Message of 1-4-08
Published: Sat, 12/29/07
- resources for prayer and spiritual growth
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MESSAGE OF THE DAY
Internal and external are ultimately one. When you no longer
perceive the world as hostile, there is no more fear, and when
there is no more fear, you think, speak and act differently. Love
and compassion arise, and they affect the world.
- Eckhart Tolle
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SCRIPTURE READINGS
http://www.nccbuscc.org/nab/
1 Jn 3:7-10; Ps. 98:1, 7-8, 9; Jn 1:35-42
R. (3cd) All the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of
God.
Sing to the LORD a new song,
for he has done wondrous deeds;
His right hand has won victory for him,
his holy arm.
Let the sea and what fills it resound,
the world and those who dwell in it;
Let the rivers clap their hands,
the mountains shout with them for joy before the LORD.
The LORD comes;
he comes to rule the earth;
He will rule the world with justice
and the peoples with equity
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PRAYING WITH SCRIPTURE (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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NOTES FROM A CLASSICAL WORK
- "The Practice of the Presence of God," by Brother Lawrence
THE first time I saw Brother Lawrence was upon the 3rd of
August, 1666.
He told me that GOD had done him a singular favour, in his
conversion
at the age of eighteen.
That in the winter, seeing a tree stripped of its leaves, and
considering that within a little time, the leaves would be
renewed, and
after that the flowers and fruit appear, he received a high view
of the
Providence and Power of GOD, which has never since been effaced
from
his soul. That this view had perfectly set him loose from the
world,
and kindled in him such a love for GOD, that he could not tell
whether
it had increased in above forty years that he had lived since.
That he had been footman to M. Fieubert, the treasurer, and that
he was
a great awkward fellow who broke everything.
That he had desired to be received into a monastery, thinking
that he
would there be made to smart for his awkwardness and the faults he
should commit, and so he should sacrifice to GOD his life, with
its
pleasures: but that GOD had disappointed him, he having met with
nothing but satisfaction in that state.
That we should establish ourselves in a sense of GOD's Presence,
by
continually conversing with Him. That it was a shameful thing to
quit
His conversation, to think of trifles and fooleries.
That we should feed and nourish our souls with high notions of
GOD;
which would yield us great joy in being devoted to Him.
(from the First Conversation, to be continued)
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