Message of 11-4-08
Published: Thu, 10/30/08
- resources for prayer and spiritual growth
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MESSAGE OF THE DAY
The most eloquent prayer is the prayer through hands that heal and
bless. The highest form of worship is the worship of unselfish
Christian service. The greatest form of praise is the sound of
consecrated feet seeking out the lost and helpless.
- Billy Graham
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SCRIPTURE READINGS
http://www.nccbuscc.org/nab/
Phil 2:5-11; Ps 22:26b-27, 28-30ab, 30e, 31-32; Lk 14:15-24
R. (26a) I will praise you, Lord, in the assembly of your people.
I will fulfill my vows before those who fear him.
The lowly shall eat their fill;
they who seek the LORD shall praise him:
"May your hearts be ever merry!"
All the ends of the earth
shall remember and turn to the LORD;
All the families of the nations
shall bow down before him.
For dominion is the LORD's,
and he rules the nations.
To him alone shall bow down
all who sleep in the earth.
To him my soul shall live;
my descendants shall serve him.
Let the coming generation be told of the LORD
that they may proclaim to a people yet to be born
the justice he has shown.
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GOSPEL MEDITATION
- from http://www.dailyscripture.net/
Dieterich Bonhoeffer contrasts cheap grace and costly grace: "Cheap
grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves ..the preaching of
forgiveness without requiring repentance ..grace without
discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ,
living and incarnate. ..Costly grace is the gospel which must be
sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door
at which a man must knock. Such grace is costly because it calls us
to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his
life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life."
God invites each of us to his banquet that we may share in his joy.
Are you ready to feast at the Lord's banquet table?
"Lord Jesus, you withhold no good thing from us and you lavish us
with the treasures of heaven. Help me to seek your kingdom first
and to lay aside anything that might hinder me from doing your will."
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PRAYING WITH SCRIPTURE (Ignatian Method)
A. Preparation: acts of faith and reverence in the presence of God;
asking grace of a good meditation; petition for specific graces
sought in meditation.
B. Reading the Scriptures slowly, prayerfully.
C. Exercise of the memory, imagination, and intellect:
consideration of the material.. What practical applications are
suggested?
D. Expression of feelings and sentiments awakened in meditation.
Conversation with God.
E. Exercise of will and imagination in making resolutions. Prayer
for grace to fulfill resolutions.
F. Vocal prayer (Our Father, Hail Mary, other prayers).
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NOTES FROM A CLASSICAL WORK
"Sayings of Light and Love," by St. John of the Cross (jottings
from his notebooks)
85. Reflect how necessary it is to be enemies of self and to walk
to perfection by the path of holy rigor, and understand that every
word spoken without the order of obedience is laid to your account
by God.
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