“We pattern our thoughts and actions after the God or Gods we worship. They are more a part of us than we realize. Only by understanding how in our own minds we have defined their nature can we begin to understand the underlying forces that make
us behave the way we do.”
- David Anderson
(What do your thoughts and actions tell you about your image of God? How closely does this image resemble Jesus, the Word made flesh?)
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1 SM 1:24-28; 1 SAMUEL 2:1, 4-7; LK 1:46-56
R. My heart exults in the Lord, my Savior.
“The bows of the mighty are broken,
while the tottering gird on strength.
The well-fed hire themselves out for bread,
while the hungry batten on spoil.
The barren wife bears seven sons,
while the mother of many
languishes.”
“The LORD puts to death and gives life;
he casts down to the nether world;
he raises up again.
The LORD makes poor and makes rich,
he humbles, he also exalts.”
“He raises the needy from the dust;
from
the dung heap he lifts up the poor,
To seat them with nobles
and make a glorious throne their heritage.”
UCCB Lectionary
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Webinar: The Spirituality of the Second Half of Life
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by Carla Mae Streeter OP January 4, 2016. 6:30 - 8:00 p.m. CST. Free-will donation. Registration- space is limited; first come, first serve -
A webinar is a presentation that is broadcast live over the Internet. Participants can see and hear the presenter, ask
questions, and make comments.
In this webinar, Sr. Carla Mae will reflect on the special opportunities for knowing ourselves and growing closer to God that we experience in the second half of life. We've been through a lot, and have gained much wisdom through experience, and yet the call to grow continues to draw us to deepening questioning, encounters and
faith.
Carla Mae Streeter, OP, is a Dominican of the Congregation of Catherine of Siena in Racine, Wisconsin. She is presently a professor (emerita) of Systematic theology and Spirituality at Aquinas Institute of Theology, a graduate school of Theology and Ministry sponsored by the Dominicans of the Central Province adjoined to St. Louis University in St.
Louis.
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Reflection on the Scriptures |
The Gospel of Luke reveals the presence and power of the Holy Spirit in Mary's life. When Elizabeth and Mary greeted one another they were filled with the Holy Spirit and with a joyful anticipation of the fulfillment of God's promise to give a Savior. John the Baptist, even before the birth of the Messiah, pointed to his coming and leapt for joy in the womb of his mother
as the Holy Spirit revealed to him the presence of the King to be born. The Holy Spirit is God's gift to us to enable us to know and experience the indwelling presence of God and the power of his kingdom. The Holy Spirit is the way in which God reigns within each of us.
Mary accepted her mission with uncompromising
faith and obedience. She acted with unwavering trust and faith because she believed that God would fulfill the word he had spoken. Her great hymn of praise echoes the song of Hannah (see 1 Samuel 2:1-10) and proclaims the favor of the Lord: God exalts the lowly and he fills the hungry with good things. Hannah like Mary had been without child and God in a marvelous way gave her a son, named Samuel, whom she dedicated at an early age to the service of the Lord (1 Samuel 1:24ff.) Mary, too,
would lose her son to a servant ministry that would take him to the cross. Christmas is a time for renewing our faith and hope in God and in his promises and for deepening our love for God and for neighbor. Do you seek the Lord Jesus and the power of his Holy Spirit so that you may be renewed in faith, hope, and love?
"Lord Jesus, help me to earnestly seek you with humility and confidence. Increase my faith in your promises, strengthen within me the hope of heaven and eternal life, and set my heart on fire with burning love for you and for your kingdom. May I always praise and magnify your great mercy and glory."
DailyScripture.net
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The Cloud of Unknowing, by Anonymous
Of the first secondary power, Imagination by name; and of the works and the obedience of it unto Reason, before Sin and after.
IMAGINATION is a power through the which we portray all images of absent and present things, and both it and the thing that it worketh in be contained in the Memory. Before ere man sinned, was Imagination so obedient unto the Reason, to the which it is as it were servant, that it ministered never to it any unordained image of any bodily creature, or any fantasy of any ghostly creature: but now it is not so. For unless it be refrained by
the light of grace in the Reason, else it will never cease, sleeping or waking, for to portray diverse unordained images of bodily creatures; or else some fantasy, the which is nought else but a bodily conceit of a ghostly thing, or else a ghostly conceit of a bodily thing. And this is evermore feigned and false, and next unto error.
This inobedience of the Imagination may clearly be conceived in them
that be newlings turned from the world unto devotion, in the time of their prayer. For before the time be, that the Imagination be in great part refrained by the light of grace in the Reason, as it is in continual meditation of ghostly things—as be their own wretchedness, the passion and the kindness of our Lord God, with many such other—they may in nowise put away the wonderful and the diverse thoughts, fantasies, and images, the which be ministered and printed in their mind by the light of the
curiosity of Imagination. And all this inobedience is the pain of the original sin.
- Chapter 65
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