Message of 6-29-12
Published: Fri, 06/29/12
A Daily Spiritual Seed
- resources for prayer and spiritual growth
Message of the Day
The creative Wisdom of all things has established marvelous and ineffable harmonies by which all things come together in a concord or friendship or peace or love or however else the union of all things can be designated."
- John the Scot -
(Pray that your life may be a force unto this harmony.)
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Lectionary Readings of the Day
http://www.usccb.org/calendar/index.cfm?showLit=1&action=month
Acts 12:1-11; Ps 34:2-9; 2 Tm 4:6-8, 17-18; Mt 16:13-19
R. (5) The angel of the Lord will rescue those who fear him.
I will bless the LORD at all times;
his praise shall be ever in my mouth.
Let my soul glory in the LORD;
the lowly will hear me and be glad.
Glorify the LORD with me,
let us together extol his name.
I sought the LORD, and he answered me
and delivered me from all my fears.
Look to him that you may be radiant with joy,
and your faces may not blush with shame.
When the poor one called out, the LORD heard,
and from all his distress he saved him.
The angel of the LORD encamps
around those who fear him, and delivers them.
Taste and see how good the LORD is;
blessed the man who takes refuge in him.
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Reflection on the Scriptures
- http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html
Today is the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul. Neither of them really got it initially. St Peter fell asleep while Jesus was suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane and then denied his knowledge and following of Christ three times; not exactly the most faithful friend. St. Paul was so busy persecuting Christians, God had to knock him off his horse to get his attention. Neither was a likely candidate for sainthood, but once they got it, they really got it.
In the readings today, both St. Peter and St. Paul rejoice in God’s rescue of them. God’s rescue of St. Peter was so dramatic that Peter thought it all was a dream until the angel left him and he was outside of the prison. St Paul writes of an equally dramatic rescue from the lion’s mouth by the Lord.
I generally feel as though I am much like St. Peter and St. Paul. Like St. Peter, sometimes my head gets it, but my will is more willy-nilly when things get tough. Though I have never physically persecuted anyone, I am like Paul when I verbally persecute by gossiping or thinking or saying unkind things. The big lesson from these readings is not so much what we “don’t get;” it is God’s willingness to rescue us in spite of our foul-ups. Just like God rescued St. Peter and St. Paul, he is always looking out for us and willing to rescue us so that we also may take refuge in Him.
- by Susan Tinley
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Spiritual Reading
On Cleaving to God
by St. Albert the Great
Finally, my soul, why are you uselessly preoccupied with so many things, and always busy with them? Seek out and love the one supreme good, in which is all that is worth seeking, and that will be enough for you. Unhappy therefore is he who knows and possesses everything other than this, and does not know this. While if he knows everything as well as this, it is not from knowing them that he is better off but because of This. That is why John says, This is eternal life, to know Thee, etc. (John 17.3) and the prophet says, I will be satisfied when your glory becomes manifest. (Psalm 17.15)
- Chapter 9. How much the contemplation of God is to be preferred to all other exercises.
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