Message of 5-30-08
Published: Thu, 05/22/08
A Daily Spiritual Seed
- resources for prayer and spiritual growth
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MESSAGE OF THE DAY
Every happening, great and small, is a parable whereby God speaks
to us, and the art of life is to get the message.
- Malcolm Muggeridge
(What message has been coming through lately?)
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SCRIPTURE READINGS
http://www.nccbuscc.org/nab/
Dt 7:6-11; Ps 103:1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 8, 10.; 1 Jn 4:7-16; Mt
11:25-30
R. (cf. 17) The Lord's kindness is everlasting to those who fear him.
Bless the LORD, O my soul;
all my being, bless his holy name.
Bless the LORD, O my soul;
and forget not all his benefits.
He pardons all your iniquities,
heals all your ills.
He redeems your life from destruction,
crowns you with kindness and compassion.
Merciful and gracious is the LORD,
slow to anger and abounding in kindness.
Not according to our sins does he deal with us,
nor does he requite us according to our crimes.
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GOSPEL MEDITATION
from http://www.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html
In the final decades of the seventeenth century God chose to
express anew God's love for our world. This time God chose to
appear in France to a Visitation nun St. Margaret Mary Alacoque
(1647-1690). This time Jesus appears holding a flaming heart in his
outstretched hand. He seems to be inviting us to accept personally
the love he is offering: "Come to me all you who labor and are
burdened, and I will give you rest."
And he seems to be inviting us to spread knowledge of this love
throughout the world. He tells Margaret Mary to make known to the
Church his desire that devotion to his Sacred Heart be established
through holy hours, through first Fridays and through an annual
feast. She solicits her Jesuit confessor St. Claude La Colombiere
to assist her.
On this Feast of the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart, Jesus
speaks to us: Will you embrace me? Will you allow the fire of my
love to warm your heart? Will you spread knowledge of this love to
your neighbor? Will you be that love for one another?
Our response has enormous consequences for each of us if we want to
abide in God's heart: "God is love, and whoever remains in love
remains in God and God in them."
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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
Brother Lawrence noted:
That in the beginning of the spiritual life, we ought to be
faithful in doing our duty and denying ourselves; but after that
unspeakable pleasures followed: that in difficulties we need only
have recourse to JESUS CHRIST, and beg His grace, with which
everything became easy.
- Fourth Conversation
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