Message of 5-16-11
Published: Sun, 05/15/11
- resources for prayer and spiritual growth
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MESSAGE OF THE DAY
If my life is surrendered to God, all is well. Let me not grab it
back, as though it were in peril in His hand but would be safer in
mine!
- Elisabeth Elliot
(Alas, we usually do.)
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LECTIONARY READINGS FOR THE DAY
http://www.nccbuscc.org/nab/
Acts 11:1-18; Ps 42:2-3; 43:3, 4; Jn 10:11-18
R. (see 3a) Athirst is my soul for the living God.
As the hind longs for the running waters,
so my soul longs for you, O God.
Athirst is my soul for God, the living God.
When shall I go and behold the face of God?
Send forth your light and your fidelity;
they shall lead me on
And bring me to your holy mountain,
to your dwelling-place.
Then will I go in to the altar of God,
the God of my gladness and joy;
Then will I give you thanks upon the harp,
O God, my God!
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REFLECTION ON THE GOSPEL
- from "Daily Bread"
http://www.preacherexchange.com/daily_bread.htm
"A hired man, who is not a shepherd and whose sheep are not his
own, sees a wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away."
If a man merely works for a wage, he certainly has no desire to put
himself in harm's way just to collect a paycheck. Similarly, if
positive results are all we seek from our interactions with others,
we can't be expected to stick around when the going gets tough.
Luckily, Jesus is not that kind of shepherd. He'll protect us and
defend us even if we don't act as if we're part of his flock. We,
too, must be good shepherds for each other. We're called to protect
the lost, to embrace those who feel as if they don't belong to any
flock, and to foster a sense of belonging and safety. In our roles
as shepherds, we must have the conviction to offer comfort and hope
to the lost and vulnerable and to defend even those with whom we
have no obvious ties.
"Lord, use our voices to call your flock to you, we pray."
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SPIRITUAL READING
The Adornment of the Spiritual Marriage
by St. John of Rusybroeck (1293-1381)
Now I will show you the hindrances and the dangers which he meets
with who dwells in the fury of love. In this time, as you have
heard, the sun is in the sign of the Lion; and this is the most
unhealthy period of the year, although it is fruitful; for here
begin the dog-days, which bring many a plague with them. Then the
weather may become so unwholesome and so hot that in some countries
herbs and trees wither and shrivel, and in some waters the fishes
pine away and perish, and on the land people also sicken and die.
And this is not caused only by the sun, for then it would be the
same everywhere; in all countries and in all waters, and with all
people. But the cause of it is often the corruption and the
disorder of the matter on which the sun's power works. So likewise
it is when a man comes into this state of impatience. He enters in
truth into the dog-days, and the splendour of the Divine rays burns
so fiercely and so hotly from above, and the heart wounded by love
is so inflamed from within--since the ardour of affection and the
impatience of desire have been thus enkindled--that the man falls
into impatience and striving, even as a woman who labours in
child-birth and cannot be delivered. If the man then look
steadfastly into his own wounded heart, and at Him Whom he loves,
these woes grow without ceasing. So greatly does the torment
increase that the man withers and shrivels in his bodily nature,
even as the trees in hot countries; and he dies in the fury of
love, and enters the kingdom of heaven without passing through
purgatory. But though he dies well who dies of love, as long as a
tree may bear good fruit, it should neither be felled nor uprooted.
Sometimes God flows forth with great sweetness into the turbulent
heart. Then the heart swims in bliss, as a fish in water; and the
inmost ground of the heart burns in the fury of love, even whilst
it swims in delight in the gifts of God, because of the blissful
and impatient ardour of the loving heart itself. And to dwell long
in this degree consumes the bodily nature. All men who burn in the
fury of love must pine away in that state; but those who can govern
themselves well do not die.
- Chapter 25: An example of how one is hindered in this exercise
(of dwelling in love)
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