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Even if I should be locked up in a narrow cell and a cloud should drift past my small barred window, then I shall bring you that cloud, Oh God, while there is still the strength in me to do so.
- Etty Hillesum, An Interrupted
Life
(To live one’s life before God . . . the way of holiness!) Christianity and Reincarnation
by Philip St. Romain, M.S., D. Min.
July 28, 2016
7:00 p.m. C.D.T.
Can
a Christian believe in reincarnation? This webinar will review evidence for and against reincarnation, history of Christian beliefs on this topic, and differences between Christian and Eastern views of liberation.
- Free-will donation. Register
now
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MIC 7:14-15, 18-20; PS 85:2-4, 5-6, 7-8; MT 12:46-50
R. Lord, show us your mercy and love.
You have favored, O LORD, your land;
you have brought back the captives of Jacob.
You have forgiven the guilt of your people;
you have covered all their sins.
You have withdrawn all your wrath;
you have revoked your burning anger.
Restore us, O God our savior,
and abandon your displeasure against us.
Will you be ever angry with us,
prolonging your anger
to all generations?
Will you not instead give us life;
and shall not your people rejoice in you?
Show us, O LORD, your kindness,
and grant us your salvation.
UCCB Lectionary
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Reflection on the Scriptures |
An early Christian martyr once said that "a Christian's only relatives are the saints" - namely those who have been redeemed by the blood of Christ and adopted as sons and daughters of God. Those who have been baptized into Jesus Christ and who live as his disciples enter into a new
family, a family of "saints" here on earth and in heaven. Jesus changes the order of relationships and shows that true kinship is not just a matter of flesh and blood.
Our adoption as sons and daughters of God transforms all of our relationships and requires a new order of loyalty to God first and to his kingdom of righteousness and peace. Do you want to grow in love and friendship? Allow God's Holy
Spirit to transform your heart, mind, and will to enable you to love freely and generously as he loves.
"Heavenly Father, you bless us with many relationships and you invite us into the community of your sons and daughters who have been redeemed by your son, Jesus Christ. Help me to love my neighbor with charity, kindness, compassion, and mercy, just as you have loved me. In all of my relationships,
and in all that I do and say, may I always seek to bring you honor and glory."
DailyScripture.net
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Precautions, by St. John of the Cross
Instruction and precautions necessary for anyone desiring to be a true religious and reach
perfection.
Against the World
4. To free yourself from the harm the world can do you, you should
practice three precautions.
*The third precaution * (can be applied to any community)
9. For, should you desire to pay heed to things, many will seem wrong, even were you to live among angels, because of your not understanding the substance of them. Take Lot’s wife as an example: Because she was troubled at the destruction of the Sodomites and turned her head to watch what was happening, God punished her by converting her into a pillar of salt [Gn.
19:26]. You are thus to understand God’s will: that even were you to live among devils you should not turn the head of your thoughts to their affairs, but forget these things entirely and strive to keep your soul occupied purely and entirely in God, and not let the thought of this thing or that hinder you from so doing.
And to achieve this,
be convinced that in monasteries and communities there is never a lack of stumbling blocks, since there is never a lack of devils who seek to overthrow the saints; God permits this in order to prove and try religious.
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