knitternun

Saturday, March 03, 2007

03/02/01 week of 1st Sunday in Lent

[Please remember this is a sort of "menu" from which to select. No one has to pray it all]

If you would like these meditations to come directly to your in box, please click here:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/KnitternunMeditation/

Collect
are assaulted by many temptations; and, as you know the weaknesses of each of us, let each one find you mighty to save; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
++++++++++

Today's Scripture http://www.satucket.com/lectionary/

Psalm 55; Psalm 138, 139:1-17(18-23); Deut. 11:18-28; Heb. 5:1-10; John 4:1-26
++++++++++

From Forward Day by Day: http://www.forwardmovement.org/todaysreading.cfm

Psalm 139:1-17. LORD, you have searched me out and known me...

One of the things God knows about me is that I used to be a closet Christian. Oh, we went to church and prayed grace before meals, but never began to reach toward what Moses enjoined the Israelites to do: "You shall lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul.... And you shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise." I did okay with


Part of the problem was that among the unchurched teenagers I taught in public school, many had absorbed assumptions about Christians based on news reports featuring the negative or the bizarre, and I didn't want to be seen in "that" light. What I finally realized was that they actually needed to see an ordinary, struggling human being trying to live her life in the light of Christ.


Sometimes I'm tempted to retreat to that closet when another news report tars the faith, but then I remember what our Lord endured on our behalf, and I put on my cross or my collar with deep thanks.
++++++++++

Today we remember: http://satucket.com/lectionary/Calendar.htm

John & Charles Wesley
Psalm 98 1-4(5-10) or 103:1-4,13-18; Isaiah 49:5-6; Luke 9:2-6

Lord God, who inspired your servants John and Charles Wesley with burning zeal for the sanctification of souls, and endowed them with eloquence in speech and song: Kindle in your Church, we entreat you, such fervor, that those whose faith has cooled may be warmed, and those who have not known Christ may turn to him and be saved; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
++++++++++

Today in the Anglican Cycle of Prayer we pray for the Diocese of Mississippi (Prov. IV, U.S.)
http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acp/index.cfm
++++++++++

40 Ideas for Lent: A Lenten calendar http://ship-of-fools.com/lent/index.html

10. SEND A MESSAGE
SAT 3 MAR

Try to do one of the following today...

> Email or text someone you've not heard from in a while.

> If you belong to a bulletin board, send a private message to someone whose posts you enjoy, and let them know why you appreciate what they post.

> Read a blog and leave an encouraging comment on it.

Idea by: Little Miss Methodist

Lent quote: "Be peaceful yourself and you will be able to bring peace to others. A peaceful person does more good than a clever person." – Thomas à Kempis
++++++++++

A Celtic lenten Calendar
http://www.oursanctuary.net/celticlent.html

I say the prayer from my mouth,
I say the prayer from my heart,
I say the prayer to Thee Thyself,
O Healing Hand, O Son of the God of Salvation;
To give praise to Thee, Jesus,
Lord of sea and of land,
Lord of sun and of moon,
Lord of the beautiful stars.

O God of the weak,
O God of the lowly,
O God of the righteous,
O shield of homesteads:

Thou art calling upon us
In the voice of glory,
With the mouth of mercy
Of Thy beloved Son.

O may I find rest everlasting
In the home of Thy Trinity,
In the Paradise of the godly,
In the Sun-garden of Thy love.
++++++++++

Carmelite.com: Reflections http://www.carmelite.com/spirituality/reflection.php

It is God Himself who wishes to be the riches, comfort, and delightful glory of the religious.

St John of the Cross
++++++++++

Reading from the Desert Christians http://www.cin.org/dsrtftin.html

A brother questioned Abba Poemen in this way, 'My thoughts trouble me, making me put my sins aside, and concern myself with my brother's faults'. The old man told him the following story about Abba Dioscorus (the monk), 'In his cell he wept over himself, while his disciple was sitting in another cell. When the latter came to see the old man he asked him, "Father, why are you weeping?" "I am weeping over my sins," the old man answered him. Then his disciple said, "You do not have any sins, Father." The old man replied, "Truly, my child, if I were allowed to see my sins, three or four men would not be enough to weep for them. "
++++++++++

Daily Meditation (Henri Nouwen) http://www.henrinouwen.org/home/free_eletters/

God's faithfulness and ours

When God makes a covenant with us, God says: "I will love you with an everlasting love. I will be faithful to you, even when you run away from me, reject me, or betray me." In our society we don't speak much about covenants; we speak about contracts. When we make a contract with a person, we say: "I will fulfill my part as long as you fulfill yours. When you don't live up to your promises, I no longer have to live up to mine." Contracts are often broken because the partners are unwilling or unable to be faithful to their terms.

But God didn't make a contract with us; God made a covenant with us, and God wants our relationships with one another to reflect that covenant. That's why marriage, friendship, life in community are all ways to give visibility to God's faithfulness in our lives together.

++++++++++

From the Principles of the Third Society of St. Francis:

Day Three - The Object, cont'd

Jesus calls those who would serve him to follow his example and choose for themselves the same path of renunciation and sacrifice. To those who hear and obey he promises union with God. The object of the Society of Saint Francis is to build a community of those who accept Christ as their Lord and Master and are dedicated to him in body and spirit. They surrender their lives to him and to the service of his people. The Third Order of the Society consists of those who, while following the ordinary professions of life, feel called to dedicate their lives under a definite discipline and vows. They may be female or male, married or single, ordained or lay.
++++++++++

Upper Room Daily Reflection http://www.upperroom.org/reflections/

PRAYER IS MORE than conversation. Entering a close walk with God will sometimes call for words and sometimes for a simple enjoyment of presence. In silent, contemplative prayer I simply rest in God. Moving beyond verbal conversation, I move into quiet communion.

As a relationship deepens, we no longer need many words to enjoy each other’s company. In an intimate relationship, two people value each other’s presence, sometimes with words, sometimes in silence.

- J. David Muyskens
Forty Days to a Closer Walk with God

From page 17 of Forty Days to a Closer Walk with God by J. David Muyskens. Copyright © 2006 by J. David Muyskens.
+++++++++++

Richard Rohr's Daily Reflection
http://cacradicalgrace.org/getconnected/getconnected_index.html

"A Radical Call"

We must somehow be a Church growing in resistance. Faith and resistance must be reconnected in our hearts and in our corporate decisions. Otherwise we are always drawn into passing fads and cultural biases. I must admit that I have serious doubts whether a large pluralistic Church, a church with the imperialistic past of the Roman Catholic Church, can easily be a sign of resistance. We have such a tradition of civil religion and cultural Catholicism that it is hard to imagine we could ever represent the alternative consciousness. Numbers tend to move a group toward the lowest common denominator, a gospel of minimals, with easy "entrance exams" and a necessary pluralism. Even though we have made great strides as a resistance Church with the two pastorals of our bishops on war and the economy, it is obvious that our leaders are still anxious to be seen as intelligent and respectable dialogue partners within the system. They are unwilling to condemn deterrence in fact and action; they are unable to see from within what even John Paul II could see from without: that "each of the two blocks [capitalism and Communism] harbors in its own way a tendency toward imperialism...or toward forms of new-colonialism" (On Social Concerns, Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, #22). If this most powerful nation does not call forth a Church which is most powerful in the ways of the Spirit, we will have surely missed our moment to radically proclaim the gospel. Precisely because of our universality and our tired tradition of supporting kings and dictators, it is ironically the Roman Catholic Church which is most prepared to move beyond self-serving patriotic religion. Our own government is aware of this movement of Catholicism. In the "Santa Fe Document" in 1980 to prepare for the Reagan Administration it was recommended that "United States foreign policy must begin to oppose liberation theology," as it is growing within the Roman Catholic Church. Further on they encouraged the growth of fundamentalist and charismatic style religion which could be depended upon to blindly support U.S. nation interests. So much for those who say that theology and politics are not intrinsically linked! The politicians, unfortunately, seem to know that linkage better than most Church people.

from "The Future of the American Church"
++++++++++

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.htm

Compassion

People whose inner vision has been cleansed by the exercise of charity toward their neighbor can delight in the contemplation of truth in itself, for it is love of truth which makes them take upon themselves the misfortunes of others. But can people find the truth in their neighbor if they refuse to support their brothers and sisters in this way—if on the contrary they either scoff at their tears or disparage their joys, being insensitive to all feelings but their own? There is a popular saying which well suits them: A healthy person cannot feel the pains of sickness, nor can one who is well-fed feel the pangs of hunger. The more familiar we are with sickness or hunger, the greater will be our compassion for others who are sick or hungry.

Just as pure truth can only be seen by the pure in heart, so the sufferings of our fellow men and women are more truly felt by hearts that know suffering themselves. However, we cannot sympathize with the wretchedness of others until we first recognize our own. Then we shall understand the feelings of others by what we personally feel, and know how to come to their help. Such was the example shown by our Savior, who desired to suffer himself in order that he might learn to feel compassion, and to be afflicted in order that he might learn how to show mercy.

Bernard of Clairvaux, (1090 - 1153), abbot of Clairvaux, was a monk whose writings show an intimate knowledge of scripture and mysticism.
++++++++++

Daily Readings From "My Utmost for His Highest", Oswald Chambers
http://www.myutmost.org/

THE UNRELIEVED QUEST


"Feed My sheep." John 21:17

This is love in the making. The love of God is un-made, it is God's nature. When we receive the Holy Spirit He unites us with God so that His love is manifested in us. When the soul is united to God by the indwelling Holy Spirit, that is not the end; the end is that we may be one with the Father as Jesus was. What kind of oneness had Jesus Christ with the Father? Such a oneness that the Father sent Him down here to be spent for us, and He says - "As the Father hath sent Me, even so send I you."

Peter realizes now with the revelation of the Lord's hurting question that he does love Him; then comes the point - "Spend it out." Don't testify how much you love Me, don't profess about the marvellous revelation you have had, but - "Feed My sheep." And Jesus has some extraordinarily funny sheep, some bedraggled, dirty sheep, some awkward, butting sheep, some sheep that have gone astray! It is impossible to weary God's love, and it is impossible to weary that love in me if it springs from the one centre. The love of God pays no attention to the distinctions made by natural individuality. If I love my Lord I have no business to be guided by natural temperament; I have to feed His sheep. There is no relief and no release from this commission. Beware of counterfeiting the love of God by working along the line of natural human sympathy, because that will end in blaspheming the love of God.


++++++++++

Today's reading from the Rule of St. Benedict http://www.osb.org/rb/
hapter 26: On Those Who Without an Order Associate with the Excommunicated

If any sister presumes
without an order from the Abbess
to associate in any way with an excommunicated sister,
or to speak with her,
or to send her a message,
let her incur a similar punishment of excommunication.



Commentary: http://www.eriebenedictines.org/Pages/INSPIRATION/insights.html

Contemporary psychology talks a great deal about the need to be a support to people under stress. Popular psychology has not often made a distinction between positive and negative support. It is not supportive to take away a person's heart medicine simply because they do not like the taste of it. It is not supportive to fail to set a broken leg simply because the setting will be painful. It is not supportive to deny people the right and the environment to think a situation through, to recommit themselves, to gain perspective, to work things out without dividing the community over them. Sometimes pain itself cures. Benedict wants the cure to have the time to heal. Meddling, agitating, distracting a person from the great work of growth at such an important time in a person's life is grave fault itself.
++++++++++

Church Fathers Lenten Reading Plan
Read Excerpts from the Church Fathers during Lent
http://www.churchyear.net/lentfathers.html

St. Ignatius of Antioch: Letter to the Smyrneans
++++++++++

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home