Messsage of 10-10-07
Published: Sat, 10/06/07
- 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
But you have to pray. You have to listen to the voice who calls you
the beloved, because otherwise you will run around begging for
affirmation, for praise, for success. And then you're not free.
- Henri J. M. Nouwen
(From whence comes your own source for affirmation, praise, and
success?)
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SCRIPTURE READINGS
http://www.nccbuscc.org/nab/
Jon 4:1-11; Ps 86:3-4, 5-6, 9-10; Lk 11:1-4
R. (15) Lord, you are merciful and gracious.
Have mercy on me, O Lord,
for to you I call all the day.
Gladden the soul of your servant,
for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving,
abounding in kindness to all who call upon you.
Hearken, O LORD, to my prayer
and attend to the sound of my pleading.
All the nations you have made shall come
and worship you, O Lord,
and glorify your name.
For you are great, and you do wondrous deeds;
you alone are God.
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Praying the Daily Gospels
- by Philip St. Romain:
- http://www.liguori.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=6614
Luke 11:1-4 (The Lord's Prayer)
Luke's version of the prayer of Jesus is shorter than Matthew's,
characteristic of his commitment to simplify the words of Jesus.
We are nevertheless left with the essentials emphasized in
Matthew's version: praise, kingdom, dependence, forgiveness, and
perseverance.
- Which phrase from the Lord's Prayer do you find easiest to pray?
Which is most difficult? Why?
- What kind of God does Jesus reveal through this prayer?
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MYSTICISM
- by Evelyn Underhill -
Poverty, then, prepares man's spirit for that union with God to
which it aspires. She strips off the clothing which he so often
mistakes for himself, transvaluates all his values, and shows him
things as they are. "There are," says Eckhart, "four ascending
degrees of such spiritual poverty. 1. The soul's contempt of all
things that are not God. 2. Contempt of herself and her own works.
3. Utter self-abandonment. 4. Self-loss in the incomprehensible
Being of God." So, in the "Sacrum Commercium," when the friars,
climbing "the steeps of the hill," found Lady Poverty at the summit
"enthroned only in her nakedness," she "preventing them with the
blessings of sweetness," said, "Why hasten ye so from the vale of
tears to the mount of light? If, peradventure, it is me that ye
seek, lo, I am but as you behold, a little poor one, stricken with
storms and far from any consolation." Whereto the brothers answer,
"Only admit us to thy peace; and we shall be saved."
------ 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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