Message of 2-26-10
Published: Thu, 02/18/10
- resources for prayer and spiritual growth
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MESSAGE OF THE DAY
There can be no end without means; and God furnishes no means that
exempt us from the task and duty of joining our own best endeavors.
The original stock, or wild olive tree, of our natural powers, was
not given to us to be burnt or blighted, but to be grafted on.
... Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834)
(As Thomas Aquinas put it, "grace builds on nature." Resolve to
use your human powers in the service of good this day.)
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SCRIPTURE READINGS
http://www.nccbuscc.org/nab/
Ez 18:21-28; Ps. 130:1-2, 3-4, 5-7a, 7bc-8; Mt 5:20-26
R. (3) If you, O Lord, mark iniquities, who can stand?
Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD;
LORD, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive
to my voice in supplication.
If you, O LORD, mark iniquities,
LORD, who can stand?
But with you is forgiveness,
that you may be revered.
I trust in the LORD;
my soul trusts in his word.
My soul waits for the LORD
more than sentinels wait for the dawn.
Let Israel wait for the LORD.
For with the LORD is kindness
and with him is plenteous redemption;
And he will redeem Israel
from all their iniquities.
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SCRIPTURE MEDITATION
- from
http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html
There is no way we can demonstrate our worthiness (before God). God
imputes worthiness to us - as a free gift, undeserved, impossible
for us of ourselves. There is nothing we can do to change God's
mind about this. Second the deed is not only connected to the
prize, it is, in a sense, the very prize itself. Recall: "God is
love" (1 John 4:16), or better translated, "God is self-giving".
The Kingdom of God is a realm utterly characterized by self-giving.
We can't possibly be self-giving and at the same time be
unreconciled or hate our enemies. That's why a major component of
Jesus' message - the one he charged His disciples with as He sent
them about the countryside of Galilee was "Repent" (e.g., Mk 1:14;
Mk 6:12). This meant not so much "Be contrite" as "Change your
priorities. You have it all wrong. Your value system is upside
down." This message was to be accompanied by the disciples'
proclaiming that "The Kingdom of God is near". Truly, when we are
self-giving, then indeed the Kingdom of God is present.
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SPIRITUAL READING
- Fenelon's "Maxims of the Saints"
Second, Another kind of love does not exclude a regard to our own
happiness as a motive of love, but requires this motive to be
subordinate to a much higher one, namely, that of a regard to God's
glory. It is a mixed state, in which we regard ourselves and God
at the same time. This love is not necessarily selfish and wrong.
On the contrary, when the two objects of it, God and ourselves, are
relatively in the right position, that is to say, when we love God
as He ought to be loved, and love ourúselves no more than we ought
to be loved, it is a love which, in being properly subordinated, is
unselfish and is right.
- First Article
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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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