Message of 1-16-08
Published: Sun, 01/13/08
- resources for prayer and spiritual growth
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MESSAGE OF THE DAY
Be content to progress in slow steps until you have legs to run and
wings with which to fly.
- Padre Pio
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SCRIPTURE READINGS
http://www.nccbuscc.org/nab/
1 Sm 4:1-11; Ps. 44:10-11, 14-15, 24-25; Mk 1:40-45
R. (27b) Redeem us, Lord, because of your mercy.
Yet now you have cast us off and put us in disgrace,
and you go not forth with our armies.
You have let us be driven back by our foes;
those who hated us plundered us at will.
You made us the reproach of our neighbors,
the mockery and the scorn of those around us.
You made us a byword among the nations,
a laughingstock among the peoples.
Why do you hide your face,
forgetting our woe and our oppression?
For our souls are bowed down to the dust,
our bodies are pressed to the earth.
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REFLECTION ON THE SCRIPTURES
- from "Daily Bread"
http://www.preacherexchange.com/daily_bread.htm
"Here I am, Lord."
We love this psalm response. Yet what a commitment lies within
these simple words! In today's readings, we hear of people in
ordinary circumstances. A young boy can't sleep and thinks he hears
someone calling him. A woman is sick, but when she is healed she
doesn't have time to recuperate. Instead she gets up and waits on
her son, his friends and the crowd coming to her house. There are
always more sick people. There is always the voice in the night.
And our response can only be, "Here I am, Lord; I come to do your
will."
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NOTES FROM A CLASSICAL WORK
- "Meister Eckhart's Sermons"
Now, people say when they commit sin, that they do not intend to
do so
always; they intend to turn away from sin. That is just as
though a man
were to kill himself and suppose that he could make himself
alive again
by his own strength. That is, however, impossible; but to turn
from sin
by one's own power and come to God is still much more impossible.
Therefore, whosoever is to turn from sin and come to God in His
heavenly kingdom, must be drawn by the heavenly Father with the
might
of His divine power. The Father also draws the Son who comes to
help us
with His grace, by stimulating our free will to turn away from,
and
hate sin, which has drawn us aside from God, and from the
immutable
goodness of the Godhead. Then, if she is willing, He pours the
gift of
His grace into the soul, which renounces all her misery and sin,
and
all her works become living. Now, this grace springs from the
centre of
Godhead and the Father's heart, and flows perpetually, nor ever
ceases,
if the soul obeys His everlasting love. Therefore He saith in the
prophets: "I have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore
with
loving kindness have I drawn thee." Out of the overflow of His
universal love He desires to draw all to Himself, and to His
Only-begotten Son, and to the Holy Ghost in the joy of the
heavenly
kingdom. Now, we should know that before our Lord Jesus Christ was
born, the Heavenly Father drew men with all His might for five
thousand, two hundred years; and yet, as far as we know, brought
not
one into the heavenly kingdom. So, when the Son saw that the
Father had
thus strongly drawn men and even wearied Himself, and yet not
succeeded, He said to the Father: "I will draw them with the
cords of a
man." It was as though He said, "I see well, Father, that Thou
with all
Thy might, canst not succeed, therefore will I myself draw them
with
the cords of a man."
- Sermon One, "The Attractive Power of God"
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REVIEW OF DAY
- from, "Handbook for Spiritual Directees"
http://shalomplace.com/view/hndbk-lite.pdf
Here is a practice used by many at the end of the day to see what
lessons can be learned and how God was present and active through
the day. Set aside fifteen to twenty minutes at the end of the
day for prayer and review of your day. A suggested format is
described below:.
1. Take a few moments of quiet. Breathe deeply. Ask God to help you
see yourself as you truly were during the day.
2. Look back over your day - not to see what you did wrong but to
honestly acknowledge what was going on with you and others.
* What happened? What did I do today?
* How did I feel? Why did I feel that way?
* Were my expectations and beliefs reasonable?
3. Affirm the healthy things you recognize.
4. Admit to yourself and God the unhealthy things. Ask God's
forgiveness, believe it is yours, then decide if you need to
apologize or make amends.
5. Use creative visualization to grow stronger. Honestly
acknowledge the troubling situations of the day. See and feel
yourself acting honestly and lovingly in these situations. Ask God
for the grace to help you act in this new way.
6. Close with simple awareness of the sights and sounds around you,
grateful for the good things in your life.
This process can be undertaken as a daily journal exercise or by
prayerfully reviewing your day in your own mind. I like to take a
walk before bedtime for examen. The important thing is to do it. It
is a discipline, to be sure, but a very important one.
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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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