Message of 7-4-11
Published: Sun, 07/03/11
- resources for prayer and spiritual growth
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MESSAGE OF THE DAY
- Independence Day (U.S.A.)
Thank God, our Christian chance is not permanently gone from us [in
world affairs]. Ecclesiastics seems for the most part to have
failed, failed both humanity and God; but God has not failed, Jesus
has not failed. The God-man still remains the only leader into
cooperation whose wisdom is sufficient for a permanent, competent,
and free Society. The dictators and would-be dictators will not do.
They overreach themselves. Eventually they will destroy one
another, and kill off most of us. But even that disaster will not
eradicate the desire of men and women to lay down lives for that
which is more than themselves. People will continue to demand not
the freedom from that degree of unity for which the dictatorships
stand, but rather a finer, more noble, more perceptive kind of
unity: a human solidarity which is not nationalistic but
world-embracing, a human integration which in aim and purpose is
not secularist but spiritual. What the world unwittingly is groping
after is allegiance to the eternal, the compassionate, the
completely integrating Christ.
- Bernard Iddings Bell (1886-1958), "Still Shine the Stars"
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LECTIONARY READINGS FOR THE DAY
http://www.nccbuscc.org/nab/
Gn 28:10-22a; Ps. 91:1-2, 3-4, 14-15ab; Mt 9:18-26
R. (see 2b) In you, my God, I place my trust.
You who dwell in the shelter of the Most High,
who abide in the shadow of the Almighty,
Say to the LORD, "My refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust."
For he will rescue you from the snare of the fowler,
from the destroying pestilence.
With his pinions he will cover you,
and under his wings you shall take refuge.
Because he clings to me, I will deliver him;
I will set him on high because he acknowledges my name.
He shall call upon me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in distress.
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REFLECTION ON THE GOSPEL
- from "Daily Bread"
http://www.preacherexchange.com/daily_bread.htm
"Of everything you give me, I will faithfully return a tenth part
to you."
Today citizens of the United States celebrate the blessings of
freedom. We all know, however, that such freedom comes at a cost
and with a profound responsibility. We owe a debt of gratitude to
those who attained our freedom and those who protect and maintain
it. In turn, we owe it to our fellow citizens and the very land
itself to nurture a way of life that respects all of God's
creation. We've been entrusted with a country of abundant riches.
Our choices must reflect a commitment to faithful stewardship of
this great land and a sincere gratitude for our many gifts.
"Let us gratefully return to God and share with our brothers and
sisters a just portion of our many blessings, we pray."
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SPIRITUAL READING
The Adornment of the Spiritual Marriage
by St. John of Rusybroeck (1293-1381)
At this season of the year, so soon as the equinox is come, the sun
begins to descend and the weather becomes cooler. And then some
imprudent men become full of noxious humours, which enter into the
stomach, and spoil the health and bring many diseases: and these
destroy the appetite and the taste of good food, and bring many to
death. And some men are corrupted by these noxious humours, so that
they get dropsy, and have therefrom long torments and sometimes
die. And from the super-abundance of these humours come sickness
and fever from which many men suffer, and of which some die. And so
likewise it is, when men of good-will, who once tasted God, have
swerved from Him and from truth, and have gone astray; these either
sicken in the way of perfection, or wither away as regards virtue,
or fall into eternal death, through one of these maladies, and some
through all three. Especially when he is forsaken a man has need of
much strength, and must exercise himself in the way I have just
taught you: thus he shall not be deceived. But the unwise man, who
rules himself ill, falls easily into these maladies; for in him the
weather has grown cooler. For this reason his nature becomes slow
in virtue and in good works, and craves for comfort and softness of
the body; often without discretion and more than is needful. And
other men would like well to receive solace from God, if they might
partake of Him without pains and labour. And some seek for solace
in creatures, wherefrom great harm often ensues. And some think
themselves sick and feeble and that their powers are exhausted, and
believe that they have need of all that they can get, and that they
must cherish their bodies in comfort and repose. When a man yields
himself in such a way, and seeks without discretion after bodily
things and comforts; then all such things are noxious humours which
fulfill the stomach, that is to say, the man's heart, and take from
him the taste and the enjoyment of good food, that is to say, of
all the virtues.
- Chapter 30: How one may be hindered in this fourth degree (of
union)
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