Message of 8-8-07

Published: Wed, 08/08/07



SHALOM PLACE PREMIUM GROUPS
- Life-long learning and formation in Christian spirituality.

Groups now open include the following:
A. Psychological Types and Spirituality
B. The Way of Christian Spirituality
C. Freedom from Codependency
D. Christian Spirituality Resources
E. Wonderfully Made (Christian Metaphysics)
F. Growing in Christ
G. Spiral Dynamics®
H. Discerning God's Will
I.  Dark Night of the Soul
J.  Silence, Solitude and Sabbath
K. Alpha Group -- includes all the above and all to come.

- see http://shalomplace.org/groups.html

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MESSAGE OF THE DAY

We can walk without fear, full of hope and courage and strength to do His will, waiting for the endless good which He is always giving as fast as He can get us able to take it in.
   - George Macdonald

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SCRIPTURE READINGS
     http://www.nccbuscc.org/nab/

Nm 13:1-2, 25–14:1, 26a-29a, 34-35;   Ps 106:6-7ab, 13-14, 21-22, 23;   Mt 15: 21-28

R.    (4a) Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.

We have sinned, we and our fathers;
we have committed crimes; we have done wrong.
Our fathers in Egypt
considered not your wonders.

But soon they forgot his works;
they waited not for his counsel.
They gave way to craving in the desert
and tempted God in the wilderness.

They forgot the God who had saved them,
who had done great deeds in Egypt,
Wondrous deeds in the land of Ham,
terrible things at the Red Sea.

Then he spoke of exterminating them,
but Moses, his chosen one,
Withstood him in the breach
to turn back his destructive wrath.

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Praying the Daily Gospels
 - by Philip St. Romain:
 - http://www.liguori.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=6614

- Matthew 15: 21-28 (Messiah of the Gentiles)

This passage describes an event which took place during the only time Jesus ever ventured outside Jewish territory. While seeking respite from the demands of the crowds who folk)wed him and from the authorities who tormented him, he is confronted by a persistent Canaanite woman. Even though she is a Gentile and, as a Canaanite, a member of the Jews’ most ancient enemy, her faith and love finally move Jesus to grant her requests.

• "The family that prays together, stays together" is a familiar saying. How important is praying and worshiping as a family to you? Resolve to find books and pamphlets on family prayer to help deepen this experience.

• Spend some time thanking God for those people in your life who love you.

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MYSTICISM
   - by Evelyn Underhill -

   Apart from the plain necessity of casting out imperfection and sin, what is the type of “good character” which will best serve the self in its journey towards union with the Absolute?
    The mystics of all ages and all faiths agree in their answer. Those three virtues which the instinct of the Catholic Church fixed upon as the necessities of the cloistered life—the great Evangelical counsel of voluntary Poverty with its departments, Chastity, the poverty of the senses, and Obedience, the poverty of the will—are also, when raised to their highest term and transmuted by the Fire of Love, the essential virtues of the mystical quest.
    --- Part 2, Chapter 3

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MEDITATING ON SCRIPTURE (Method of St. Francis de Sales)

A. Settling in: call to mind God's presence; address oneself to God in vocal prayer.

B. Reading the Scripture passage slowly, prayerfully.

C. Exercise of the will and intellect in considering the message: what is this passage saying?  what is it calling forth from me?

D. Conclusion: acts of thanksgiving, remorse and intercessions awakened by the meditation.

E. Application: Immediate follow-through on resolutions made.

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