to think about the disease of
social leprosy and what we can do about it. We all know a "Billie."
They are the sad souls from whom we instinctively flee. Maybe they
are mentally ill or autistic or just different than most of us.
They can be hard to be around. But Jesus calls us to include such
people in our communities just as the old extended families made a
place for all relatives including those who smelled, told the same
stories over and over again or had nowhere else to turn.
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SPIRITUAL READING
- "Enjoying One Moment at a Time"
from: "Reflecting on the Serenity Prayer," by Philip St.
Romain, D. Min.
see http://www.liguori.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=6735
Three Experiences of Time (Pt. 4)
Chairotic experiences might not always be pleasant, however.
Sometimes a season has much pain and suffering, so much so that we
would just as soon forget that it ever happened. We might avoid
anyone or anything that could remind us of that time, or we might
develop inner defenses to wall off those memories. This is
sometimes necessary, but in the long run, it is unhealthy.
Remembering unhealthy seasons in our lives can be a great learning
experience if we are prepared to do so or if we have the support of
a counselor. How did this time affect us? What lessons--healthy and
unhealthy--did we learn? How has this period affected the way we
open ourselves to emotional experience now? Eventually, we need to
re-claim the seasons of our lives, whether they were pleasant or
not. Chairotic time gives us a sense of the story of our lives.
What good is a story if we leave out important chapters?
(Part 5 of 10-part series)
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Amazon.com gift cards - good for any occasion
- http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00067L6TQ/?tag=christianspiritu
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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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