08/03/07 week of second 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
O God, whose glory it is always to have mercy: Be gracious to all who have gone astray from your ways, and bring them again with penitent hearts and steadfast faith to embrace and hold fast the unchangeable truth of your Word, Jesus Christ your Son; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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Today's Scripture http://www.satucket.com/lectionary/
Psalm [70], 71; Psalm 74; Jer. 4:9-10,19-28; Rom. 2:12-24; John 5:19-29
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From Forward Day by Day: http://www.forwardmovement.org/todaysreading.cfm
Jeremiah 4:9-10, 19-28. My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain! Oh, the walls of my heart! My heart is beating wildly; I cannot keep silent...
God doesn't want our silence, but our honesty. Jeremiah sounds apologetic about his outburst, but remember that Jesus himself directs us over and over to seek, knock, ask, demand that God hear the wild beating of our hearts.
The father of one of the children in the pediatric hospice program I serve as chaplain used to go out into his backyard at night and throw bricks as he railed at God against his child's fate. He named and faced and hated what was happening, and I think it was this unabashed honesty that allowed his family to survive, intact, the anguish of their loss.
That same year I visited a "rage box," a small padded enclosure where one was invited to vent pent-up rage through screaming and beating the walls. I found it sad if patients believed that only those padded walls absorbed their anguish. If they could not bring their pain to God and know themselves heard, how could they heal?
Whatever it is that hurts your heart, bring it to Christ and know that he bears the marks of your woundedness in his own wounds. Know that you are heard. Know that you are loved.
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Today we remember: http://satucket.com/lectionary/Calendar.htm
St. Matthais:
Psalm 80; 1 Samuel 16:1-13; 1 John 2:18-25; Psalm 33; 1 Samuel 12:1-5; Acts 20:17-35
O Almighty God, who in the place of Judas chose your faithful servant Matthias to be numbered among the Twelve: Grant that your Church, being delivered from false apostles, may always be ordered and guided by faithful and true pastors; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
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Today in the Anglican Cycle of Prayer we pray for the Diocese of Montana (Prov. VI, U.S.)
http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acp/index.cfm
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40 Ideas for Lent: A Lenten calendar http://ship-of-fools.com/lent/index.html
14. THE BOSS
THURS 8 MAR
Be kind to your boss.
Idea by: Starbelly
Lent quote: "If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping in the same room as a mosquito" – Dalai Lama
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A Celtic lenten Calendar
http://www.oursanctuary.net/celticlent.html
I am bending my knee
In the eye of the Father who created me,
In the eye of the Son who purchased me,
In the eye of the Spirit who cleansed me,
In friendship and affection.
Through Thine own Anointed One, O God,
Bestow upon us fullness in our need,
Love towards God,
The affection of God,
The smile of God,
The wisdom of God,
The grace of God,
The fear of God,
And the will of God,
To do on the world of the Three,
As angels and saints
Do in heaven;
Each shade and light,
Each day and night,
Each time in kindness,
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Carmelite.com: Reflections http://www.carmelite.com/spirituality/reflection.php
"Freedom From Self"
Conversion, the movement toward the Lord, is a process of disenchantment with the ego, recognizing how truly afraid and poor it is. The only way people can ever be freed from their fears is to be freed from themselves. There is almost a complete correlation between the amount of fear in our lives and the amount of attachment we have to ourselves. The person who is beyond fear has given up the need to control or possess. That one says, I am who I am in God's eyes - nothing more, nothing less. I don't need to impress you because I am who I am, and not who you think I am - or who I think I am. That's what the Pauline theology of Baptism is saying: You have died, you're dead (Romans 6:3-5). In Christ you don't need the false self. You have faced the enemy once and for all and, guess what? It's you!
from Letting Go: A Spirituality of Subtraction
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Reading from the Desert Christians http://www.cin.org/dsrtftin.html
Abba Gerontius of Petra said that many, tempted by the pleasures of the body, commit fornication, not in their body but in their spirit, and while preserving their bodily virginity, commit prostitution in their soul. 'thus it is good, my well-beloved, to do that which is written and for each one to guard his own heart with all possible casre.' (prov. 4.23)
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Daily Meditation (Henri Nouwen) http://www.henrinouwen.org/home/free_eletters/
Towards a Nonjudgmental life
One of the hardest spiritual tasks is to live without prejudices. Sometimes we aren't even aware how deeply rooted our prejudices are. We may think that we relate to people who are different from us in colour, religion, sexual orientation, or lifestyle as equals, but in concrete circumstances our spontaneous thoughts, uncensored words, and knee-jerk reactions often reveal that our prejudices are still there.
Strangers, people different than we are, stir up fear, discomfort, suspicion, and hostility. They make us lose our sense of security just by being "other." Only when we fully claim that God loves us in an unconditional way and look at "those other persons" as equally loved can we begin to discover that the great variety in being human is an expression of the immense richness of God's heart. Then the need to prejudge people can gradually disappear.
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From the Principles of the Third Society of St. Francis:
Day Eight - the Second Aim (cont.)
Members of the Third Order fight against all injustice in the name of
Christ, in whom there can be neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor
female, for in him all are one. Our chief object is to reflect that openness
to all which was characteristic of Jesus. This can only be achieved in a
spirit of chastity, which sees others as belonging to God and not as a means
of self-fulfillment
Collect (Thursday)
God, by the life of blessed Francis you moved your people to a love of
simple things: may we, after his example, hold lightly to the things of this
world and store up for ourselves treasure in heaven; through Jesus Christ
our Lord. Amen.
From: http://www.faithandworship.com/
Loving Father
all the fancy words
in the world
expressed in eloquent prose
decorated with emotion
spoken with conviction
cannot compete with a heartfelt
'sorry'
when all other words fail.
There are times
when we are all too aware
of our limitations
conscious of sin
and the distance it creates between us.
Sometimes 'sorry'
is all the heart can bear to say aloud.
It is only you
who can read and understand
the language of our hearts
Only you who can translate our 'sorry'
into the prayer we would have prayed
if we had the words within us.
Then you forgive
and having forgiven
surround us in an embrace of love
drawing us close to your heart
as it was always meant to be.
Thank you, Loving Father
that you listen to hearts
as well as voices
Thank you
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Upper Room Daily Reflection http://www.upperroom.org/reflections/
OUR THIRST FOR GOD will be satisfied. Once we have become aware of this yearning, once this passionate need and longing has opened up within us, we can hear a stream off in the distance gurgling toward us. We bend every effort to find that stream. However strong or persistent our efforts, though, they are insignificant compared with the mighty rush of water coming to meet us. Though we may try to slake our thirst elsewhere, the Living Water will find our parched mouths. It will not be our small dippers that finally bring the water to our tongues. Rather, it will be the desire of the Water itself to meet our need, the love of the One whom we have struggled to learn to love, that will overcome our last resistance and pour delicious satisfaction on our aching lips.
- David Rensberger
“Thirsty for God”
Weavings
From page 25 of “Thirsty for God” by David Rensberger in Weavings, July/August 2000. Copyright © 2000 by The Upper Room.
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Richard Rohr's Daily Reflection
http://cacradicalgrace.org/getconnected/getconnected_index.html
"Freedom From Self"
Conversion, the movement toward the Lord, is a process of disenchantment with the ego, recognizing how truly afraid and poor it is. The only way people can ever be freed from their fears is to be freed from themselves. There is almost a complete correlation between the amount of fear in our lives and the amount of attachment we have to ourselves. The person who is beyond fear has given up the need to control or possess. That one says, I am who I am in God's eyes - nothing more, nothing less. I don't need to impress you because I am who I am, and not who you think I am - or who I think I am. That's what the Pauline theology of Baptism is saying: You have died, you're dead (Romans 6:3-5). In Christ you don't need the false self. You have faced the enemy once and for all and, guess what? It's you!
from Letting Go: A Spirituality of Subtraction
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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
server is down
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Daily Readings From "My Utmost for His Highest", Oswald Chambers
http://www.myutmost.org/
THE RELINQUISHED LIFE
"I am crucified with Christ." Galatians 2:20
No one is ever united with Jesus Christ until he is willing to relinquish not sin only, but his whole way of looking at things. To be born from above of the Spirit of God means that we must let go before we lay hold, and in the first stages it is the relinquishing of all pretence. What Our Lord wants us to present to Him is not goodness, nor honesty, nor endeavour, but real solid sin; that is all He can take from us. And what does He give in exchange for our sin? Real solid righteousness. But we must relinquish all pretence of being any thing, all claim of being worthy of God's consideration.
Then the Spirit of God will show us what further there is to relinquish. There will have to be the relinquishing of my claim to my right to myself in every phase. Am I willing to relinquish my hold on all I possess, my hold on my affections, and on everything, and to be identified with the death of Jesus Christ?
There is always a sharp painful disillusionment to go through before we do relinquish. When a man really sees himself as the Lord sees him, it is not the abominable sins of the flesh that shock him, but the awful nature of the pride of his own heart against Jesus Christ. When he sees himself in the light of the Lord, the shame and the horror and the desperate conviction come home.
If you are up against the question of relinquishing, go through the crisis, relinquish all, and God will make you fit for all that He requires of you.
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Today's reading from the Rule of St. Benedict http://www.osb.org/rb/
Chapter 31: What Kind of Man the Cellarer of the Monastery Should Be
As cellarer of the monastery
let there be chosen from the community
one who is wise, of mature character, sober,
not a great eater, not haughty, not excitable,
not offensive, not slow, not wasteful,
but a God-fearing man
who may be like a father to the whole community.
Let him have charge of everything.
He shall do nothing without the Abbot's orders,
but keep to his instructions.
Let him not vex the brethren.
If any brother
happens to make some unreasonable demand of him,
instead of vexing the brother with a contemptuous refusal
he should humbly give the reason
for denying the improper request.
Let him keep quard over his own soul,
mindful always of the Apostle's saying
that "he who has ministered well
will acquire for himself a good standing" (1 Tim. 3:13).
Let him take the greatest care
of the sick, of children, of guests and of the poor,
knowing without doubt
that he will have to render an account for all these
on the Day of Judgment.
Let him regard all the utensils of the monastery
and its whole property
as if they were the sacred vessels of the altar.
Let him not think that he may neglect anything.
He should be neither a miser
nor a prodigal and squanderer of the monastery's substance,
but should do all things with measure
and in accordance with the Abbot's instructions.
Commentary: http://www.eriebenedictines.org/Pages/INSPIRATION/insights.html
Benedictine spirituality refuses to glorify a life of false frugality or fabricated irritations. The person who handles the supplies of the monastery, the cellarer, is to distribute the goods of the monastery calmly, kindly, without favoritism and under the guidance of the abbot or prioress, not to put people under obligation to them or to wreak vengeance on those who rebuff them.
The cellarer does more than distribute goods. The cellarer becomes a model for the community, a person who is to be "temperate," not a person who is "an excessive eater," not someone in other words with rich tastes and a limitless appetite for material things. Benedict wants the cellarer to be someone who knows the difference between needs and desires, who will see that the community has what is necessary but does not begin the long, slippery road into excess and creature comforts and indolence and soft-souledness. In the house of Benedict, the principles of the life live in ways no words can convey, in the people who carry them out. The call to be what we say we believe becomes a measure of authenticity for teachers, parents and administrators everywhere.
If Chapter 31 is anything at all, it is a treatment of human relationships. The one with power is not to annoy the powerless. The one with needs is not to demand. The chapter stands as stark warning to people in positions of authority and responsibility, whatever their station. They are to "keep watch of their own souls" guarding themselves against the pitfalls of any position: arrogance, disinterest, unkindness, aloofness from the very people the position is designed to serve. Then, to make the point clear, Benedict describes the people who are not to get overlooked for the sake of efficiency in the bureaucratic game of hurry up and wait. And they are everybody who cannot possibly be expected to want things when the office is open: the sick, the young, the guests and the poor. The one who has power and resources, the Rule says, must know for certain that "they will be held accountable for all of them on the day of judgment." As will we all who find ourselves too busy, too insensitive, too uncaring to see that the goods of the earth are given to the poor ones who have as much claim on the Garden as we but no way to get the staples of life for themselves. As will we all who use our positions to diminish the people in behalf of whom we bear responsibility by wearing them down and wearing them out while we dally with their needs. The spouse who lets the door swell to sticking before fixing it, or serves the meal an hour after its time; the employer who never buys the new file cabinet; the superior who never sees the staff personally, all fail in the Benedictine spirituality of service for the sake of the person that is taught in this chapter.
But the cellarer must do more than take care of people. A Benedictine cellarer has a responsibility to take care of things, too. Waste is not a Benedictine virtue. Planned obsolescence is not a Benedictine goal. Disposability is not a Benedictine quality. A Benedictine soul is a soul that takes care of things, that polishes wood and scrapes away rust and keeps a room clean and never puts feet on the furniture and mulches the garden and leaves trees standing and "treats all utensils and goods of the monastery like the sacred vessels of the altar." A Benedictine cares for the earth and all things well. The Benedictine heart practiced ecology before it was a word.
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Church Fathers Lenten Reading Plan
Read Excerpts from the Church Fathers during Lent
http://www.churchyear.net/lentfathers.html
St. Justin Martyr: First Apology: 24-35
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From the Greek Orthodox
Thursday, March 8, 2007 Great Fast
Theophylaktos, Bishop of Nikomedia
6th Hour: Isaiah 11:10-12:2 1st Vespers: Genesis 7:11-8:3
2nd Vespers: Proverbs 10:1-22
Prophecy as Foretelling: Isaiah 11:10-12:2 LXX, especially vs. 12:2:
"Behold, my God is my Savior; I will trust in Him, and not be afraid:
for the Lord is my glory and my praise, and is become my salvation"
Since the day of Pentecost, the Church has proclaimed the Lord Jesus to
be the "root of Jesse," He Whom the Prophet Isaiah declared should stand
"as an ensign to the peoples; Him shall the nations seek, and His
dwellings shall be glorious"(Is. 11:10).
In the phrase, "the root of Jesse," the Holy Fathers perceived a
foretelling of Christ's Incarnation. St. John of Damascus explains the
image of the root of Jesse thus: "the holy and much-lauded ever-virgin
one, Mary, the Mother of God,...being pre-ordained by the eternal,
prescient counsel of God and imaged forth and proclaimed in diverse
images and discourses of the Prophets through the Holy Spirit, sprang
from the root of David, according to the promises that were made to
him. 'For the Lord has sworn, He says in truth to David, He will not
turn from it: of the fruit of your body I will set upon your throne'
"(Ps. 131:11 LXX).
>From the Theotokos, then, came the Lord Jesus. St. Nikolai of Zica
asks, "Who else is this rod from the stem of Jesse but the Lord
Christ?" Since Jesse was the father of King David, it follows that the
Lord Jesus, from the root of Jesse, was also from the House of David
through the lineage of His Mother, even to the extent of being born in
the city of David, Bethlehem.
The next two phrases of the Is.11:10 LXX read, "He that shall arise to
rule over the Gentiles," and "His rest shall be glorious." In these,
the Church perceives the foretelling of Lord's Resurrection and
enthronement at the right hand of God the Father. St. Eusebios assigned
the first phrase to the Resurrection, applying "His rest" to Christ's
regal, heavenly session, from which He rules over the nations. St.
Jerome, however, understood the imagery of "His rest" to refer to the
Holy Sepulcher: "As often as we enter it we see the Savior in His grave
clothes, and, if we linger, we see again the angel sitting at His feet,
and the napkin folded at His head." Long before the Sepulcher was hewn
out, St. Jerome says, "Isaiah foretold its glory: 'His rest shall be
glorious,' meaning that the place of the Lord's burial should be held in
universal honor."
In addition, Isaiah's prophecy foretold that the reign of Christ would
continue expanding over all the earth following Pentecost (vs. 11). The
language foreshadows St. Luke's description of those who gathered on
Pentecost: "Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in
Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and
Pamphylia, Egypt and the part of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from
Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs - we hear them
speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God." (Acts 2:9,10,11).
Notice also, the Apostolic message included the proclamation of the
Cross of Christ, "...to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks,
Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God" (1 Cor.1:24). Theodoret
of Cyrus, speaking of verse 12 of Isaiah, says: "To what other standard
could this relate, except the symbol of the Cross?"
Isaiah also foretells the end of mankind's jealousies through a glimpse
into the Lord's end-time reign in which the jealousy between the ten
tribes known as Israel and the two southern tribes, called Judah, will
end (vs. 13). Ah, but jealousies continue as we await that day!
Still, the Fathers noted how the Gospel already had begun to spread in
their times - into all the lands named in verses 14-15. Finally,
concluding in Chapter 12, Isaiah foretold how, in His mercy, God would
turn aside His wrath at our sins and become our Savior (vss.1, 2).
Thy Prophet Isaiah foretold the way of salvation, O Savior, by the grace
of Thy Spirit. Grant that we too may follow in the way which Thou hast
shown us. O Lord, Glory to Thee.
If you would like these meditations to come directly to your in box, please click here:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/KnitternunMeditation/
Collect
O God, whose glory it is always to have mercy: Be gracious to all who have gone astray from your ways, and bring them again with penitent hearts and steadfast faith to embrace and hold fast the unchangeable truth of your Word, Jesus Christ your Son; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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Today's Scripture http://www.satucket.com/lectionary/
Psalm [70], 71; Psalm 74; Jer. 4:9-10,19-28; Rom. 2:12-24; John 5:19-29
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From Forward Day by Day: http://www.forwardmovement.org/todaysreading.cfm
Jeremiah 4:9-10, 19-28. My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain! Oh, the walls of my heart! My heart is beating wildly; I cannot keep silent...
God doesn't want our silence, but our honesty. Jeremiah sounds apologetic about his outburst, but remember that Jesus himself directs us over and over to seek, knock, ask, demand that God hear the wild beating of our hearts.
The father of one of the children in the pediatric hospice program I serve as chaplain used to go out into his backyard at night and throw bricks as he railed at God against his child's fate. He named and faced and hated what was happening, and I think it was this unabashed honesty that allowed his family to survive, intact, the anguish of their loss.
That same year I visited a "rage box," a small padded enclosure where one was invited to vent pent-up rage through screaming and beating the walls. I found it sad if patients believed that only those padded walls absorbed their anguish. If they could not bring their pain to God and know themselves heard, how could they heal?
Whatever it is that hurts your heart, bring it to Christ and know that he bears the marks of your woundedness in his own wounds. Know that you are heard. Know that you are loved.
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Today we remember: http://satucket.com/lectionary/Calendar.htm
St. Matthais:
Psalm 80; 1 Samuel 16:1-13; 1 John 2:18-25; Psalm 33; 1 Samuel 12:1-5; Acts 20:17-35
O Almighty God, who in the place of Judas chose your faithful servant Matthias to be numbered among the Twelve: Grant that your Church, being delivered from false apostles, may always be ordered and guided by faithful and true pastors; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
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Today in the Anglican Cycle of Prayer we pray for the Diocese of Montana (Prov. VI, U.S.)
http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acp/index.cfm
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40 Ideas for Lent: A Lenten calendar http://ship-of-fools.com/lent/index.html
14. THE BOSS
THURS 8 MAR
Be kind to your boss.
Idea by: Starbelly
Lent quote: "If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping in the same room as a mosquito" – Dalai Lama
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A Celtic lenten Calendar
http://www.oursanctuary.net/celticlent.html
I am bending my knee
In the eye of the Father who created me,
In the eye of the Son who purchased me,
In the eye of the Spirit who cleansed me,
In friendship and affection.
Through Thine own Anointed One, O God,
Bestow upon us fullness in our need,
Love towards God,
The affection of God,
The smile of God,
The wisdom of God,
The grace of God,
The fear of God,
And the will of God,
To do on the world of the Three,
As angels and saints
Do in heaven;
Each shade and light,
Each day and night,
Each time in kindness,
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Carmelite.com: Reflections http://www.carmelite.com/spirituality/reflection.php
"Freedom From Self"
Conversion, the movement toward the Lord, is a process of disenchantment with the ego, recognizing how truly afraid and poor it is. The only way people can ever be freed from their fears is to be freed from themselves. There is almost a complete correlation between the amount of fear in our lives and the amount of attachment we have to ourselves. The person who is beyond fear has given up the need to control or possess. That one says, I am who I am in God's eyes - nothing more, nothing less. I don't need to impress you because I am who I am, and not who you think I am - or who I think I am. That's what the Pauline theology of Baptism is saying: You have died, you're dead (Romans 6:3-5). In Christ you don't need the false self. You have faced the enemy once and for all and, guess what? It's you!
from Letting Go: A Spirituality of Subtraction
++++++++++
Reading from the Desert Christians http://www.cin.org/dsrtftin.html
Abba Gerontius of Petra said that many, tempted by the pleasures of the body, commit fornication, not in their body but in their spirit, and while preserving their bodily virginity, commit prostitution in their soul. 'thus it is good, my well-beloved, to do that which is written and for each one to guard his own heart with all possible casre.' (prov. 4.23)
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Daily Meditation (Henri Nouwen) http://www.henrinouwen.org/home/free_eletters/
Towards a Nonjudgmental life
One of the hardest spiritual tasks is to live without prejudices. Sometimes we aren't even aware how deeply rooted our prejudices are. We may think that we relate to people who are different from us in colour, religion, sexual orientation, or lifestyle as equals, but in concrete circumstances our spontaneous thoughts, uncensored words, and knee-jerk reactions often reveal that our prejudices are still there.
Strangers, people different than we are, stir up fear, discomfort, suspicion, and hostility. They make us lose our sense of security just by being "other." Only when we fully claim that God loves us in an unconditional way and look at "those other persons" as equally loved can we begin to discover that the great variety in being human is an expression of the immense richness of God's heart. Then the need to prejudge people can gradually disappear.
++++++++++
From the Principles of the Third Society of St. Francis:
Day Eight - the Second Aim (cont.)
Members of the Third Order fight against all injustice in the name of
Christ, in whom there can be neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor
female, for in him all are one. Our chief object is to reflect that openness
to all which was characteristic of Jesus. This can only be achieved in a
spirit of chastity, which sees others as belonging to God and not as a means
of self-fulfillment
Collect (Thursday)
God, by the life of blessed Francis you moved your people to a love of
simple things: may we, after his example, hold lightly to the things of this
world and store up for ourselves treasure in heaven; through Jesus Christ
our Lord. Amen.
From: http://www.faithandworship.com/
Loving Father
all the fancy words
in the world
expressed in eloquent prose
decorated with emotion
spoken with conviction
cannot compete with a heartfelt
'sorry'
when all other words fail.
There are times
when we are all too aware
of our limitations
conscious of sin
and the distance it creates between us.
Sometimes 'sorry'
is all the heart can bear to say aloud.
It is only you
who can read and understand
the language of our hearts
Only you who can translate our 'sorry'
into the prayer we would have prayed
if we had the words within us.
Then you forgive
and having forgiven
surround us in an embrace of love
drawing us close to your heart
as it was always meant to be.
Thank you, Loving Father
that you listen to hearts
as well as voices
Thank you
++++++++++
Upper Room Daily Reflection http://www.upperroom.org/reflections/
OUR THIRST FOR GOD will be satisfied. Once we have become aware of this yearning, once this passionate need and longing has opened up within us, we can hear a stream off in the distance gurgling toward us. We bend every effort to find that stream. However strong or persistent our efforts, though, they are insignificant compared with the mighty rush of water coming to meet us. Though we may try to slake our thirst elsewhere, the Living Water will find our parched mouths. It will not be our small dippers that finally bring the water to our tongues. Rather, it will be the desire of the Water itself to meet our need, the love of the One whom we have struggled to learn to love, that will overcome our last resistance and pour delicious satisfaction on our aching lips.
- David Rensberger
“Thirsty for God”
Weavings
From page 25 of “Thirsty for God” by David Rensberger in Weavings, July/August 2000. Copyright © 2000 by The Upper Room.
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Richard Rohr's Daily Reflection
http://cacradicalgrace.org/getconnected/getconnected_index.html
"Freedom From Self"
Conversion, the movement toward the Lord, is a process of disenchantment with the ego, recognizing how truly afraid and poor it is. The only way people can ever be freed from their fears is to be freed from themselves. There is almost a complete correlation between the amount of fear in our lives and the amount of attachment we have to ourselves. The person who is beyond fear has given up the need to control or possess. That one says, I am who I am in God's eyes - nothing more, nothing less. I don't need to impress you because I am who I am, and not who you think I am - or who I think I am. That's what the Pauline theology of Baptism is saying: You have died, you're dead (Romans 6:3-5). In Christ you don't need the false self. You have faced the enemy once and for all and, guess what? It's you!
from Letting Go: A Spirituality of Subtraction
++++++++++
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
server is down
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Daily Readings From "My Utmost for His Highest", Oswald Chambers
http://www.myutmost.org/
THE RELINQUISHED LIFE
"I am crucified with Christ." Galatians 2:20
No one is ever united with Jesus Christ until he is willing to relinquish not sin only, but his whole way of looking at things. To be born from above of the Spirit of God means that we must let go before we lay hold, and in the first stages it is the relinquishing of all pretence. What Our Lord wants us to present to Him is not goodness, nor honesty, nor endeavour, but real solid sin; that is all He can take from us. And what does He give in exchange for our sin? Real solid righteousness. But we must relinquish all pretence of being any thing, all claim of being worthy of God's consideration.
Then the Spirit of God will show us what further there is to relinquish. There will have to be the relinquishing of my claim to my right to myself in every phase. Am I willing to relinquish my hold on all I possess, my hold on my affections, and on everything, and to be identified with the death of Jesus Christ?
There is always a sharp painful disillusionment to go through before we do relinquish. When a man really sees himself as the Lord sees him, it is not the abominable sins of the flesh that shock him, but the awful nature of the pride of his own heart against Jesus Christ. When he sees himself in the light of the Lord, the shame and the horror and the desperate conviction come home.
If you are up against the question of relinquishing, go through the crisis, relinquish all, and God will make you fit for all that He requires of you.
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Today's reading from the Rule of St. Benedict http://www.osb.org/rb/
Chapter 31: What Kind of Man the Cellarer of the Monastery Should Be
As cellarer of the monastery
let there be chosen from the community
one who is wise, of mature character, sober,
not a great eater, not haughty, not excitable,
not offensive, not slow, not wasteful,
but a God-fearing man
who may be like a father to the whole community.
Let him have charge of everything.
He shall do nothing without the Abbot's orders,
but keep to his instructions.
Let him not vex the brethren.
If any brother
happens to make some unreasonable demand of him,
instead of vexing the brother with a contemptuous refusal
he should humbly give the reason
for denying the improper request.
Let him keep quard over his own soul,
mindful always of the Apostle's saying
that "he who has ministered well
will acquire for himself a good standing" (1 Tim. 3:13).
Let him take the greatest care
of the sick, of children, of guests and of the poor,
knowing without doubt
that he will have to render an account for all these
on the Day of Judgment.
Let him regard all the utensils of the monastery
and its whole property
as if they were the sacred vessels of the altar.
Let him not think that he may neglect anything.
He should be neither a miser
nor a prodigal and squanderer of the monastery's substance,
but should do all things with measure
and in accordance with the Abbot's instructions.
Commentary: http://www.eriebenedictines.org/Pages/INSPIRATION/insights.html
Benedictine spirituality refuses to glorify a life of false frugality or fabricated irritations. The person who handles the supplies of the monastery, the cellarer, is to distribute the goods of the monastery calmly, kindly, without favoritism and under the guidance of the abbot or prioress, not to put people under obligation to them or to wreak vengeance on those who rebuff them.
The cellarer does more than distribute goods. The cellarer becomes a model for the community, a person who is to be "temperate," not a person who is "an excessive eater," not someone in other words with rich tastes and a limitless appetite for material things. Benedict wants the cellarer to be someone who knows the difference between needs and desires, who will see that the community has what is necessary but does not begin the long, slippery road into excess and creature comforts and indolence and soft-souledness. In the house of Benedict, the principles of the life live in ways no words can convey, in the people who carry them out. The call to be what we say we believe becomes a measure of authenticity for teachers, parents and administrators everywhere.
If Chapter 31 is anything at all, it is a treatment of human relationships. The one with power is not to annoy the powerless. The one with needs is not to demand. The chapter stands as stark warning to people in positions of authority and responsibility, whatever their station. They are to "keep watch of their own souls" guarding themselves against the pitfalls of any position: arrogance, disinterest, unkindness, aloofness from the very people the position is designed to serve. Then, to make the point clear, Benedict describes the people who are not to get overlooked for the sake of efficiency in the bureaucratic game of hurry up and wait. And they are everybody who cannot possibly be expected to want things when the office is open: the sick, the young, the guests and the poor. The one who has power and resources, the Rule says, must know for certain that "they will be held accountable for all of them on the day of judgment." As will we all who find ourselves too busy, too insensitive, too uncaring to see that the goods of the earth are given to the poor ones who have as much claim on the Garden as we but no way to get the staples of life for themselves. As will we all who use our positions to diminish the people in behalf of whom we bear responsibility by wearing them down and wearing them out while we dally with their needs. The spouse who lets the door swell to sticking before fixing it, or serves the meal an hour after its time; the employer who never buys the new file cabinet; the superior who never sees the staff personally, all fail in the Benedictine spirituality of service for the sake of the person that is taught in this chapter.
But the cellarer must do more than take care of people. A Benedictine cellarer has a responsibility to take care of things, too. Waste is not a Benedictine virtue. Planned obsolescence is not a Benedictine goal. Disposability is not a Benedictine quality. A Benedictine soul is a soul that takes care of things, that polishes wood and scrapes away rust and keeps a room clean and never puts feet on the furniture and mulches the garden and leaves trees standing and "treats all utensils and goods of the monastery like the sacred vessels of the altar." A Benedictine cares for the earth and all things well. The Benedictine heart practiced ecology before it was a word.
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Church Fathers Lenten Reading Plan
Read Excerpts from the Church Fathers during Lent
http://www.churchyear.net/lentfathers.html
St. Justin Martyr: First Apology: 24-35
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From the Greek Orthodox
Thursday, March 8, 2007 Great Fast
Theophylaktos, Bishop of Nikomedia
6th Hour: Isaiah 11:10-12:2 1st Vespers: Genesis 7:11-8:3
2nd Vespers: Proverbs 10:1-22
Prophecy as Foretelling: Isaiah 11:10-12:2 LXX, especially vs. 12:2:
"Behold, my God is my Savior; I will trust in Him, and not be afraid:
for the Lord is my glory and my praise, and is become my salvation"
Since the day of Pentecost, the Church has proclaimed the Lord Jesus to
be the "root of Jesse," He Whom the Prophet Isaiah declared should stand
"as an ensign to the peoples; Him shall the nations seek, and His
dwellings shall be glorious"(Is. 11:10).
In the phrase, "the root of Jesse," the Holy Fathers perceived a
foretelling of Christ's Incarnation. St. John of Damascus explains the
image of the root of Jesse thus: "the holy and much-lauded ever-virgin
one, Mary, the Mother of God,...being pre-ordained by the eternal,
prescient counsel of God and imaged forth and proclaimed in diverse
images and discourses of the Prophets through the Holy Spirit, sprang
from the root of David, according to the promises that were made to
him. 'For the Lord has sworn, He says in truth to David, He will not
turn from it: of the fruit of your body I will set upon your throne'
"(Ps. 131:11 LXX).
>From the Theotokos, then, came the Lord Jesus. St. Nikolai of Zica
asks, "Who else is this rod from the stem of Jesse but the Lord
Christ?" Since Jesse was the father of King David, it follows that the
Lord Jesus, from the root of Jesse, was also from the House of David
through the lineage of His Mother, even to the extent of being born in
the city of David, Bethlehem.
The next two phrases of the Is.11:10 LXX read, "He that shall arise to
rule over the Gentiles," and "His rest shall be glorious." In these,
the Church perceives the foretelling of Lord's Resurrection and
enthronement at the right hand of God the Father. St. Eusebios assigned
the first phrase to the Resurrection, applying "His rest" to Christ's
regal, heavenly session, from which He rules over the nations. St.
Jerome, however, understood the imagery of "His rest" to refer to the
Holy Sepulcher: "As often as we enter it we see the Savior in His grave
clothes, and, if we linger, we see again the angel sitting at His feet,
and the napkin folded at His head." Long before the Sepulcher was hewn
out, St. Jerome says, "Isaiah foretold its glory: 'His rest shall be
glorious,' meaning that the place of the Lord's burial should be held in
universal honor."
In addition, Isaiah's prophecy foretold that the reign of Christ would
continue expanding over all the earth following Pentecost (vs. 11). The
language foreshadows St. Luke's description of those who gathered on
Pentecost: "Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in
Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and
Pamphylia, Egypt and the part of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from
Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs - we hear them
speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God." (Acts 2:9,10,11).
Notice also, the Apostolic message included the proclamation of the
Cross of Christ, "...to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks,
Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God" (1 Cor.1:24). Theodoret
of Cyrus, speaking of verse 12 of Isaiah, says: "To what other standard
could this relate, except the symbol of the Cross?"
Isaiah also foretells the end of mankind's jealousies through a glimpse
into the Lord's end-time reign in which the jealousy between the ten
tribes known as Israel and the two southern tribes, called Judah, will
end (vs. 13). Ah, but jealousies continue as we await that day!
Still, the Fathers noted how the Gospel already had begun to spread in
their times - into all the lands named in verses 14-15. Finally,
concluding in Chapter 12, Isaiah foretold how, in His mercy, God would
turn aside His wrath at our sins and become our Savior (vss.1, 2).
Thy Prophet Isaiah foretold the way of salvation, O Savior, by the grace
of Thy Spirit. Grant that we too may follow in the way which Thou hast
shown us. O Lord, Glory to Thee.
posted by Gloriamarie Amalfitano @ 9:52 AM
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