Message of 10-8-10
Published: Mon, 10/04/10
- resources for prayer and spiritual growth
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MESSAGE OF THE DAY
God has work to do in this world; and to desert it because of its
difficulties and entanglements, is to cast off His authority. It is
not enough that we be just, that we be righteous, and walk with God
in holiness; but we must also serve our generation, as David did
before he fell asleep. God has a work to do; and not to help Him is
to oppose Him.
- John Owen
(What is the work that God needs you to do this day?)
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LECTIONARY READINGS FOR THE DAY
http://www.nccbuscc.org/nab/
Gal 3:7-14; Ps 111:1b-2, 3-4, 5-6; Lk 11:15-26
R. (5) The Lord will remember his covenant for ever.
I will give thanks to the LORD with all my heart
in the company and assembly of the just.
Great are the works of the LORD,
exquisite in all their delights.
Majesty and glory are his work,
and his justice endures forever.
He has won renown for his wondrous deeds;
gracious and merciful is the LORD.
x
He has given food to those who fear him;
he will forever be mindful of his covenant.
He has made known to his people the power of his works,
giving them the inheritance of the nations.
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MEDITATION ON THE SCRIPTURES
- from
http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html
Here's a thought: The English word, "justify" certainly has
forensic implications. It also relates to carpentry and to
type-setting. A carpenter uses a plumb line (a cord weighted at one
end to determine vertical and right angles) to establish right
angles or determines depth. That's the basic picture here.
A vertical line can be described as 'justified' when the line is
straight. The line is "right." It is "upright." It does not lean
one way or list another. The line is "just."
Applied to the Christian, it suggests that graces 'justifies' us by
helping us stand up straight and walk in balance. Grace makes us
"just," or "upright" when it heals our limp, straightens our back,
or heals our back humped over from carrying burdens. We walk in
righteousness with God when we help free others from their burdens
as well.
This image of "justification" gives a better picture of the
workings of the grace of God, I believe. This exercise has helped
me to think through the images that serve as the foundations of our
theological statements. Perhaps it has been helpful to you.
- by Roc O'Connor, S.J.
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SPIRITUAL READING
- Fenelon's "Maxims of the Saints"
No period of the Christian life is exempt from temptation. The
temptations incident to the earlier stages are different from those
incident to a later period, and are to be resisted in a different
manner. Sometimes the temptations incident to the transition-state
from mixed love to pure love are somewhat peculiar, being adapted
to test whether we love God for Himself alone.
In the lower or mixed state the methods of resisting temptations
are various. Sometimes the subject of these trials boldly faces
them, and endeavors to overcome them by a direct resistance.
Sometimes he turns and flees. But in the state of pure love, when
the soul has become strong in the Divine contemplation, it is the
common rule laid down by religious writers, that the soul should
keep itself fixed upon God in the exercise of its holy love as at
other times, as the most effectual way of resisting the temptation,
which would naturally expand its efforts in vain upon a soul in
that state.
- Article 17
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