Message of 10-18-12

Published: Thu, 10/18/12


A Daily Spiritual Seed

- resources for prayer and spiritual growth


Message of the Day

Faith is also a plea for the everlasting light, a thirst for this illumination and transfiguration. This light continues to shine, through the darkness and evil, through the drab grayness and dull routine of this world, like a ray of sun piercing through the clouds. It is recognized by the soul, it comforts the heart, it makes us feel alive, and it transfigures us from within.
  - Alexander Schmemann

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

2 Tm 4:10-17b;    Ps 145:10-13, 17-18;    Lk 10:1-9

R. (12) Your friends make known, O Lord, the glorious splendor of your Kingdom.

Let all your works give you thanks, O LORD,
and let your faithful ones bless you.
Let them discourse of the glory of your Kingdom
and speak of your might.

Making known to men your might
and the glorious splendor of your Kingdom.
Your Kingdom is a Kingdom for all ages,
and your dominion endures through all generations.

The LORD is just in all his ways
and holy in all his works.
The LORD is near to all who call upon him,
to all who call upon him in truth.

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Reflection on the Gospel
- from http://www.dailyscripture.net/ 

God gives us his word that we may have abundant life in him. He wills to work through and in each of us for his glory. God shares his word with us and he commissions us to speak it boldly and simply to others. Do you witness the truth and joy of the gospel by word and example to those around you?

"Lord Jesus, may the joy and truth of the gospel transform my life that I may witness it to those around me. Grant that I may spread your truth and your light wherever I go."

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Spiritual Reading

From Meditation to Contemplation
by James Arraj (all rights reserved; reprinted with permission)
from "St. John of the Cross and Dr. C. G. Jung," available from http://www.innerexplorations.com

- The Three Signs of the Onset of Contemplation

Therefore, though many enter this night of sense which heralds the beginning of contemplation, few successfully emerge. Since contemplation is an essentially new experience, it is difficult to get used to. St. John, therefore, sets down three signs by which the beginner can make a judgment of whether he is really being led into the contemplative state. The first sign is that he cannot meditate any longer or find that sweetness which used to come through the exercise of his faculties. The second sign is that he does not have a desire to fix his attention and thoughts on other things besides the spiritual. "The third and surest sign is that a person likes to remain alone in loving awareness of God, without particular considerations, in interior peace and quiet and repose, and without the acts and exercises (at least discursive, those in which one progresses from point to point) of the intellect, memory and will; and that he prefers to remain only in the general, loving awareness and knowledge we mentioned, without any particular knowledge or understanding."("Ascent of Mt. Carmel," 2, 13, 4)

- Part 6 of 10

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