Message of 4-30-12

Published: Mon, 04/30/12


A Daily Spiritual Seed
- resources for prayer and spiritual growth


Message of the Day

 Prayer is continuous when the spirit clings to God with deep emotion and great longing, and remains for ever attached to him by faith and hope in all the actions and events of its destiny."
- Maximus the Confessor, "Asceticism," 25.

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

Acts 11:1-18;    Ps 42:2-3; 43:3, 4;    Jn 10:1-10

R. (see 3a) Athirst is my soul for the living God.

As the hind longs for the running waters,
so my soul longs for you, O God.
Athirst is my soul for God, the living God.
When shall I go and behold the face of God?

Send forth your light and your fidelity;
they shall lead me on
And bring me to your holy mountain,
to your dwelling-place.

Then will I go in to the altar of God,
the God of my gladness and joy;
Then will I give you thanks upon the harp,
O God, my God!

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Reflection on the Gospel
  - from Daily Bread
    http://www.preacherexchange.com/daily_bread.htm

If then God gave them the same gift he gave to us when we came to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to be able to hinder God? At a retreat for pastors and professional lay ministers, the priest homilist referenced this text. He likened his relationship with talented lay ministers to that of Jewish Christians who were wary of accepting the faith and the gifts of new gentile Christians. Caution, he said, is not altogether out of place, but there are other, less attractive reasons to be unwelcoming. Sometimes there is resentment and even jealousy. It is up to each one of us to sort out our motives. There is nothing to be gained by self-deception. Lord Jesus, bless your holy church and help each of us to grow in holiness and humility.

- by Paige Byrne Shortal

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Spiritual Reading

The Adornment of the Spiritual Marriage
   by St. John of Rusybroeck (1293-1381)

So God abides in His brightness above all spirits who are in heaven and on earth. And those who have pierced through their ground by means of the virtues and inward practices, to their source, that is, to the door of eternal life, may feel this touch. There the Brightness of God shines so mightily that reason and all understanding fail and can go no further, but must be overcome and give way before the incomprehensible Brightness of God. But when the spirit feels this in its ground, then, though its reason and understanding fail before the Divine Brightness, and must remain outside the door, the power of love desires to go forward; for it too, like the understanding, has been invited and urged. And it is blind and desires fruition; and fruition abides more in tasting and feeling than in understanding. Therefore would love go forward, whilst understanding stays outside.

- Chapter 52: Showing how the Spirit goes out through the divine stirring.

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