Message of 6-9-08
Published: Tue, 06/03/08
- resources for prayer and spiritual growth
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MESSAGE OF THE DAY
Is the Son of God praying in me, or am I dictating to
Him?....Prayer is not simply getting things from God, that is a
most initial form of prayer; prayer is getting into perfect
communion with God. If the Son of God is formed in us by
regeneration, He will press forward in front of our common sense
and change our attitude to the things about which we pray.
--Oswald Chambers
(Ask Christ to form your prayer and desires. Only then will we
come to will what God wills for us.)
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SCRIPTURE READINGS
http://www.nccbuscc.org/nab/
1 Kgs 17:1-6; Ps. 121:1bc-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8; Mt 5:1-12
R. (see 2) Our help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
I lift up my eyes toward the mountains;
whence shall help come to me?
My help is from the LORD,
who made heaven and earth.
May he not suffer your foot to slip;
may he slumber not who guards you:
Indeed he neither slumbers nor sleeps,
the guardian of Israel.
The LORD is your guardian; the LORD is your shade;
he is beside you at your right hand.
The sun shall not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.
The LORD will guard you from all evil;
he will guard your life.
The LORD will guard your coming and your going,
both now and forever.
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REFLECTION ON THE SCRIPTURES
- from "Daily Bread"
http://www.preacherexchange.com/daily_bread.htm
"You shall drink of the stream, and I have commanded ravens to feed
you there."
How often timidity and lack of confidence cripple us! Have courage
and faith! We need the spirit of the beatitudes if we are to be
truly proactive in our "hunger and thirst for righteousness." The
Lord will never, never let us down if we are doing God's will and
trust in God completely. Let us reflect on what it means to be poor
in spirit, completely without the ability to go it alone, and let
us trust ourselves and our life work to our loving Lord, who will
see that we receive what we need, when we need it.
"Lord, we pray for all that we need to live the life you have
placed in us and to do the work to which you have called us."
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LECTIO DIVINA PROCESS
- http://heartlandspirituality.org/vocations/prayer.html
First, you choose a passage of Scripture that you will pray with.
It might be the Gospel reading used in the liturgy of the day, or
anything else you want. The process then follows these steps:
* Reading (lectio) After settling in and quieting yourself,
read the passage slowly, prayerfully. Just let it sink in for a
minute or two, then read it a second time, paying closer attention
to the words or phrases that speak to you.
* Reflecting (meditatio) What do you hear God saying to you in
this passage? What words or phrases caught your attention?
* Responding (oratio) What do you want to say to God in
response to what you've heard? Here you can also voice your prayers
of petition, remorse, thanksgiving, praise, and so forth. If you
sense God speaking to you in your thoughts, feelings or
imagination, you respond as you would in any conversation.
* Resting (contemplatio) If, at any time, you feel drawn to
simply rest in the awareness of God's loving presence, you let
yourself do so. Remain in loving silence as long as you feel
comfortable, perhaps using a simple word or phrase from the
Scripture passage to help deepen your openness to rest in God.
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THEOLOGICAL GEMS FROM EMIL MERCH'S "THEOLOGY OF THE MYSTICAL BODY"
from http://www.innerexplorations.com/chtheomortext/theolgems.htm
386. Nothing is so luminous, evident, and immediate as consciousness.
388. The Word is the interior Word in which the Father expresses
all that He is, so exactly that this Word is a person like Himself,
a whole that is absolutely similar to Himself, with the sole
difference that the one is uttered and the other is uttering.
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