Message of 10-26-12
Published: Fri, 10/26/12
A Daily Spiritual Seed
- resources for prayer and spiritual growth
Message of the Day
The only way to pray is to pray; and the way to pray well is to pray much. If one has no time for this, then one must at least pray regularly. But the less one prays, the worse it goes.
- Dom Chapman [20th C.], Spiritual Letters
(We learn to pray by praying. Give the Spirit many chances to "coach" you in this practice and you will grow in the knowledge of God.)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Lectionary Readings of the Day
http://www.usccb.org/calendar/index.cfm?showLit=1&action=month
Eph 4:1-6; Ps 24:1-6; Lk 12:54-59
R. (see 6) Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face.
The LORD's are the earth and its fullness;
the world and those who dwell in it.
For he founded it upon the seas
and established it upon the rivers.
Who can ascend the mountain of the LORD?
or who may stand in his holy place?
He whose hands are sinless, whose heart is clean,
who desires not what is vain.
He shall receive a blessing from the LORD,
a reward from God his savior.
Such is the race that seeks for him,
that seeks the face of the God of Jacob.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Reflection on the Scriptures
- http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html
Jesus uses weather signs to make his point in today's Gospel, but the idea is the same. We know when something we are about to do is leading us down the wrong path. Sometimes we just ignore the signs. Some of us are procrastinators. Or we want the sign to say something else; we want to point it in a different direction.
I can judge what is right, but the right road can be harder or more uncomfortable, so I want to ignore the signs and take an easier road. But I know from sign after sign that the easier road isn't always easier. The present time seems to leave much to interpretation. Life can be complicated and messy. God has given us signs to follow. We can get help along the way to interpret those signs to find God and to do the right thing.
- by Carol Zuegner
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Spiritual Reading
On Cleaving to God
by St. Albert the Great
So the mind must abandon the dregs of earth and press on towards to God, on whom alone should be fixed the desire of a spiritual person, for whom the least separation from that summum bonum is to be considered a living death and dreadful loss. Then, when the requisite peace has been established in his mind, when it is free from attachment to any carnal passion, and clings firmly in intention to that one supreme good, the Apostle's sayings are fulfilled, Pray without ceasing, (1 Thessalonians 5.17) and, Pray in every place lifting up pure hands without anger or dispute. (1 Timothy 2.8) For when the power of the mind is absorbed in this purity, so to speak, and is transformed from an earthly nature into the spiritual or angelic likeness, whatever it receives into itself, whatever it is occupied with, whatever it is doing, it will be pure and sincere prayer.
In this way, if you continue all the time in the way we have described from the beginning, it will become as easy and clear for you to remain in contemplation in your inward and recollected state, as to live in the natural state.
- Chapter 13. The nature and value of prayer, and how the heart should be recollected within itself.
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Amazon Gift Cards: Good for any occasion.
- http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00067L6TQ/?tag=christianspiritu
- - - -
Please help support Heartland Center's Internet ministries:
- For more info on tax-deductible donations, see
http://shalomplace.com/seed/donations.html
Thanks for your consideration!
_________________________________________________
* Web Archive: http://www.aweber.com/z/article/?dailyseed
* RSS: http://www.aweber.com/z/rss/?dailyseed