Message of 8-19-11

Published: Fri, 08/19/11


A Daily Spiritual Seed
- resources for prayer and spiritual growth

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Message of the Day

You will tell me that I am always saying the same thing. It is true, for this is the best and easiest method I know; and as I use no other, I advise all the world to it. We must know before we can love. In order to know God, we must often think of Him; and when we come to love Him, we shall then also think of Him often, for our heart will be with our treasure.
  - Brother Lawrence (c.1605-1691), The Practice of the Presence of God

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Lectionary Readings of the Day
   http://new.usccb.org/calendar/index.cfm?showLit=1&action=month

Ru 1:1, 3-6, 14b-16, 22;    Ps 146:5-6ab, 6c-7, 8-9a, 9bc-10;    Mt 22:34-40

R. (1b) Praise the Lord, my soul!

Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the LORD, his God,
Who made heaven and earth,
the sea and all that is in them.

The LORD keeps faith forever,
secures justice for the oppressed,
gives food to the hungry.
The LORD sets captives free.

The LORD gives sight to the blind.
The LORD raises up those who were bowed down;
The LORD loves the just.
The LORD protects strangers.

The fatherless and the widow he sustains,
but the way of the wicked he thwarts.
The LORD shall reign forever;
your God, O Zion, through all generations. Alleluia.

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Reflection on the Scripture
   http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html

Naomi's pain is palpable. In just a handful of verses, the book of Ruth suggests so much. It even becomes difficult to tell whether her conniving to get Ruth married off is a ploy to simply get her out of the house or to actually act for the good of her daughter-in-law. Nonetheless, Naomi counsels Ruth how to "get her man."
 
The rest of the story is that Boaz, a relative of Naomi, marries Ruth. They have a son named Obed who is the father of Jesse who is the father of King David.
 
What I find good and helpful about the rest of the story is to see how God continues to work in the midst of grief and loss. The Lord is not put off by our bitterness. Rather, God seems to turn things to the good through Naomi's mourning and Ruth's status as immigrant / refugee. What a deal!
 
Question: Has God so worked in your life so as to bring about a completely unexpected good? I don't think this happens all the time. Or, better... Sometimes, we're so caught up in the immediacy of difficult times that we haven't come to that bend in the road that heralds a new and totally unforeseen destination. Where are you on the journey of faith?

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Spiritual Reading

Christ's Four Modes of Presence to Us
     by Philip St. Romain

- 3.  The Sacramental (part 3 of 3)

In terms of the spiritual life, we can say that sacraments help to train us to look beyond the literal toward a deeper reality.  They do not reject the literal or ordinary modes of human knowing; the forms used in sacraments are not merely incidental, but essential.  But they do lead us to be open to modes of encountering Christ beyond what the senses and the concepts of the mind are familiar with.  They are like windows into the spiritual realm: we can look through them and find Christ looking back, and if we open the windows by receiving the sacraments in faith, we can be refreshed by the breath of his Spirit. 

  - from Jesus Alive in Our Lives
    http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/jesus-alive-in-our-lives/11780728 (paperback)
    https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/41961 (ebook formats)
    http://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Alive-Our-Lives-ebook/dp/B00427YKNU/ (Kindle)


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Amazon.com gift cards - good for any occasion
- http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00067L6TQ/?tag=christianspiritu

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