Message of 6-22-12
Published: Fri, 06/22/12
A Daily Spiritual Seed
- resources for prayer and spiritual growth
Message of the Day
Gladly endure whatever goes against you and do not let good fortune carry you away; for this can destroy faith."
- Clare of Assisi -
(What struggles are testing your faith these days? Ask the Spirit to show you how to "lean into them" to grow stronger in faith.)
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Lectionary Readings of the Day
http://www.usccb.org/calendar/index.cfm?showLit=1&action=month
2 Kgs 11:1-4, 9-18, 20; Ps 132:11, 12, 13-14, 17-18; Mt 6:19-23
R. (13) The Lord has chosen Zion for his dwelling.
The LORD swore to David
a firm promise from which he will not withdraw:
"Your own offspring
I will set upon your throne."
"If your sons keep my covenant
and the decrees which I shall teach them,
Their sons, too, forever
shall sit upon your throne."
For the LORD has chosen Zion;
he prefers her for his dwelling.
"Zion is my resting place forever;
in her will I dwell, for I prefer her."
"In her will I make a horn to sprout forth for David;
I will place a lamp for my anointed.
His enemies I will clothe with shame,
but upon him my crown shall shine."
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Reflection on the Scriptures
- http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html
In Matthew’s Gospel for today, Jesus says “do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth.” I know from experience that fruit can spoil, cars can rust, and clothes can quickly go out of style! So what do I treasure and why?
I’m aware that I can be judgmental about others’ actions and appearance, so I need to ask myself if I’m seeing as God does and looking with eyes of love. I wish it were easier to see as God sees, and to treasure our world, all people, and the present moment. I’m challenged by a saying from St. John Chrysostom: We are joined to one another and to Christ like flour in a loaf.
May God continue to open our eyes and make us grateful for the treasure we have every day, including the challenges and disappointments.
Where is my treasure today, and what/who am I treasuring? Reflecting on these questions may lead me to gratitude and awareness of God’s grace.
- by Marty Kalkowski
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Spiritual Reading
On Cleaving to God
by St. Albert the Great
Furthermore, while the soul is withdrawn from everything and is turned within, the eye of contemplation is opened and sets itself up a ladder by which it can pass to the contemplation of God. By this contemplation the soul is set on fire for eternal things by the heavenly and divine good things it experiences, and views all the things of time from a distance and as if they were nothing. Hence when we approach God by the way of negation, we first deny him everything that can be experienced by the body, the senses and the imagination, secondly even things experienceable by the intellect, and finally even being itself in so far as it is found in created things. This, so far as the nature of the way is concerned, is the best means of union with God, according to Dionysius. And this is the cloud in which God is said to dwell, which Moses entered, and through this came to the inaccessible light. Certainly, it is not the spiritual which comes first, but the natural, (1 Corinthians 15.46) so one must proceed by the usual order of things, from active work to the quiet of contemplation, and from moral virtues to spiritual and contemplative realities.
- Chapter 9. How much the contemplation of God is to be preferred to all other exercises.
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