Message of 4-1-11
Published: Sat, 03/26/11
- resources for prayer and spiritual growth
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MESSAGE OF THE DAY
One of the elders said: If a person settles in a certain place and
does not bring forth the fruit of that place, the place itself
casts him out, as one who has not borne its fruit.
- "The Wisdom of the Desert," by Thomas Merton
(What fruit has come from the place where you live or work?)
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LECTIONARY READINGS FOR THE DAY
http://www.nccbuscc.org/nab/
Hos 14:2-10; Ps 81:6c-8a, 8bc-9, 10-11ab, 14 and 17; Mk
12:28-34
R. (see 11 and 9a) I am the Lord your God: hear my voice.
An unfamiliar speech I hear:
"I relieved his shoulder of the burden;
his hands were freed from the basket.
In distress you called, and I rescued you."
"Unseen, I answered you in thunder;
I tested you at the waters of Meribah.
Hear, my people, and I will admonish you;
O Israel, will you not hear me?"
"There shall be no strange god among you
nor shall you worship any alien god.
I, the LORD, am your God
who led you forth from the land of Egypt."
"If only my people would hear me,
and Israel walk in my ways,
I would feed them with the best of wheat,
and with honey from the rock I would fill them."
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MEDITATION ON THE SCRIPTURES
- from
http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html
Today's psalm reminds me of the story of the Book of Exodus.
Christians are familiar with the 10 Commandments but how many have
thought about the narrative that precedes them? Exodus 19 and even
the beginning of chapter 20 where the commandments are listed make
it clear that the commandments come after the saving acts of God on
behalf of his people. God does not just appear and say, as in the
psalm, "I am the Lord your God: hear my voice." No, he relieves
burdens, frees shackled hands, rescues people in distress, and
brings his people out of slavery. Only then does he say, Listen to
me. How could a grateful people do otherwise?
Finally, Lent is about growing in our love for God and our
neighbor. Jesus teaches that these are the greatest of the
commandments. To love is worth more than all of the offerings,
sacrifices, and penitential practices that we could do for the next
thousand years. But Jesus is not speaking of a cheap love. It is a
love with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all
your strength. This is the life lived in the kingdom of God. This
is truly Lent.
There is a joke among the Eastern Orthodox believers that you can
always tell who the new converts are; they are the ones looking
forward to Lent. It is true that the Orthodox disciplines during
Lent are a good deal more stringent than the Catholic ones but I
guess I am still one of those converts. Lent includes discipline,
penance, and self-denial but it is primarily a season that draws me
closer to God. It is a time of great joy.
- by George Butterfield
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SPIRITUAL READING
- Fenelon's "Maxims of the Saints"
Souls which have experienced the grace of sanctification in its
higher degrees, have not so much need of set times arid places for
worship as others. Such is the purity and the strength of their
love, that it is very easy for them to unite with God in acts of
inward worship, at all times and places. They have an interior
closet. The soul is their temple, and God dwells in it.
This, however, does not exempt them from those outward methods and
observances which God has prescribed. Besides, they owe something
to others; and a disregard to the ordinances and ministrations of
the Church could not fail to be injurious to beginners in the
religions life.
- Article 35
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