Message of 4-12-11
Published: Mon, 04/11/11
- resources for prayer and spiritual growth
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MESSAGE OF THE DAY
Christianity seems at first to be all about morality, all about
duties and rules and guilt and virtue, yet it leads you on, out of
all that, into something beyond. One has a glimpse of a country
where they do not talk of those things, except perhaps as a joke.
Every one there is filled full with what we should call goodness as
a mirror is filled with light. But they do not call it goodness.
They do not call it anything. They are not thinking of it. They are
too busy looking at the source from which it comes.
- C. S. Lewis, "Into the Wardrobe"
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LECTIONARY READINGS FOR THE DAY
http://www.nccbuscc.org/nab/
Nm 21:4-9; Ps 102:2-3, 16-18, 19-21; Jn 8:21-30
R. (2) O Lord, hear my prayer, and let my cry come to you.
O LORD, hear my prayer,
and let my cry come to you.
Hide not your face from me
in the day of my distress.
Incline your ear to me;
in the day when I call, answer me speedily.
The nations shall revere your name, O LORD,
and all the kings of the earth your glory,
When the LORD has rebuilt Zion
and appeared in his glory;
When he has regarded the prayer of the destitute,
and not despised their prayer.
Let this be written for the generation to come,
and let his future creatures praise the LORD:
"The LORD looked down from his holy height,
from heaven he beheld the earth,
To hear the groaning of the prisoners,
to release those doomed to die."
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REFLECTION ON THE GOSPEL
- from http://www.dailyscripture.net/
To fail to recognize Jesus and where he came from is to remain in
spiritual darkness; to believe Jesus and his words is to walk in
the joy and light of God's truth. There are certain opportunities
in life that come and do not return. Each of us is given the
opportunity to know and to accept Jesus Christ, as our Lord and
Savior. But that opportunity can be rejected and lost. Life here is
limited and short, but how we live it has everlasting consequences.
Do you take advantage of the present time to make room for God so
that your life will count for eternity?
"Lord Jesus, grant this day, to direct and sanctify, to rule and
govern our hearts and bodies, so that all our thoughts, words and
deeds may be according to your Father's law and thus may we be
saved and protected through your mighty help."
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SPIRITUAL READING
"The Way of Perfection"
- by Teresa of Avila (1515-1582)
(Exhorts the nuns to keep their Rule and names three things which
are important for the spiritual life. Describes the first of these
three things, which is love of one's neighbour, and speaks of the
harm which can be done by individual, exclusivist friendships.)
It is about prayer that you have asked me to say something to you.
As an acknowledgment of what I shall say, I beg you to read
frequently and with a good will what I have said about it thus far,
and to put this into practice. Before speaking of the interior life
-- that is, of prayer -- I shall speak of certain things which
those who attempt to walk along the way of prayer must of necessity
practise. So necessary are these that, even though not greatly
given to contemplation, people who have them can advance a long way
in the Lord's service, while, unless they have them, they cannot
possibly be great contemplatives, and, if they think they are, they
are much mistaken. May the Lord help me in this task and teach me
what I must say, so that it may be to His glory. Amen.
Do not suppose, my friends and sisters, that I am going to charge
you to do a great many things; may it please the Lord that we do
the things which our holy Fathers ordained and practised and by
doing which they merited that name. It would be wrong of us to look
for any other way or to learn from anyone else. There are only
three things which I will explain at some length and which are
taken from our Constitution itself. It is essential that we should
understand how very important they are to us in helping us to
preserve that peace, both inward and outward, which the Lord so
earnestly recommended to us. One of these is love for each other;
the second, detachment from all created things; the third, true
humility, which, although I put it last, is the most important of
the three and embraces all the rest.
- Chapter 4
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