Message of 11-8-10
Published: Fri, 11/05/10
- resources for prayer and spiritual growth
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MESSAGE OF THE DAY
As we get older, we know what we need most from forgiveness is not
suspension of punishment, but assurance that love is unbroken even
when we are separated... We must realize that God is against us
when we are sinning; yet we dare trust that His gracious love
reaches to us across the chasm which separates us from Him.
... K. Morgan Edwards, "Hoping to be Somebody" (1959)
("Forgive us our trespasses . . . " Where in your life do you need
forgiveness at this time?)
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LECTIONARY READINGS FOR THE DAY
http://www.nccbuscc.org/nab/
Ti 1:1-9; Ps 24:1b-2, 3-4ab, 5-6; Lk 17:1-6
R. 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.
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REFLECTION ON THE GOSPEL
- from "Daily Bread"
http://www.preacherexchange.com/daily_bread.htm
"Woe to the person through whom [sin] occurs.
We sin not only by committing sinful acts, but by leading others to
sin. Those charged with the care of souls -- pastors, teachers,
coaches, parents, anyone with influence over the young or unformed
-- should take heed. In the first reading, Paul outlines to Titus
the qualities of a good presbyter, and the example of such good and
holy people is crucial to healthy formation. I can't help but think
of another group who may have to answer someday for the influence
of their work on young lives: those who determine the content of
the media. Woe indeed.
"Lord Jesus, help us to imitate you so that those who imitate us
will come to no harm because of us. "
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SPIRITUAL READING
The Adornment of the Spiritual Marriage
by St. John of Rusybroeck (1293-1381)
Now Christ says in ghostly wise in the man who is turned within:
Behold. Three things, as I have said, make a man seeing in his
inward exercise. The first is a shining forth of the grace of God.
The grace of God in a soul is like a candle in a lantern or in a
glass vessel; for it enlightens, and brightens, and shines through,
the vessel, that is, the righteous man. And it manifests itself to
the man who has it within him, if he be observant of himself. And
it manifests itself through him, to other men, in virtues and in
good example. This flash of divine grace inwardly stirs and moves a
man with swiftness, and this swift movement is the first thing
which makes us see. Of this swift movement of God there springs
from the side of man the second thing, which is a gathering
together of all inward and outward powers in the unity of the
spirit, in the bonds of love. The third point is the freedom which
allows the man to turn inwards, without hindrance from sensible
images, as often as he wills and thinks upon his God. This means
that a man must be indifferent to gladness and grief, profit and
loss, rising and falling, to strange cares, to delight and to
dread, and never be attached to any creature. These three things
make a man seeing in his inward exercise. If you have these three,
you have the foundation and the beginning of the inward practice
and the inward life.
- Book 2, Chapter 4: Showing how we should found our inner life on
a freedom from images.
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