Message of 1-22-10
Published: Thu, 01/14/10
- resources for prayer and spiritual growth
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MESSAGE OF THE DAY
When we find that -- through God's grace and forgiveness -- we are
living spiritually harmonious lives, then we'll understand that
disobedience is without a doubt more horrible than hell, and more
painful. Why? Because it goes against the essential grain of our
good, God-given nature.
- Julian of Norwich
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SCRIPTURE READINGS
http://www.nccbuscc.org/nab/
1 Sm 24:3-21; Ps. 57:2, 3-4, 6 and 11; Mk 3:13-19
R. (2a) Have mercy on me, God, have mercy.
Have mercy on me, O God; have mercy on me,
for in you I take refuge.
In the shadow of your wings I take refuge,
till harm pass by.
I call to God the Most High,
to God, my benefactor.
May he send from heaven and save me;
may he make those a reproach who trample upon me;
may God send his mercy and his faithfulness.
Be exalted above the heavens, O God;
above all the earth be your glory!
For your mercy towers to the heavens,
and your faithfulness to the skies.
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SCRIPTURE MEDITATION
- from
http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html
"He appointed Twelve, whom he also named Apostles, that they might
be with him and he might send them forth to preach and to have
authority to drive out demons . . ."
For us who desire to place our lives at the Lord's service, this
simple line from Mark's gospel cautions us not to allow zeal for
mission to pull us away from an attentive "being with" Jesus in
prayer. We, too, need to "be with him" before going out to serve
"in his name."
We might ask ourselves today: how am I doing in that delicate
balance between giving and receiving? Do I regularly listen in
prayer? Do I take the time to "be with him" or do I too quickly
run to do good in his name without waiting to learn how he wants me
do serve him?
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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
Attentive Living (pt. 1)
To get an idea of what the experience of eternal life is like,
consider a time recently when you really enjoyed yourself. Maybe it
was a movie or a visit with a friend. During such a period, did it
not seem as though time did not exist? "Time flies when you're
having fun" goes the old saying. Of course, there was linear time
plodding away, and eventually you had to leave the experience and
go on to something else. If that something else was an unpleasant
task, you probably became very conscious of time and began to look
at your watch frequently.
What does all this tell us about time and attention? The most
obvious conclusion is that time seems to go slowly when we're
unhappy with what we're doing and seems to disappear when we're
thoroughly enjoying ourselves. The difference between these two
experiences has nothing to do with time itself, but it has
everything to do with how we are in time. When we enjoy ourselves,
we are un-self-conscious: we aren't thinking much about ourselves
because we're too busy experiencing the life that is happening. The
self is there, of course, but we are not reflecting on it. When the
experience. is over and we reflect on it, we note how we were
feeling and thinking and thus relive something of the experience
(chairotic time). While it is happening, however, it seems as
though there is no-self and no-time.
These common experiences of enjoyment give us a taste of what
eternal life is like. We note two essential characteristics of the
experience. One, as we have already mentioned, is that the self is
not reflecting on its experiences but is so actively engaged in the
moment as to be un-self-conscious. This very well describes God's
basic attitude, which theologians tell us is Self-Transcending
Love. To experience this, however, we must be completely open to
the gift of the moment, and this is the second characteristic. We
must be here now, without past or future interfering. Horizontal
and vertical time meet in a now moment, and so the eternal
dimension of time can only be experienced when we have dropped the
past and quit projecting into the future. This is the hard part.
(Part 7 of 10-part series)
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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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