24/01/07 week of Epiphany 3
[Please remember this is a sort of "menu" from which to select. No one has to read it all]
Collect
Give us grace, O Lord, to answer readily the call of our Savior Jesus Christ and proclaim to all people the Good News of his salvation, that we and the whole world may perceive the glory of his marvelous works; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
++++++++++
Today's Scripture
http://www.satucket.com/lectionary/
Psalm 119:49-72; Psalm 49, [53]; Isa. 49:1-12; Gal. 2:11-21; Mark 6:13-29
++++++++++
From Forward Day by Day: http://www.forwardmovement.org/todaysreading.cfm
Isaiah 49:1-12. And I will turn all my mountains into a road, and my highways shall be raised up.
For those who love the mountains, it's hard to imagine a culture that regarded mountains and valleys as wretched places, signs of a fallen world. But that was often the case in the imagination of ancient writers. They knew that a road through the mountains connecting town to town could be a wonderful, life-saving thing, but building it would entail a tremendous effort of will and brawn. That's why, in that more familiar passage in Isaiah, the prophet can promise that when the Redeemer comes, mountains will be laid low and the rough places made a plain. The kind of geography that mattered to the religious imagination was geography of connection, not of barriers--highways that united people rather than mountains that separated them. It was by a path through the mountains that Moses pushed his way toward the burning bush, and heard the good news of Israel's salvation. It was by blazing a way in the desert that Moses led the Israelites through to the promised land. No wonder Jesus called himself the Way. What high mountains separate you from a relationship with God? What barriers hold you back from following the Way? Can you see the highway that has been built for you?
++++++++++
Today we remember: http://satucket.com/lectionary/Calendar.htm
ORDINATION OF FLORENCE LI TIM-OI
FIRST WOMAN PRIEST IN THE ANGLICAN COMMUNION, 24 JANUARY 1944
Psalm 116:1-2; Galatians 3:23-28; Luke 10:1-9
Gracious God, we thank you for calling Florence Li Tim-Oi, much-beloved daughter, to be the first woman to exercise the office of a priest in our Communion; By the grace of your Spirit inspire us to follow her example, serving your people with patience and happiness all our days, and witnessing in every circumstance to our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the same Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
++++++++++
Today in the Anglican Cycle of Prayer we pray for the Diocese of Mahajanga (Indian Ocean)
http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acp/index.cfm
++++++++++
We continue to observe the week long prayers for Christian Unity:
http://wcc-coe.org/wcc/what/faith/wop-index.html
Blessing
Dear Lord,
may the boldness of your Spirit transform us,
may the gentleness of your Spirit lead us,
may the gifts of your Spirit equip us to serve and worship you
now and always.
Through Jesus Christ, our Lord,
Amen.
(From: In Spirit and in Truth, Canberra Assembly Worship Book, #53.)
++++++++++
Carmelite.com: Reflections http://www.carmelite.com/spirituality/reflection.php
For me, prayer means launching out of the heart towards God; it means lifting up ones' eyes, quite simply, to heaven, a cry of grateful love, from the crest of joy or the trough of despair.
St Therese of the Child Jesus
++++++++++
Reading from the Desert Christians
http://www.cin.org/dsrtftin.html
On Judging Others:
A brother in Scetis committed a fault. A council was called to which abba Moses was invited, but he refused to go to it. Then the priest sent someone to him, saying, "Come, for everyone is waiting for you". So he got up and went. He took a leaking jug and filled it with water and carried it with him. The others came out to meet him and said, " what is this, father?" The old man said to them, "My sins run out behind me, and I do not see them, and today I am coming to judge the errors of another." When they heard that, they said no more to the brother but forgave him.
A brother sinned and the priest ordered him to go out of the church; abba Bessarion got up and went out with him, saying, "I, too, am a sinner."
++++++++++
Daily Meditation (Henri Nouwen) http://www.henrinouwen.org/home/free_eletters/
Community is not possible without the willingness to forgive one another "seventy-seven times" (see Matthew 18:22). Forgiveness is the cement of community life. Forgiveness holds us together through good and bad times, and it allows us to grow in mutual love.
But what is there to forgive or to ask forgiveness for? As people who have hearts that long for perfect love, we have to forgive one another for not being able to give or receive that perfect love in our everyday lives. Our many needs constantly interfere with our desire to be there for the other unconditionally. Our love is always limited by spoken or unspoken conditions. What needs to be forgiven? We need to forgive one another for not being God!
++++++++++
From the Principles of the Third Society of St. Francis:
(24) The faults that we see in others are the subject of prayer rather
than of criticism. We take care to cast out the beam from our own eye
before offering to remove the speck from another's. We are ready to
accept the lowest place when asked and to volunteer to take it.
Nevertheless, when asked to undertake work of which we feel unworthy or
incapable we do not shrink from it on the grounds of humility, but
confidently attempt it through the power that is made perfect in
weakness.
Merciful God, you have made Your church rich through the poverty of
blessed Francis: help us like him, not to trust in earthly things, but
to seek Your heavenly gifts through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.
++++++++++
Richard Rohr's Daily Reflection
http://cacradicalgrace.org/getconnected/getconnected_index.html
"The Place of Healing"
Why do many languages use the word spirit to describe liquor? What if, next time I have Mass with you, when I hold up the chalice I say, "liquor of Christ?" Wouldn't that shock you all? Isn't it strange that the very thing that has caused so much pain in some of your lives, alcohol, would be the very thing that we use for the sacrament? Is it mere irony or coincidence - or providence? The blood of Christ, the wine of Christ, the liquor of Christ. The place of the wound is the place of the healing. The place of the break is the place of the greatest strength. That's why Jesus himself, even in his resurrected body, reappears with the wounds still in his hands, in his side, in his feet. They do not disappear as you might expect. What's the problem for Thomas? He can't deal with the wounds. Jesus tells him, put your finger in. Deal with pain. Deal with the fact that I'm still broken. No, you're resurrected, you're not supposed to have a hole in your side, says Thomas. "Thomas, put your finger in my hands. Put it in my side. Now, believe" (John 20:27). I don't think you can begin to believe until you put your finger in your own wounds, the wounds of one another and the wounds of Christ.
from Breathing Under Water: Spirituality and the 12 Steps
++++++++++
From John E. Rotelle, O.S.A., Tradition Day by Day: Readings from Church Writers. Augustinian Press. Villanova, PA, 1994.
http://www.artsci.villanova.edu/dsteelman/tradition/sources.html
Our neighbors are like our Maker
To have a Christian love for our neighbors is to love God in them, or them in God; it is to cherish God alone for his own sake, and his creatures for love of him. When we look upon our neighbors, created in the image and likeness of God, should we not say to each other: "Look at these people he has made—are they not like their Maker?" Should we not be drawn irresistibly toward them, embrace them, and be moved to tears for love of them? Should we not call down upon them a hundred thousand blessings? And why? For love of them? No indeed, since we cannot be sure whether, of themselves, they are worthy of love or hate. Then why? For love of God, who created them in his own image and likeness, and so capable of sharing in his goodness, grace, and glory; for love of God, I say, unto whom they exist, from whom they exist, through whom they exist, in whom they exist, for whom they exist, and whom they resemble in a very special manner.
This is why divine love not only repeatedly commands us to love our neighbors, but also itself produces this love and pours it out into our hearts, since they bear its own image and likeness; for just as we are the image of God, so our holy love for one another is the true image of our heavenly love for God.
Francis de Sales, (1567 - 1622), bishop of Geneva, worked zealously to bring the people of Chablais from Calvinism to Catholicism. Together with his friend Saint Jane Frances de Chantal he founded the Order of the Visitation.
++++++++++
Today's reading from the Rule of St. Benedict
http://www.osb.org/rb/
Chapter 6: On the Spirit of Silence
Let us do what the Prophet says:
"I said, 'I will guard my ways,
that I may not sin with my tongue.
I have set a guard to my mouth.'
I was mute and was humbled,
and kept silence even from good things" (Ps. 38:2-3).
Here the Prophet shows
that if the spirit of silence ought to lead us at times
to refrain even from good speech,
so much the more ought the punishment for sin
make us avoid evil words.
Therefore, since the spirit of silence is so important,
permission to speak should rarely be granted
even to perfect disciples,
even though it be for good, holy edifying conversation;
for it is written,
"In much speaking you will not escape sin" (Prov. 10:19),
and in another place,
"Death and life are in the power of the tongue" (Prov. 18:21).
For speaking and teaching belong to the mistress;
the disciple's part is to be silent and to listen.
And for that reason
if anything has to be asked of the Superior,
it should be asked
with all the humility and submission inspired by reverence.
But as for coarse jests and idle words
or words that move to laughter,
these we condemn everywhere with a perpetual ban,
and for such conversation
we do not permit a disciple to open her mouth.
Selections above from Saint Benedict's Rule for Monasteries, translated from the Latin by Leonard J. Doyle OblSB, of Saint John's Abbey, (© Copyright 1948, 2001, by the Order of Saint Benedict, Collegeville, MN 56321). Adapted for use here with the division into sense lines of the first edition that was republished in 2001 to mark the 75th anniversary of Liturgical Press. Doyle's translation is available in both hardcover and paperback editions.
++++++++++
what to do, what to do?
we don't know
what to do with you,
Jesus!
home from college
on spring break,
you stand up in church
and read the scriptures
with such wonder and awe,
all we can do is nudge one another:
'I had him in kindergarten,
he was always ahead of everyone else!'
'he wasalways helping the younger kids
when he was in youth group."
We can hardly wait to hear
your sermon . . . until
you start talking about
how we are
to welcome the immigrants,
to open the jail doors,
to give more to those
who will only squander it.
Then we whisper (in a stage voice):
'whose bright idea was it
to ask him to preach?'
'somebody out to throw him out
on his keester!'
and so,
we close our hearts to you,
and let you slip through
our souls,
as you go to fulfill
God's hopes for us,
wishing we would follow you
on that winding road
of grace.
(c) 2007 Thom M. Shuman
which three?
"...Now faith, hope, and love abide, these three..."
doubt moves in
and props its feet
at the hearth of my soul,
warming them
on the coals of my unbelief;
while faith
rents space
for a few days
in the summers of my life.
despair is the frayed,
soft corduroy jacket
that fits comfortably
on my shoulders,
while hope
is a hair shirt
i resist wearing.
impatience is the face
i put on
each morning
in order to greet the world,
while love
is that mask
i wear on special occasions,
removing it
when i look in the mirror,
not recognizing myself.
which three will abide in me, O God?
which three?
(c) 2007 Thom M. Shuman
Thom M. Shuman
Greenhills Community Church, Presbyterian
Cincinnati, Ohio
Collect
Give us grace, O Lord, to answer readily the call of our Savior Jesus Christ and proclaim to all people the Good News of his salvation, that we and the whole world may perceive the glory of his marvelous works; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
++++++++++
Today's Scripture
http://www.satucket.com/lectionary/
Psalm 119:49-72; Psalm 49, [53]; Isa. 49:1-12; Gal. 2:11-21; Mark 6:13-29
++++++++++
From Forward Day by Day: http://www.forwardmovement.org/todaysreading.cfm
Isaiah 49:1-12. And I will turn all my mountains into a road, and my highways shall be raised up.
For those who love the mountains, it's hard to imagine a culture that regarded mountains and valleys as wretched places, signs of a fallen world. But that was often the case in the imagination of ancient writers. They knew that a road through the mountains connecting town to town could be a wonderful, life-saving thing, but building it would entail a tremendous effort of will and brawn. That's why, in that more familiar passage in Isaiah, the prophet can promise that when the Redeemer comes, mountains will be laid low and the rough places made a plain. The kind of geography that mattered to the religious imagination was geography of connection, not of barriers--highways that united people rather than mountains that separated them. It was by a path through the mountains that Moses pushed his way toward the burning bush, and heard the good news of Israel's salvation. It was by blazing a way in the desert that Moses led the Israelites through to the promised land. No wonder Jesus called himself the Way. What high mountains separate you from a relationship with God? What barriers hold you back from following the Way? Can you see the highway that has been built for you?
++++++++++
Today we remember: http://satucket.com/lectionary/Calendar.htm
ORDINATION OF FLORENCE LI TIM-OI
FIRST WOMAN PRIEST IN THE ANGLICAN COMMUNION, 24 JANUARY 1944
Psalm 116:1-2; Galatians 3:23-28; Luke 10:1-9
Gracious God, we thank you for calling Florence Li Tim-Oi, much-beloved daughter, to be the first woman to exercise the office of a priest in our Communion; By the grace of your Spirit inspire us to follow her example, serving your people with patience and happiness all our days, and witnessing in every circumstance to our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the same Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
++++++++++
Today in the Anglican Cycle of Prayer we pray for the Diocese of Mahajanga (Indian Ocean)
http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acp/index.cfm
++++++++++
We continue to observe the week long prayers for Christian Unity:
http://wcc-coe.org/wcc/what/faith/wop-index.html
Blessing
Dear Lord,
may the boldness of your Spirit transform us,
may the gentleness of your Spirit lead us,
may the gifts of your Spirit equip us to serve and worship you
now and always.
Through Jesus Christ, our Lord,
Amen.
(From: In Spirit and in Truth, Canberra Assembly Worship Book, #53.)
++++++++++
Carmelite.com: Reflections http://www.carmelite.com/spirituality/reflection.php
For me, prayer means launching out of the heart towards God; it means lifting up ones' eyes, quite simply, to heaven, a cry of grateful love, from the crest of joy or the trough of despair.
St Therese of the Child Jesus
++++++++++
Reading from the Desert Christians
http://www.cin.org/dsrtftin.html
On Judging Others:
A brother in Scetis committed a fault. A council was called to which abba Moses was invited, but he refused to go to it. Then the priest sent someone to him, saying, "Come, for everyone is waiting for you". So he got up and went. He took a leaking jug and filled it with water and carried it with him. The others came out to meet him and said, " what is this, father?" The old man said to them, "My sins run out behind me, and I do not see them, and today I am coming to judge the errors of another." When they heard that, they said no more to the brother but forgave him.
A brother sinned and the priest ordered him to go out of the church; abba Bessarion got up and went out with him, saying, "I, too, am a sinner."
++++++++++
Daily Meditation (Henri Nouwen) http://www.henrinouwen.org/home/free_eletters/
Community is not possible without the willingness to forgive one another "seventy-seven times" (see Matthew 18:22). Forgiveness is the cement of community life. Forgiveness holds us together through good and bad times, and it allows us to grow in mutual love.
But what is there to forgive or to ask forgiveness for? As people who have hearts that long for perfect love, we have to forgive one another for not being able to give or receive that perfect love in our everyday lives. Our many needs constantly interfere with our desire to be there for the other unconditionally. Our love is always limited by spoken or unspoken conditions. What needs to be forgiven? We need to forgive one another for not being God!
++++++++++
From the Principles of the Third Society of St. Francis:
(24) The faults that we see in others are the subject of prayer rather
than of criticism. We take care to cast out the beam from our own eye
before offering to remove the speck from another's. We are ready to
accept the lowest place when asked and to volunteer to take it.
Nevertheless, when asked to undertake work of which we feel unworthy or
incapable we do not shrink from it on the grounds of humility, but
confidently attempt it through the power that is made perfect in
weakness.
Merciful God, you have made Your church rich through the poverty of
blessed Francis: help us like him, not to trust in earthly things, but
to seek Your heavenly gifts through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.
++++++++++
Richard Rohr's Daily Reflection
http://cacradicalgrace.org/getconnected/getconnected_index.html
"The Place of Healing"
Why do many languages use the word spirit to describe liquor? What if, next time I have Mass with you, when I hold up the chalice I say, "liquor of Christ?" Wouldn't that shock you all? Isn't it strange that the very thing that has caused so much pain in some of your lives, alcohol, would be the very thing that we use for the sacrament? Is it mere irony or coincidence - or providence? The blood of Christ, the wine of Christ, the liquor of Christ. The place of the wound is the place of the healing. The place of the break is the place of the greatest strength. That's why Jesus himself, even in his resurrected body, reappears with the wounds still in his hands, in his side, in his feet. They do not disappear as you might expect. What's the problem for Thomas? He can't deal with the wounds. Jesus tells him, put your finger in. Deal with pain. Deal with the fact that I'm still broken. No, you're resurrected, you're not supposed to have a hole in your side, says Thomas. "Thomas, put your finger in my hands. Put it in my side. Now, believe" (John 20:27). I don't think you can begin to believe until you put your finger in your own wounds, the wounds of one another and the wounds of Christ.
from Breathing Under Water: Spirituality and the 12 Steps
++++++++++
From John E. Rotelle, O.S.A., Tradition Day by Day: Readings from Church Writers. Augustinian Press. Villanova, PA, 1994.
http://www.artsci.villanova.edu/dsteelman/tradition/sources.html
Our neighbors are like our Maker
To have a Christian love for our neighbors is to love God in them, or them in God; it is to cherish God alone for his own sake, and his creatures for love of him. When we look upon our neighbors, created in the image and likeness of God, should we not say to each other: "Look at these people he has made—are they not like their Maker?" Should we not be drawn irresistibly toward them, embrace them, and be moved to tears for love of them? Should we not call down upon them a hundred thousand blessings? And why? For love of them? No indeed, since we cannot be sure whether, of themselves, they are worthy of love or hate. Then why? For love of God, who created them in his own image and likeness, and so capable of sharing in his goodness, grace, and glory; for love of God, I say, unto whom they exist, from whom they exist, through whom they exist, in whom they exist, for whom they exist, and whom they resemble in a very special manner.
This is why divine love not only repeatedly commands us to love our neighbors, but also itself produces this love and pours it out into our hearts, since they bear its own image and likeness; for just as we are the image of God, so our holy love for one another is the true image of our heavenly love for God.
Francis de Sales, (1567 - 1622), bishop of Geneva, worked zealously to bring the people of Chablais from Calvinism to Catholicism. Together with his friend Saint Jane Frances de Chantal he founded the Order of the Visitation.
++++++++++
Today's reading from the Rule of St. Benedict
http://www.osb.org/rb/
Chapter 6: On the Spirit of Silence
Let us do what the Prophet says:
"I said, 'I will guard my ways,
that I may not sin with my tongue.
I have set a guard to my mouth.'
I was mute and was humbled,
and kept silence even from good things" (Ps. 38:2-3).
Here the Prophet shows
that if the spirit of silence ought to lead us at times
to refrain even from good speech,
so much the more ought the punishment for sin
make us avoid evil words.
Therefore, since the spirit of silence is so important,
permission to speak should rarely be granted
even to perfect disciples,
even though it be for good, holy edifying conversation;
for it is written,
"In much speaking you will not escape sin" (Prov. 10:19),
and in another place,
"Death and life are in the power of the tongue" (Prov. 18:21).
For speaking and teaching belong to the mistress;
the disciple's part is to be silent and to listen.
And for that reason
if anything has to be asked of the Superior,
it should be asked
with all the humility and submission inspired by reverence.
But as for coarse jests and idle words
or words that move to laughter,
these we condemn everywhere with a perpetual ban,
and for such conversation
we do not permit a disciple to open her mouth.
Selections above from Saint Benedict's Rule for Monasteries, translated from the Latin by Leonard J. Doyle OblSB, of Saint John's Abbey, (© Copyright 1948, 2001, by the Order of Saint Benedict, Collegeville, MN 56321). Adapted for use here with the division into sense lines of the first edition that was republished in 2001 to mark the 75th anniversary of Liturgical Press. Doyle's translation is available in both hardcover and paperback editions.
++++++++++
what to do, what to do?
we don't know
what to do with you,
Jesus!
home from college
on spring break,
you stand up in church
and read the scriptures
with such wonder and awe,
all we can do is nudge one another:
'I had him in kindergarten,
he was always ahead of everyone else!'
'he wasalways helping the younger kids
when he was in youth group."
We can hardly wait to hear
your sermon . . . until
you start talking about
how we are
to welcome the immigrants,
to open the jail doors,
to give more to those
who will only squander it.
Then we whisper (in a stage voice):
'whose bright idea was it
to ask him to preach?'
'somebody out to throw him out
on his keester!'
and so,
we close our hearts to you,
and let you slip through
our souls,
as you go to fulfill
God's hopes for us,
wishing we would follow you
on that winding road
of grace.
(c) 2007 Thom M. Shuman
which three?
"...Now faith, hope, and love abide, these three..."
doubt moves in
and props its feet
at the hearth of my soul,
warming them
on the coals of my unbelief;
while faith
rents space
for a few days
in the summers of my life.
despair is the frayed,
soft corduroy jacket
that fits comfortably
on my shoulders,
while hope
is a hair shirt
i resist wearing.
impatience is the face
i put on
each morning
in order to greet the world,
while love
is that mask
i wear on special occasions,
removing it
when i look in the mirror,
not recognizing myself.
which three will abide in me, O God?
which three?
(c) 2007 Thom M. Shuman
Thom M. Shuman
Greenhills Community Church, Presbyterian
Cincinnati, Ohio
posted by Gloriamarie Amalfitano @ 12:16 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home