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The beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, and not to twist them to fit our own image. Otherwise we love only the reflection of ourselves we find in them.
~Thomas Merton
(This applies to God as well, don't
you think? Encountering the *real* God who is not simply a projection of our ideas about God is the challenge, and the invitation . . . Let God be God for you this day.)
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Topic: God and I: Exploring the connections between God, Self and Ego (spiritual theology)
Learning Process: 9 written conferences; private
discussion forum for participants; video conferences.
See http://shalomplace.com/inetmin/GodandI for more information and registration options.
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1 PT 1:10-16; PS 98:1-4; MK 10:28-31
R. The
Lord has made known his salvation.
Sing to the LORD a new song,
for he has done wondrous deeds;
His right hand has won victory for him,
his holy arm.
The LORD has made his salvation known:
in the sight of the nations he has revealed his justice.
He has remembered his kindness and his faithfulness
toward the house of Israel.
All the ends of the earth have seen
the salvation by our God.
Sing joyfully to the LORD, all you lands;
break into song; sing praise. USCCB Lectionary
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Reflection on the Scriptures |
.Recently on one of the very windy days in Iowa, I was sitting in the sunroom of the Manresa Prayer House at the retreat center. The wind was howling and snow flurries were not falling exactly but blowing in all directions. It was very chaotic outside and I was feeling chaotic inside. As I continued to sit, a bluejay alighted in the magnolia tree outside the window. He sat very still in the wind and then suddenly began to call out. He was close
enough that I could see him move when he was talking. He stayed for a long time, still and content in the midst of chaos. It was not hard to notice God calling me in creation that day. This moment of grace, of peace in the midst of chaos, moves me forward on my journey to wholeness and holiness. It has invited me to be attentive to the world around me, the person in front of me and the God within me.How is God calling you to holiness today? - by Amy Hoover
Creighton Online Ministries
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Selected Quotes from St. John of the Cross on the Journey of the Soul to God by Contemplation - from Living Flame of
Love
Stanza 3. #32.
The soul must be attached to nothing -- not even to any kind of meditation or sweetness. The spirit needs to be so free and so completely annihilated that any thought or meditation which the soul in this state might desire, or any pleasure to which it may conceive an attachment, would impede and disturb it and would introduce noise into the deep silence which it is meet that the soul should observe so that it may hear the deep and delicate voice of God which speaks to the heart in this secret
place.
- compiled by James and Tyra
Arraj Paperback edition: Kindle edition available
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