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Spiritual Guidance
Need a companion for the spiritual journey? We have several wonderful people like Sr. Kathy Goetz (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:

Enlightenment and Christian spirituality - Christian Spirituality Issues forum.
Liberal influences in media and universities - Religion and Culture forum.
When Benedict doesn't see the light - Religion and Culture forum.

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

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Affliliate Web Sites
- please give them a visit

Contemplative Outreach of St. Louis
Inner Explorations: a vast array of spirituality resources for the mature Christian.
Contemplative Rudder: "In the midst of Consecrated Silence' atmospherics ... a Rudder!
Holy Trinity: Old Catholic Orthodox Church.  Corpus Christi, TX
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
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.
   
Reach hundreds of people who have a similar interest in Christian spirituality.  Simply publish a link to Daily Spiritual Seed-- http://shalomplace.com/seed --on a prominent place on your web site and we will reciprocate with a weekly link to your site in the newsletter.  Contact the Editor when you're ready to begin.

New Seeds of Contemplation, by Thomas Merton.  Shambhala ed., 2003.
- http://tinyurl.com/26dp93

In print for more than forty years, New Seeds of Contemplation has served as a guide to the contemplative life for several generations of spiritual seekers. The word contemplation is itself somewhat problematical, according to Thomas Merton: "It can become almost a magic word, or if not magic, then 'inspirational,' which is almost as bad." In this modern Christian classic, Merton reveals contemplation to be nothing other than "life itself, fully awake, fully active, fully aware that it is alive." The thirty-nine short "seeds" that make up this book are intended to awaken and cultivate the contemplative, mystical dimension of the spiritual path for everyone. New Seeds of Contemplation is a revised and expanded version of Merton's earlier book Seeds of Contemplation.

- Inside book flap description.

Make the Christian Spirituality Bookstore your starting point for online shopping at Amazon.com.  You can buy books, cds, videotapes, software, appliances and many other products at discount prices.  As Amazon.com affiliate, we are paid a small fee for purchases originating from our web site.  Every little bit helps!
http://shalomplace.com/books/index.html

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Saint of the Week

- July 23rd. St. Apollonia.

She was a deaconess of the church in Alexandria in Egypt, martyred in 249 in her old age. During a riot when much Christian property was destroyed "they seized her, broke out all her teeth with blows on her jaws, and piling up a bonfire before the city, threatened to burn her alive if she refused to recite with them their blasphemous sayings. But she asked for a brief delay and without flinching leapt into the fire and was consumed". Later her 'life' became a 'legend'; she was transformed into a beautiful young girl, whose teeth were extracted with pincers; in another version she was a princess who, before dying, promised to help all with toothache. She is usually shown in art holding a tooth with a pair of pincers, or having her teeth removed by some infernal contraption. In the USA there is even a dentists' professional magazine called "The Apollonian", which does not inspire confidence in the start-of-the-art nature of the profession.
- http://tinyurl.com/yv6ggk

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Web Site of the Week

Joke of the Day
- http://www.ajokeaday.com/

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Joke of the Week

A big game hunter goes on safari with his wife and his mother-in-law. One morning, the wife wakes up to find her mother gone. Immediately, she awakens up her husband and they both set off to find the old woman.

Suddenly, they break into a clearing and there's the mother-in-law, standing face-to-face with a ferocious lion!

"Quick, darling," the wife shouts frantically, "Do something!"

"Oh, no," the husband says, "That lion got himself into this mess. Let him get himself out!"