Message of 11-29-10
Published: Sun, 11/28/10
- resources for prayer and spiritual growth
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MESSAGE OF THE DAY
One of the elders said: It is not because evil thoughts come to us
that we are condemned, but only because we make use of the evil
thoughts. It can happen that from these thoughts we suffer
shipwreck, but it can also happen that because of them we may be
crowned.
- from "The Wisdom of the Desert," by Thomas Merton
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LECTIONARY READINGS FOR THE DAY
http://www.nccbuscc.org/nab/
Is 4:2-6; Ps 122:1-2, 3-4b, 4cd-5, 6-7, 8-9; Mt 8:5-11
R. Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.
I rejoiced because they said to me,
"We will go up to the house of the LORD."
And now we have set foot
within your gates, O Jerusalem.
Jerusalem, built as a city
with compact unity.
To it the tribes go up,
the tribes of the LORD.
According to the decree for Israel,
to give thanks to the name of the LORD.
In it are set up judgment seats,
seats for the house of David.
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem!
May those who love you prosper!
May peace be within your walls,
prosperity in your buildings.
Because of my relatives and friends
I will say, "Peace be within you!"
Because of the house of the LORD, our God,
I will pray for your good.
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REFLECTION ON THE GOSPEL
- from "Daily Bread"
http://www.preacherexchange.com/daily_bread.htm
"He said to him, 'I will come and cure him.'"
Jesus is amazed at the centurion's humility, empathy and faith and
responds exactly as the man hopes -- with understanding, mercy and
love. The centurion sees his servant's suffering and reaches out in
compassion to the one who shows even greater care. As we enter
into this season of preparation and anticipation for the coming of
the Lord, whether we put ourselves in the centurion's role or the
servant's place, we're in good hands. Like the centurion, we can
put aside our pride and trust completely that when the Lord comes
he will listen mercifully to our appeal. Like the servant, we can
trust that the master values us deeply and will seek the best for
us.
"Come, Lord Jesus, we pray."
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SPIRITUAL READING
The Adornment of the Spiritual Marriage
by St. John of Rusybroeck (1293-1381)
The third way in which our Lord comes inwardly is by an inward
stirring or touch in the unity of the spirit, wherein are the
higher powers of the soul; wherefrom they flow forth, and to which
they return again, and with which they always remain united in the
bonds of love and through the natural unity of the spirit. In this
coming consists the highest and most interior condition of the
inward life; and by it the unity of the spirit is adorned in many
ways.
Now, in each coming, Christ desires of us a special going out of
ourselves, toward a life that shall accord with the way of His
coming. And therefore He says in ghostly wise within our hearts at
each coming: Go ye out in your lives and in your practices in the
way in which My graces and My gifts shall urge you. For according
to the manner and way in which the Spirit of God urges, and drives,
and draws, and streams into us, and stirs us; in this way we must
go out and progress in our inward practices, if we are to become
perfect. But if we withstand the Spirit of God by a life that does
not accord with it, we lose that inward urge, and then the virtues
will depart from us.
These are the three comings of Christ, in inward exercises. We will
now explain and set forth each coming separately. Attend therefore
with diligence; for he who never has himself felt or experienced
this he shall not easily understand it.
- Book 2, Chapter 7: The third coming our our Lord in the inward
part of our being.
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