Contents:
- Weekend Scripture Readings
- Spiritual Guidance
- Shalom Place Premium Groups
- Discussion Board highlights
- Affiliate Web Sites
- Book of the Week
- Saint of the Week
- Web Site of the Week
- Joke of the Week


Weekend Readings
     http://www.nccbuscc.org/nab/

Saturday:   Gn 27:1-5, 15-29;   Ps 135:1b-2, 3-4, 5-6;   Mt 9:14-17
Sunday:   Is 66:10-14c;   Ps 66:1-3, 4-5, 6-7, 16, 20;   Gal 6:14-18;   Lk 10:1-9

R.    (1) Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.

Shout joyfully to God, all the earth,
sing praise to the glory of his name;
proclaim his glorious praise.
Say to God, “How tremendous are your deeds!”

“Let all on earth worship and sing praise to you,
sing praise to your name!”
Come and see the works of God,
his tremendous deeds among the children of Adam.

He has changed the sea into dry land;
through the river they passed on foot;
therefore let us rejoice in him.
He rules by his might forever.

Hear now, all you who fear God, while I declare
what he has done for me.
Blessed be God who refused me not
my prayer or his kindness!

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Spiritual Guidance
Need a companion for the spiritual journey? We have several wonderful people like Fr. Salvatore DiStefano (pictured, here) ready to help, using email and telephone conferences to bridge the miles.

- Now providing -

Consultations: this option is best for short-term guidance pertaining to a specific issue.

Spiritual Direction: ongoing relationship with a spiritual director to become more attuned to God's presence in all of life.

See http://shalomplace.com/direction/

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Shalom Place Premium Groups
- Life-long learning and study and spiritual growth.

Groups now open include the following:
A. Psychological Types and Spirituality
B. The Way of Christian Spirituality
C. Freedom from Codependency
D. Christian Spirituality Resources
E. Wonderfully Made . . . (Christian metaphysics)
F. Growing in Christ
G. Communities in Transition (Spiral Dynamics)
H. Discerning God's Will
I. Dark Night of the Soul
J. Silence, Solitude and Sabbath
K. Alpha Group -- includes all the above and all to come for only $65.00.
- see http://shalomplace.org/groups.html for more info.

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Shalom Place Discussion Board
- Discussions this past week featured the following topics:

Liberal influences in media and universities - Religion and Culture forum.
The bodily resurrection of Jesus - Christian Morality and Theology forum.
Jokes - Jokes and Stories forum.

- see http://shalomplace.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php to read these topics -

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Affliliate Web Sites
- please give them a visit

Temenos Catholic Worker: support for homeless youth in Polk Street neighborhood, San Francisco
Carry the Light CD: Piano Meditations for the Hopeful Heart
Stillpoint: Programs in spiritual direction, contemplative prayer.
Solitude and Streets: an emerging faith community.
Family Life Training and Counseling Center: an online Bible college/seminary
The Ark: Providing a variety of scripture and lectionary study resources.
Contemplative Ministries of the Pacific Northwest: Teaching and support on contemplative practice
Contemplative Outreach of St. Louis
Inner Explorations: a vast array of spirituality resources for the mature Christian.
SeeScapes. Picturing the deeper dimensions of our spirituality.
Heartland Center for Spirituality (sponsoring Internet workshops year-round).
Emanuella House of Prayer: a place for prayer and silence in British Columbia
Kyrie Places of Pilgrimmage and Renewal.
Contemplative Rudder: "In the midst of Consecrated Silence' atmospherics ... a Rudder!
Holy Trinity: Old Catholic Orthodox Church.  Corpus Christi, TX
   
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One Nation Under God: The history of prayer in America, by James P. Moore Jr. Doubleday 2005.
- Click here for more information

Five hundred pages ... and I didn't want it to end. This is a fascinating history of how America turned to God in prayer through all the glorious and the saddest times of her history. This book is a treasure that gives readers the introduction to an author who impresses with his scholarship and tremendous research.

Moore begins with this statement;" Nothing in human experience compares to prayer." He defines prayer as the elevated communication of human beings with their God. He says people come to God in praise, in contrition, in petition, and with thanksgiving; in rich rituals or in simple hushed solitude. Moore says that United States has developed its own prayer culture, born from traditions from other lands and nurtured in its own unique historical experience.

One of the most interesting aspects of this book is the development of hymn/songs that accompany historical events. Some of these hymns are: Battle Hymn of the RepubliC, Amazing Grace, Nearer my God to Thee, Going Home, We Shall Overcome, America, America the Beautiful, God Bless America, Star Spangled Banner, Swing Lo Sweet Chariot, Marines Hymn, Charge to Keep, Ceser's Prayer, Nobody Knows the Troubles I've Seen, How Great Thou Art, When the Saints Come Marching in, Precious Lord Take my Hand, Faith of our Fathers, Sweet By and By, Shall we Gather at the River?, Jesus Loves Me, Let Us Break Bread Together, and many more, all situated in some event of the history of this nation.

- Thanks to Sr. Irene Hartman, O.P.  for this review.

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http://shalomplace.com/books/index.html

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Saint of the Week

- July 11th. St. Benedict.

Benedict was born in about 480 at Norcia in the Italian Apennines, the brother of St. Scholastica. He left his native town for Rome in order to study, and then proceeded to Subiaco where he took to the life of a hermit, and was later joined by a number of disciples. He seems to have caused jealousy locally, and finally moved to Monte Cassino. N.E. of Naples, where he established his definitive home and wrote his Rule. The Rule of St. Benedict, easily the most influential Western religious document in the early centuries of Christianity, was based on other Rules: those of St. Basil, St. John Cassian and the anonymous "Rule of the Master". It is distinguished by its flexibility and moderation, and for these reasons soon replaced other, earlier and harsher Rules such as that of the Irishman St. Columbanus. Benedict did not set out to found an Order, but such indeed formed around his Rule, to the extent that for many centuries ‘Benedictine’ and ‘monastic’ were equivalent terms. In the Dark Ages, it was the Benedictine monastery which kept Western civilisation alive, and for that reason Benedict has been declared the patron of Europe. 
- full archive

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Web Site of the Week

iHerb.com
- http://www.iherb.com

Excellent resource for vitamins and herbal supplements.  Discount prices and usually free shipping on orders over $60.00.  Take your vitamins and stay healthy!

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Joke of the Week

John: I got this great new hearing aid the other day.

Mary: Are you wearing it now?

John: Yup. Cost me four thousand dollars, though. But it's top of the line.

Mary: What kind is it?

John: Twelve-thirty.