Weekend Edition - A Daily Spiritual Seed
Published: Fri, 12/02/11
A Daily Spiritual Seed
Weekend Edition:
December 2-4, 2011
| Contents: - Weekend Scripture Readings - Spiritual Guidance - Discussion Board highlights - Affiliate Web Sites - Theology Note of the Week - Web Site of the Week - Spiritual Growth Resources. - Book of the Week - Saint of the Week - Joke of the Week - - - Sunday: Is 40:1-5, 9-11; Ps 85:9-14; 2 Pt 3:8-14; Mk 1:1-8 R. (8) Lord, let us see your kindness, and grant us your salvation.  I will hear what God proclaims;the LORD--for he proclaims peace to his people. Near indeed is his salvation to those who fear him, glory dwelling in our land. Kindness and truth shall meet; justice and peace shall kiss. Truth shall spring out of the earth, and justice shall look down from heaven. The LORD himself will give his benefits; our land shall yield its increase. Justice shall walk before him, and prepare the way of his steps. - - - Amazon
Gift Cards - - - Spiritual Guidance The Sanctuary
Foundation for Prayer: resources for spiritual growth. - - - Theology Note of the
Week The error that there is only one person in the Godhead who manifests himself in three forms or manners: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. - - - Web Resource of the Week Awaiting the Christ Child - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POm7_WBMJTI Only a little over three minutes, this meditative slideshow with music captures very well the spirit of Advent. Excellent for prayer time, or even as part of a prayer service. |
Featured Spiritual
Growth Resources
Lulu.com bookstore: Philip St. Romain spotlight - http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/shalomplace  Here you will find a number of selections on Christian spirituality in both paperback and eBook formats. 25% discount to December 14! Use coupon code: BUYMYBOOK305 - - - Book of the Week Into the Silent Land: a guide to the Christian practice of contemplation, by Martin Laird. Oxford University Press. 2006. - http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0195307607/ref=noism/christianspiritu/  Sitting in stillness, the practice of
meditation, and the cultivation of awareness are commonly thought to be
the preserves of Hindus and Buddhists. Martin Laird shows that the
Christian tradition of contemplation has its own refined teachings on
using a prayer word to focus the mind, working with the breath to
cultivate stillness, and the practice of inner vigilance or awareness.
But this book is not a mere historical survey of these teachings. In
Into the Silent Land, we see the ancient wisdom of both the Christian
East and West brought sharply to bear on the modern-day longing for
radical openness to God in the depths of the heart.Laird's book is not like the many presentations for beginners. While useful for those just starting out, this book serves especially as a guide for those who desire to journey yet deeper into the silence of God. The heart of the book focuses on negotiating key moments of struggle on the contemplative path, when the whirlwind of distractions or the brick wall of boredom makes it difficult to continue. Laird shows that these inner struggles, even wounds, that any person of prayer must face, are like riddles, trying to draw out of us our own inner silence. Ultimately Laird shows how the wounds we loathe become vehicles of the healing silence we seek, beyond technique and achievement. Throughout the language is fresh, direct, and focused on real-life examples of people whose lives are incomparably enriched by the practice of contemplation. - Amazon.com book review 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 - - - Saint of the Week - http://www.americancatholic.org/features/saints/saint.aspx?id=1222 St. Ambrose (340?-397): December 7  One of Ambrose's
biographers observed that at the Last Judgment people would still be
divided between those who admired Ambrose and those who heartily
disliked him. He emerges as the man of action who cut a furrow through
the lives of his contemporaries. Even royal personages were numbered
among those who were to suffer crushing divine punishments for standing
in Ambrose's way.When the Empress Justina attempted to wrest two basilicas from Ambrose's Catholics and give them to the Arians, he dared the eunuchs of the court to execute him. His own people rallied behind him in the face of imperial troops. In the midst of riots, he both spurred and calmed his people with bewitching new hymns set to exciting Eastern melodies. In his disputes with the Emperor Auxentius, he coined the principle: "The emperor is in the Church, not above the Church." He publicly admonished Emperor Theodosius for the massacre of 7,000 innocent people. The emperor did public penance for his crime. This was Ambrose, the fighter, sent to Milan as Roman governor and chosen while yet a catechumen to be the people's bishop. There is yet another side of Ambrose--one which influenced Augustine, whom Ambrose converted. Ambrose was a passionate little man with a high forehead, a long melancholy face and great eyes. We can picture him as a frail figure clasping the codex of sacred Scripture. This was the Ambrose of aristocratic heritage and learning. Augustine found the oratory of Ambrose less soothing and entertaining but far more learned than that of other contemporaries. Ambrose's sermons were often modeled on Cicero, and his ideas betrayed the influence of contemporary thinkers and philosophers. He had no scruples in borrowing at length from pagan authors. He gloried in the pulpit in his ability to parade his spoils--"gold of the Egyptians"--taken over from the pagan philosophers. His sermons, his writings and his personal life reveal him as an otherworldly man involved in the great issues of his day. Humanity, for Ambrose, was, above all, spirit. In order to think rightly of God and the human soul, the closest thing to God, no material reality at all was to be dwelt upon. He was an enthusiastic champion of consecrated virginity. The influence of Ambrose on Augustine will always be open for discussion. The Confessions reveal some manly, brusque encounters between Ambrose and Augustine, but there can be no doubt of Augustine's profound esteem for the learned bishop. Neither is there any doubt that Monica loved Ambrose as an angel of God who uprooted her son from his former ways and led him to his convictions about Christ. It was Ambrose, after all, who placed his hands on the shoulders of the naked Augustine as he descended into the baptismal fountain to put on Christ. - - - Joke of the Week - The Three Bears It's a sunny morning in the Big Forest and the Bear family are just waking up. Baby Bear goes downstairs and sits in his small chair at the table. He looks into his small bowl. It is empty! "Who's been eating my porridge?!" he squeaks. Daddy Bear arrives at the table and sits in his big chair. He looks into his big bowl. It is also empty! "Who's been eating my porridge?!" he roars. Mummy Bear puts her head through the serving hatch from the kitchen and screams, "For God's sake, how many times do we have to go through this? I haven't made the porridge yet!!" *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
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