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One who has come to the earthshaking realization of the true self can easily think that he or she has come to the realization of God. In other words one can mistake self-realization for God-realization. . . Never think that you have reached journey's end. Remember that the true self is opening out to the beyond, and that your journey goes on and on and on. It goes beyond the mystery of the self to the
mystery of One Who knows no limits. Even in eternity we shall never arrive: we shall never exhaust the mystery of God.
- William Johnston, Being in Love -
(There is "always more" in God. Let this awareness sink in. What "more" do you desire from God today?)
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Webinar on Critical Thinking Skills and the Media, by Philip St. Romain
June 11, 2020: 7:00 - 8:30 p.m.
Book Study on The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You’re Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are, by Brene Brown, Ph.D., L.M.S.W.
Led By: Ann Axman and Pattie McGurk on Zoom
Dates: Tuesday June 23 and 30; July 7, 14, 21 and 28. 12:05 - 12:55 p.m.
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2 TM 3:10-17; Ps 119:157, 160, 161, 165, 166, 168
MK 12:35-37
As Jesus was teaching in the temple area he said,
“How do the scribes claim that the Christ is the son of David?
David himself, inspired by the Holy Spirit, said:
The Lord said to my lord,
‘Sit at my right hand
until I place your enemies under your feet.’
David himself calls him ‘lord’;
so how is he his son?”
The great crowd heard this with delight.
USCCB lectionary
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Reflection on the Scripture
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God’s Word is permanent (Ps 119:160) and unfailing (Is 55:11). When His Word is proclaimed, it gets the job done. “It shall not return to [God] void, but shall do [His] will, achieving the end for which [He] sent it” (Is 55:11). When His Word is proclaimed at Mass, it is especially powerful. The Mass is the environment of miracles. In such a setting, God’s Word is charged with even greater life-changing power.
“That is why we thank God constantly that in receiving His message from us you took it, not as the word of men, but as it truly is, the word of God at work within you who believe” (1 Thes 2:13).
Prayer: Father, may Catholics increasingly read, study, pray, share, live, proclaim, obey, and teach Your Word.
Promise: “You, for your part, must remain faithful to what you have learned and believed.” —2 Tm 3:14
Presentation Ministries
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Abandonment to Divine Providence
- by Jean-Pierre de Caussade
BOOK II,
CHAPTER III. THE TRIALS CONNECTED WITH THE STATE OF ABANDONMENT
SECTION I. Unwise interference.
The first trial: the obloquy and unreasonable exactions of persons with a reputation for wisdom and piety.
There is no way more secure than that of abandonment, and none more easy, sweet, clear, and less subject to illusion and error. In it God is loved and all Christian duties fulfilled; the Sacraments are frequented, and all the exterior acts of religion which are binding to all are performed. Superiors are obeyed, and the duties of the state of life are discharged; temptations of the flesh, the world, and the devil are
continually resisted; for none are more on guard, or more vigilant in acquitting themselves of all their obligations, than those who follow this way. If this is the case, why is it that they should be subject to so many contradictions?
The most usual of these is, that when they, like other Christians, have accomplished all that the most strict theologian could exact, they are expected also to be bound to inconvenient practices to which the Church by no means obliges them; and if they do not comply they are charged with labouring under illusion. But I ask, can a Christian who confines himself to the observance of God's commandments, and those of the
Church, and who, besides, without practising meditation, contemplation, or spiritual reading, and without being attached to any particular form of devotion, yet attends to worldly business, and to other affairs of private life -- can he be wrong? One cannot presume to accuse, or even to suspect him of error. One must admit this to oneself, and while leaving the Christian of whom I am speaking in peace, it is but justice not to trouble a soul that not only fulfills the precepts at least as
well as one does oneself, but whom in addition, practises exterior acts of piety that are even unknown to others, or, if known, are treated with indifference. Prejudice goes so far as to affirm that this soul deceives itself, and deludes itself because, after having submitted to all that the Church prescribes, it holds itself free to be in the condition to give itself without hindrance to the interior operations of God, and to attend to the impressions of His grace at times when no other duty
intervenes to expressly compel them. In a word they are condemned because they employ that time which others give to amusements and temporal affairs, in loving God. Is not this a crying injustice? This cannot be too strongly insisted upon. If anyone keeps the ordinary course, goes to confession once a year, nothing is said about it, he is left in peace with an occasional injunction, not pressed with too much importunity, nor making it an obligation, to do a little more. If he should change his
ways and try to improve them, then he is overwhelmed with counsels for his conduct, and with different methods; and if he does not follow these pious rules diligently, then he is done for, he is a subject of suspicion, and nothing is too bad to predict of him.
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