Message of 8-15-08
Published: Sat, 08/09/08
A Daily Spiritual Seed
- resources for prayer and spiritual growth
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MESSAGE OF THE DAY
If I knew for certain that I should die next week, I would still be
able to sit at my desk all week and study with perfect equanimity,
for I know now that life and death make a meaningful whole.
- Etty Hillesum, "An Interrupted Life"
- a related poem from Kabir
The idea that the soul will join with the ecstatic
just because the body is rotten--
this is all fantasy.
What is found now is found then.
If you find nothing now,
you will simply end up with an apartment in the City of Death.
If you make love with the divine now, in the next life
you will have the face of satisfied desire.
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SCRIPTURE READINGS
http://www.nccbuscc.org/nab/
1 Chron 15:3-4, 15-16; 16:1-2; Ps 132:6-7, 9-10, 13-14; 1 Cor
15:54b-57; Lk 11:27-28
(Ordinary Time Gospel: Matthew 19: 3-12)
R. (8) Lord, go up to the place of your rest, you and the ark of
your holiness.
Behold, we heard of it in Ephrathah;
we found it in the fields of Jaar.
Let us enter his dwelling,
let us worship at his footstool.
May your priests be clothed with justice;
let your faithful ones shout merrily for joy.
For the sake of David your servant,
reject not the plea of your anointed.
For the LORD has chosen Zion;
he prefers her for her dwelling.
"Zion is my resting place forever;
in her will I dwell, for I prefer her."
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GOSPEL MEDITATION
from "Praying the Daily Gospels," by Philip St. Romain:
- http://www.liguori.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=6614
- Matthew 19: 3-12 (Marriage and divorce)
To understand the significance of today's reading, we must first
realize that some Jewish traditions permitted a man to divorce his
wife if he had lost interest in her or found her wanting in
household skills. Jesus counters this tradition by holding out as
God's will the indissolubility of the marriage commitment. He also
states some people would be better off not married.
- Several early Fathers of the Church believed that God frowned d)n
sexual intercourse and that the Holy Spirit deserted people during
sexual union. What is your response to such an assertion?
- Why would an adult person choose to remain unmarried? Do you
believe this is healthy?
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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 the whole substance of religion was faith, hope, and charity;
by the practice of which we become united to the will of GOD: that
all beside is indifferent and to be used as a means, that we may
arrive at our end, and be swallowed up therein, by faith and charity.
That all things are possible to him who believes, that they are
less difficult to him who hopes, they are more easy to him who
loves, and still more easy to him who perseveres in the practice of
these three virtues.
- Fourth Conversation
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