Message of 1-11-08
Published: Sat, 01/05/08
- resources for prayer and spiritual growth
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MESSAGE OF THE DAY
(What the Incarnation has accomplished.)
"Christ in his love unites created reality with uncreated
reality--How wonderful is God's loving-kindness towards us!--and he
shows that through grace the two are become one. The whole world
enters wholly into the whole of God and by becoming all that God
is, except in identity of nature, it receives in place of itself
the whole God."
- Maximus the Confessor, "Ambigua" -
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SCRIPTURE READINGS
http://www.nccbuscc.org/nab/
1 Jn 5:5-13; Ps. 147:12-13, 14-15, 19-20; Lk 5:12-16
R. (12a) Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.
Glorify the LORD, O Jerusalem;
praise your God, O Zion.
For he has strengthened the bars of your gates;
he has blessed your children within you.
He has granted peace in your borders;
with the best of wheat he fills you.
He sends forth his command to the earth;
swiftly runs his word!
He has proclaimed his word to Jacob,
his statutes and his ordinances to Israel.
He has not done thus for any other nation;
his ordinances he has not made known to them. Alleluia.
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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
That we ought to quicken, i.e., to enliven, our faith. That it was
lamentable we had so little; and that instead of taking faith for the
rule of their conduct, men amused themselves with trivial devotions,
which changed daily. That the way of Faith was the spirit of the
Church, and that it was sufficient to bring us to a high degree of
perfection.
That we ought to give ourselves up to GOD, with regard both to things
temporal and spiritual, and seek our satisfaction only in the
fulfilling His will, whether He lead us by suffering or by
consolation, for all would be equal to a soul truly resigned. That
there needed
fidelity in those drynesses, or insensibilities and irksomenesses in
prayer, by which GOD tries our love to Him; that then was the time
for us to make good and effectual acts of resignation, whereof one
alone would oftentimes very much promote our spiritual advancement.
(from the First Conversation, to be continued)
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