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God attracts our minds to himself by his supreme beauty and incomprehensible goodness. . . So God, Father of all light, supremely good and beautiful, by his beauty draws our intellect to contemplate him, and by his goodness he draws our will to love him."
- St. Francis de Sales, On the Love of God -
(Be open to noticing goodness and beauty this day. Allow the Spirit to move you to deeper love of God in response.)
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Webinars
July 9, 2020: Covid-19 Conspiracies and the "Mark of the Beast," by
Philip St. Romain and Jerry Truex.
August 13, 2020: Can a Christian Believe in Evolution? by Philip
St. Romain
September 10, 2020: What does it Mean to be Pro-Life? by Philip
St. Romain
Book Studies
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
Fully Awake and Truly Alive: Spiritual Practices to Nurture Your Soul, by Rev. Jane E Vennard
Led By: Marcia Berchek and Ann Axman on Zoom
Dates: Wednesday August 5, 12,19 and 26, September 2
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1 KGS 21:17-29; Ps 51:3-4, 5-6AB, 11 AND 16
MT 5:43-48
Jesus said to his disciples:
“You have heard that it was said,
You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.
But I say to you, love your enemies
and pray for those who persecute you,
that you may be children of your heavenly Father,
for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good,
and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust.
For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have?
Do not the tax collectors do the same?
And if you greet your brothers only,
what is unusual about that?
Do not the pagans do the same?
So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
USCCB Lectionary
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Praying the Daily Gospels: A Guide to Meditation, by Philip St. Romain,
2018 (3rd ed.)
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Matthew 5:43-48 (Love your enemies)
Jesus’ command to love our enemies is one of his most challenging teachings. Because all people are children of God, we should love them all—even those with whom we disagree. Then will new things happen in our lives and in our world.
• Is it possible to disagree with someone and still love that person? Think of a few people with whom you often disagree; how can you love them?
• Do you believe it is ever appropriate for a Christian to kill someone with whom he or she disagrees?
• Pray for the grace to be able to recognize all people as children of God.
Paperback, Kindle and eBook
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Treatise on the Love of God, by St. Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
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BOOK I: CONTAINING A PREPARATION FOR THE WHOLE TREATISE
Chapter 15: Of the affinity there is between God and man
But besides this affinity of likenesses, there is an incomparable correspondence between God and man, for their reciprocal perfection: not that God can receive any perfection from man, but because as man cannot be perfected but by the divine goodness, so the divine goodness can scarcely so well exercise its perfection outside itself, as upon our
humanity: the one has great want and capacity to receive good, the other great abundance and inclination to bestow it. Nothing is so agreeable to poverty as a liberal abundance, nor to a liberal abundance as a needy poverty, and by how much the good is more abundant, by so much more strong is the inclination to pour forth and communicate itself. By how much more the poor man is in want, so much the more eager is he to receive, as a void is to fill itself. The meeting then of abundance and
indigence is most sweet and agreeable, and one could scarcely have said whether the abounding good have a greater contentment in spreading and communicating itself, or the failing and needy good in receiving and in drawing to itself, until Our Saviour had told us that it is more blessed to give than to receive. Now where there is more blessedness there is more satisfaction, and therefore the divine goodness receives greater pleasure in giving than we in receiving.
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