Message of 5-23-11
Published: Sat, 05/21/11
- resources for prayer and spiritual growth
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MESSAGE OF THE DAY
Grace is the incomprehensible fact that God is well pleased with a
person, and that one can rejoice in God. Only when grace is
recognized to be incomprehensible is it grace. Grace exists,
therefore, only where the Resurrection is reflected. Grace is the
gift of Christ, who exposes the gulf which separates God and man,
and, by exposing it, bridges it.
- Karl Barth (1886-1968), The Epistle to the Romans
(Where do you see signs of grace in your life lately?)
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LECTIONARY READINGS FOR THE DAY
http://www.nccbuscc.org/nab/
Acts 14:5-18; Ps. 115:1-2, 3-4, 15-16; Jn 14:21-26
R. (1ab) Not to us, O Lord, but to your name give the glory.
Not to us, O LORD, not to us
but to your name give glory
because of your mercy, because of your truth.
Why should the pagans say,
"Where is their God?"
Our God is in heaven;
whatever he wills, he does.
Their idols are silver and gold,
the handiwork of men.
May you be blessed by the LORD,
who made heaven and earth.
Heaven is the heaven of the LORD,
but the earth he has given to the children of men.
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REFLECTION ON THE GOSPEL
- from "Daily Bread"
http://www.preacherexchange.com/daily_bread.htm
"We proclaim to you good news that you should turn from these idols
to the living God, "who made heaven and earth and sea and all that
is in them."
After a man lame from birth is cured at Paul's hands, the people of
Lystra automatically attribute divinity to Paul and Barnabas.
Surely these men must be gods! When the people try to offer
sacrifice to them, Paul and Barnabas rend their garments in
protest. With images from nature, Paul appeals to them to turn from
the many gods they worship to the Creator of all things -- the one,
true, living God. May the beauty, bounty and magnificence of
creation help us also to turn more fully toward our God.
"For the grace to turn away from the idols we worship: power,
pleasure and wealth, we pray."
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SPIRITUAL READING
The Adornment of the Spiritual Marriage
by St. John of Rusybroeck (1293-1381)
And now I will warn you against another thing which may cause great
harm. Sometimes in that hot season there falls the honey-dew of a
certain false sweetness, which pollutes the fruit, or utterly
spoils it. And it is most apt to fall at noon, in bright sunshine,
and in big drops; and it is hardly to be distinguished from rain.
So likewise, some men may be robbed of their outward senses by a
certain light produced by the devil. And in this light they are
enwrapped and ensnared, and at the same time many kinds of images,
both false and true, are shown to them, and they are spoken to in
diverse ways; and all this is seen and received of them with great
delight. And here there fall sometimes the honey-drops of a false
sweetness, in which a man may find his pleasure. He who esteems it
much receives much of it: and thereby the man is easily polluted,
for if he will hold for true those things which are not like to
truth, for the reason that they have been shown or spoken to him,
he falls into error and the fruit of virtue is lost. But those who
have trodden the ways whereof I have written before, though they
may be tempted by this spirit and this light, they will recognise
them and will not be harmed.
- Chapter 26: Another example of how one is hindered in this
exercise (of dwelling in love)
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