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Easter book study: sign-up deadline tomorrow.
Such an amazing revelation we celebrate every Easter Sunday!
I invite you to join with me to study and reflect more deeply on the meaning of the resurrection of Jesus during this sacred season. We will use my book, Jesus Alive in Our Lives (2nd Edition), and meet by Zoom on April 15, 22, 29; May 6 and 13 from noon to 1 p.m. CDT. For more information and registration, please visit the link below:
We need not despair of anyone, so long as he or she lives. For God deemed it better to bring good out of evil than not to permit evil at all.
... St. Augustine (354-430)
(The resurrection demonstrates that God's loving providence rules in human history, and in our own personal lives. Let this affirmation bring you confidence this day.)
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Acts 4:23-31; Psalm 2:1-3, 4-7a, 7b-9
Jn 3:1-8
There was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.
He came to Jesus at night and said to him,
“Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God,
for no one can do these signs that you are doing
unless God is with him.”
Jesus answered and said to him,
“Amen, amen, I say to you,
unless one is born from above, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.”
Nicodemus said to him,
“How can a man once grown old be born again?
Surely he cannot reenter his mother’s womb and be born again, can he?”
Jesus answered,
“Amen, amen, I say to you,
unless one is born of water and Spirit
he cannot enter the Kingdom of God.
What is born of flesh is flesh
and what is born of spirit is spirit.
Do not be amazed that I told you,
‘You must be born from above.’
The wind blows where it wills,
and you can hear the sound it makes,
but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes;
so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
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Reflection on the Scriptures
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What does it mean to be reborn in the Spirit? The new birth which Jesus speaks of is a spiritual birth to a life which is transformed through the power of God. This new life brings us into an experiential relationship with God as his adopted sons and daughters (Romans 6:4; 8:10-11). This new birth is made possible when one is baptized into Christ and receives the gift of the Holy Spirit. God wants to renew all
of his people in the gift of new life in his Holy Spirit. This new life in the Spirit brings us into God's kingdom of righteousness, peace, and joy (Romans 14:17).
What is the kingdom of God - which is also called the kingdom of heaven? God's kingdom - his reign and blessing as King over us - is the abundant everlasting life and power from heaven which God shares with those who accept him as the Eternal Father and Author of Life and Ruler of All he has created. Jesus explains in the prayer he gave to his disciples, what we call the Lord's Prayer or the Our Father, that God's
kingdom is that society of men and women who acknowledge God as their Lord and Ruler and who obey his word and live according to his will on earth as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:10).
We are sons and daughters of God and citizens of his kingdom
To be reborn in the Spirit is to enter that society in which God is honored and obeyed. Those who willingly accept God's rule in their lives become citizens of God's heavenly kingdom and members of God's family - his adopted sons and daughters. And they enter into possession of the life which comes from God himself, an everlasting life of love, peace, joy, and freedom from sin, oppression, and corruption. Do you know the joy and freedom of the new birth and abundant life which Jesus Christ has
won for you?
Lord Jesus Christ, you offer us abundant new life and power to live as sons and daughters of our Father in heaven. Renew in me the gift of faith to accept and obey your life-giving word and to cooperate with the transforming power of your Holy Spirit who changes us into your likeness. May your kingdom come and your will be done in my life today, tomorrow, and always.
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Covid-19 Resources at Shalom Place
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The Ascent of Mount Carmel, by St. John of the Cross
E. Allison Peers Translation. Paperback, Kindle, Audio Book.
Click here to purchase on Amazon.com
BOOK THE SECOND
Wherein is described the nature of dark night and how necessary it is to pass through it to Divine union; and in particular this book describes the dark night of sense, and desire, and the evils which these work in the soul.
Of the Ascent of Mount Carmel
Wherein is treated the proximate means of ascending to union with God, which is faith; and wherein therefore is described the second part of this night, which, as we said, belongs to the spirit, and is contained in the second stanza, which is as follows. __________________________________________________________________
Second Stanza
Chapter 20
Wherein is proved by passages from Scripture how the sayings and words of God, though always true, do not always rest upon stable causes.
2. This, we see, happened in the city of Ninive, where God said: Yet forty days and Ninive shall be destroyed. This was not fulfilled, because the cause of the threat ceased -- namely, the sins of the city, for which it did penace -- but, if this had not been so, the prophecy would have been carried into effect. We read likewise in the Third Book of the Kings that, when King Achab had committed a very great sin, God sent to prophesy a great punishment -- our father Elias being
the messenger -- which should come upon his person, upon his house and upon his kingdom. And, because Achab rent his garments with grief and clothed himself in haircloth and fasted, and slept in sackcloth and went about in a humble and contrite manner, God sent again, by the same prophet, to declare to him these words: Inasmuch as Achab has humbled himself for love of Me, I will not send the evil whereof I spake in his days, but in the days of his son. Here we see that, because
Achab changed his spirit and his former affection, God likewise changed His sentence.
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