Message of 2-7-11
Published: Sun, 02/06/11
- resources for prayer and spiritual growth
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MESSAGE OF THE DAY
What can this world offer comparable with that insight into
spiritual things, that keen faith, that heavenly peace, that high
sanctity, that everlasting righteousness, that hope of glory, which
they have, who in sincerity love and follow our Lord Jesus Christ?
- John Henry Newman
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LECTIONARY READINGS FOR THE DAY
http://www.nccbuscc.org/nab/
Gn1:1-19; Ps 104:1-2a, 5-6, 10 and 12, 24 and 35c; Mk 6:53-56
R. (31b) May the Lord be glad in his works.
Bless the LORD, O my soul!
O LORD, my God, you are great indeed!
You are clothed with majesty and glory,
robed in light as with a cloak.
You fixed the earth upon its foundation,
not to be moved forever;
With the ocean, as with a garment, you covered it;
above the mountains the waters stood.
You send forth springs into the watercourses
that wind among the mountains.
Beside them the birds of heaven dwell;
from among the branches they send forth their song.
How manifold are your works, O LORD!
In wisdom you have wrought them all--
the earth is full of your creatures;
Bless the LORD, O my soul! Alleluia.
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REFLECTION ON THE GOSPEL
- from "Daily Bread"
http://www.preacherexchange.com/daily_bread.htm
"The earth was a formless wasteland, and darkness covered the
abyss."
Order where there was chaos. Fullness where there was waste. Light
where there was darkness. Healing where there was suffering. Our
readings today present God as One powerful enough, generous enough,
compassionate enough to make things better. A friend who suffered a
tragic loss declared (with some passion) that she did not find it
comforting when folks said God won't give us any suffering we can't
handle. "What do you think?" she asked. I answered carefully: God
does not give us the suffering. Where is God when we suffer?
Standing beside us, arms ready to go around us, weeping with us in
our grief.
"Compassionate Lord, comfort us in our suffering, and give us faith
in your love for us and your power to provide what we need."
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SPIRITUAL READING
The Adornment of the Spiritual Marriage
by St. John of Rusybroeck (1293-1381)
When summer draws near and the sun rises higher, it draws the
moisture out of the earth through the roots, and through the trunks
of the trees, into the twigs; and hence come foliage, flower, and
fruit.
So likewise, when Christ the Eternal Sun rises and ascends in our
hearts, so that it is summer in the adornment of our virtues, He
gives His light and His heat to our desires, and draws the heart
from all the multiplicity of earthly things, and brings about unity
and inwardness; and makes the heart grow and bring forth the leaves
of inward love, the flowers of ardent devotion, and the fruits of
thanksgiving and praise, and makes these fruits to endure
eternally, in humble grief, because of our shortcomings.
Here ends the first of the four chief degrees of that inward
working whereby the lowest part of man is adorned.
- Book 2, Chapter 16: Another similitude on the inner exercise
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