Message of 6-4-10
Published: Mon, 05/31/10
- resources for prayer and spiritual growth
- - -
MESSAGE OF THE DAY
The smallest things become great when God requires them of us; they
are small only in themselves; they are always great when they are
done for God, and when they serve to unite us with Him eternally.
... François Fénelon (1651-1715), "Letters to Men and Women"
[What small thing(s) do you think God is requiring of you lately?]
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
SCRIPTURE READINGS
http://www.nccbuscc.org/nab/
2 Tm 3:10-17; Ps 119:157, 160, 161, 165, 166, 168; Mk 12:
35-37
R. O Lord, great peace have they who love your law.
Though my persecutors and my foes are many,
I turn not away from your decrees.
Permanence is your word's chief trait;
each of your just ordinances is everlasting.
Princes persecute me without cause
but my heart stands in awe of your word.
Those who love your law have great peace,
and for them there is no stumbling block.
I wait for your salvation, O LORD,
and your commands I fulfill.
I keep your precepts and your decrees,
for all my ways are before you.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
SCRIPTURE MEDITATION
- from
http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html
We do not choose the world into which we are born. The ways of the
world are thrust upon us. The status quo has a power that can be
consuming. What matters most--persons, sustaining life, care for
the vulnerable--often is swept aside. For thoroughly acculturated
people, Scripture reads like notes from outer space. Who speaks
such language any more? A mistrusted being, God is less real than
the fleeting price of oil.
Paul reminds us that we are not helpless: the practices of faith
have the power to move our lives. Scripture opens up a deeper
understanding of what is real and what matters. In following
Christ, we enter into a totality where self and world reveal the
sacred. We learn to think, feel, and act as persons set free. In
this freedom, we are not alone before the bonfires. The Word
illumines reality and brings hope to the shadows.
Modern thought so often deals in dualities: the self is severed
from community, fact from value, suffering from joy, transcendence
from immanence, faith from reason. With these splintered forms,
much is lost. The practices of faith heal divisions of all kinds;
they restore our ability to think and awaken us to the goodness of
this world.
- by Jeanne Schuler
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
SPIRITUAL READING
- Fenelon's "Maxims of the Saints"
Writers often speak of abandonment. The term has a meaning
somewhat specific. The soul in this state (abandonment to God)
does not renounce everything, and thus become brutish in its
indifference; but renounces everything except God's will. Souls in
the state of abandonment, not only forsake outward things, but,
what is still more important, forsake themselves. Abandonment, or
self-renunciation, is not the renunciation of faith or of love or
of anything else, except selfishness.
- Eighth Article
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Amazon.com gift cards - good for any occasion
- http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00067L6TQ/?tag=christianspiritu
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
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.
______________________________
* Web Archive: http://www.aweber.com/z/article/?dailyseed
* RSS: http://www.aweber.com/z/rss/?dailyseed