Message of 8-1-08
Published: Thu, 07/17/08
A Daily Spiritual Seed
- resources for prayer and spiritual growth
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MESSAGE OF THE DAY
So what to do? Two things, it seems to me. At least two. Use up
each day. Fill it overflowing with good. Deliberately enjoy it.
Two, begin now. Mend a fractured friendship, mail an overdue
letter, repair a broken heart, lay aside a griveance, act on a
noble impulse. As we all know, The night cometh.
- Lanny Henninger
(How about it?)
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SCRIPTURE READINGS
http://www.nccbuscc.org/nab/
Jer 26:1-9; Ps 69:5, 8-10, 14; Mt 13:54-58
R. (14c) Lord, in your great love, answer me.
Those outnumber the hairs of my head
who hate me without cause.
Too many for my strength
are they who wrongfully are my enemies.
Must I restore what I did not steal?
Since for your sake I bear insult,
and shame covers my face.
I have become an outcast to my brothers,
a stranger to my mother's sons,
Because zeal for your house consumes me,
and the insults of those who blaspheme you fall upon me.
But I pray to you, O LORD,
for the time of your favor, O God!
In your great kindness answer me
with your constant help.
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GOSPEL MEDITATION
from "Praying the Daily Gospels," by Philip St. Romain:
- http://www.liguori.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=6614
- Matthew 13: 54-58 His own town rejects Jesus
It is ironic that the people with whom we are the closest are also
the people who often limit us most. This is what happened to Jesus
in Nazareth. His brethren relatives are not open to his ministry
because their ideas of him are too limited.
- Do you feel that the people with whom you live love and accept
you the way you are? Do the people with whom you work love and
accept you?
- "We like people in proportion to the good we do them and not in
proportion to the good they do us, Laurence Sterne wrote. Do you
agree?
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PRAYING WITH SCRIPTURE (Benedictine Approach)
1. Relax. Settle in. Be aware that God is here, now, loving you.
2. Read a short passage of Scripture as though God were speaking
directly to you in it.
3. Choose a phrase from the passage that strikes you and repeat it
slowly, prayerfully, non-analytically.
4. When your heart is full, express to God the needs and sentiments
awakened by your meditation. When you're done, read another passage
and repeat steps 3 and 4.
5. If, at any time, you feel moved to simply be present to God in
loving silence, put the Scripture aside and rest in God.
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NOTES FROM A CLASSICAL WORK
- "The Practice of the Presence of God," by Brother Lawrence
Brother Lawrence taught:
That we ought, once for all, heartily to put our whole trust in
GOD, and make a total surrender of ourselves to Him, secure that He
would not deceive us.
- Fourth Conversation
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