Message of 12-17-07
Published: Sat, 12/15/07
MESSAGE OF THE DAY
What can we gain by sailing to the moon if we are not able to cross
the abyss that separates us from ourselves? This is the most
important of all voyages of discovery, and without it, all the rest
are not only useless, but disastrous.
- Thomas Merton
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SCRIPTURE READINGS
http://www.nccbuscc.org/nab/
Gn 49:2, 8-10; Ps 72:1-2, 3-4ab, 7-8, 17; Mt 1:1-17
R. (see 7) Justice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of
peace for ever.
O God, with your judgment endow the king,
and with your justice, the king's son;
He shall govern your people with justice
and your afflicted ones with judgment.
The mountains shall yield peace for the people,
and the hills justice.
He shall defend the afflicted among the people,
save the children of the poor.
Justice shall flower in his days,
and profound peace, till the moon be no more.
May he rule from sea to sea,
and from the River to the ends of the earth.
May his name be blessed forever;
as long as the sun his name shall remain.
In him shall all the tribes of the earth be blessed;
all the nations shall proclaim his happiness.
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Advent Reflections
Today's readings trace Jesus ancestors all the way back to Abraham.
Whenever I read it, I want to do three things: 1) I want to go
back and gather all those wives and mothers who were equally
valuable to Jesus' heritage. 2) I want to examine those
relationships and all the struggles and joys and brokenness and
blessings and hills and valleys they must have held. More
importantly I want to learn the faithfulness to the journey that
must surely have been there. 3) I want to trace my own lineage of
faithfulness. Through my ancestors, through my own stages of
struggle and growth, through my relationships so that, in the end,
some distant evangelist can say of me "It was of her(him) that
Jesus, who is called the Messiah was born.
· What is your "lineage of faithfulness?
· How has the Christ come to birth in your family's journey? In
your personal journey?
(by Sr. Maxine Shonk, OP)
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THEOLOGICAL GEMS FROM EMIL MERCH'S THEOLOGY OF THE MYSTICAL BODY
from http://www.innerexplorations.com/chtheomortext/theolgems.htm
277. Do not the wounded have more insistent claims on gentleness,
and does not fallen greatness call for keener sympathy?
God calls man and enables him to reinstate himself.
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LECTIO DIVINA METHOD (Benedictine Approach)
1. Relax. Settle in. Be aware that God is here, now, loving you.
2. Read a short passage of Scripture as though God were speaking
directly to you in it.
3. Choose a phrase from the passage that strikes you and repeat it
slowly, prayerfully, non-analytically.
4. When your heart is full, express to God the needs and sentiments
awakened by your meditation. When you're done, read another passage
and repeat steps 3 and 4.
5. If, at any time, you feel moved to simply be present to God in
loving silence, put the Scripture aside and rest in God.
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