Message of 6-10-10
Published: Sat, 06/05/10
- resources for prayer and spiritual growth
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MESSAGE OF THE DAY
He, who begins by loving Christianity, better than truth, will
proceed by loving his own sect or church better than Christianity,
and end in loving himself better than all.
- Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834), "Aids to Reflection"
(All truth ultimately leads to God and, in the end, sets us free.)
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SCRIPTURE READINGS
http://www.nccbuscc.org/nab/
1 Kgs 18:41-46; Ps 65:10, 11, 12-13; Mt 5: 20-26
R. It is right to praise you in Zion, O God.
You have visited the land and watered it;
greatly have you enriched it.
God's watercourses are filled;
you have prepared the grain.
Thus have you prepared the land:
drenching its furrows, breaking up its clods,
Softening it with showers,
blessing its yield.
You have crowned the year with your bounty,
and your paths overflow with a rich harvest;
The untilled meadows overflow with it,
and rejoicing clothes the hills.
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SCRIPTURE MEDITATION
from "Praying the Daily Gospels," by Philip St. Romain:
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- Matthew 5: 20-26 (On anger and reconciliation)
Jesus looks deeper than human behavior to identify sources of
goodness and sin. Behavior follows one's state of being, he
teaches; actions are always preceded by thoughts about the actions.
If we are to transform our angry selves, we must begin to think
peaceful thoughts, and we must also reconcile with our enemies.
- C. S. Lewis wrote that the Nazis hated the Jews and so they
mistreated them. After a while they hated the Jews because they
mistreated them. Are there people in your life who suffer the same
lot from you?
- What are some occasions of anger for you? What do you usually do
with your anger? How can you change your attitude toward these
occasions to lessen your anger?
- Pray for the grace to be more patient with other people.
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NOTES FROM A CLASSICAL WORK
- "Imitation of Christ," by Thomas A. Kempis
The Disciple
Hence it is, my God, that according to inner self, I delight in
Your law, knowing that Your command is good, just, and holy, and
that
it proves the necessity of shunning all evil and sin. But in the
flesh
I keep the law of sin, obeying sensuality rather than reason.
Hence,
also, it is that the will to good is present in me, but how to
accomplish it I know not. Hence, too, I often propose many good
things, but because the grace to help my weakness is lacking, I
recoil
and give up at the slightest resistance. Thus it is that I know
the
way of perfection and see clearly enough how I ought to act, but
because I am pressed down by the weight of my own corruption I
do not
rise to more perfect things.
- chapter 55
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PRAYING WITH SCRIPTURE (Carmelite Method)
A. Introduction: settling in, relaxing in awareness of God's
presence.
B. Reading the text slowly, prayerfully.
C. Meditation: imaginative representation of the material;
reflection
on the meaning of the material and its application to one's life.
D. Affective prayer: conversation with God, attentive to sharing
feelings awakened in meditation. Prayer of petition, thanksgiving,
remorse.
E. Resting in God in silent loving awareness, if moved to do so.
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