27/03/07 week of the 5th Sunday in Lent
[PLEASE NOTE: THIS IS A "MENU" FROM WHICH TO PICK AND CHOOSE. PLEASE DO NOT THINK YOU HAVE TO PRAY ALL OF IT. PLEASE THINK OF IT AS A BUFFET OF THE DIFFERENT FLAVORS OF CHRISTIANITY. THANK YOU]
If you would like these meditations to come directly to your in box, please click here:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/KnitternunMeditation/
Blessed are those for whom Easter is...
not a hunt, but a find;
not a greeting, but a proclamation;
not outward fashions, but inward grace;
not a day, but an eternity.
Collect
Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners: Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise; that, among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ 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/
AM Psalm [120], 121, 122, 123; PM Psalm 124, 125, 126, [127]
Jer. 25:8-17; Rom. 10:1-13; John 9:18-41
++++++++++
From Forward Day by Day: http://www.forwardmovement.org/todaysreading.cfm
John 9:18-41. Though I was blind, now I see.
Jesus' medical miracles raise such conflicting responses in me. I know that God desires human flourishing. I know that Jesus restores spiritual and physical wholeness with his healing touch: sight to the blind, agility to the lame and paralyzed, health to the diseased.
I also know that the children in pediatric hospice are going to die. When I first met Ian, his constant prayer was, "I want to be well, God, I want to be well." It didn't happen. The cancer progressed. Over the next months, though, his prayer moved from "I want to be well" to a rewrite of the 23rd psalm: "The Lord is my shepherd; he makes me feel safe." He was able, through the tender care of his loving family, to sense God's compassionate, enfolding love.
In my human blindness, I want more. I want these children alive and whole. I want Jesus to reach out and say to them, "Be cured." And yet I know that in the midst of it all, at the worst of it all, the sickroom becomes Gethsemane and Christ weeps with and for these children. They are never alone.
And I know that although we, too, may find ourselves blind or broken by illness or grief, our Lord is with us as well. We are never alone.
++++++++++
Today we remember: http://satucket.com/lectionary/Calendar.htm
Charles Henry Brent
Psalm 122 or 133
Ephesians 4:1-7,11-13; Matthew 9:35-38
Heavenly Father, whose Son prayed that we all might be one: deliver us from arrogance and prejudice, and give us wisdom and forbearance, that, following your servant Charles Henry Brent, we may be united in one family with all who confess the Name of thy Son Jesus Christ: 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 Nagpur (North India)
http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acp/index.cfm
++++++++++
40 Ideas for Lent: A Lenten calendar http://ship-of-fools.com/lent/index.html
30. THINK SMALL
TUES 27 MAR
Young children take great delight in the smallest of things – a leaf, a muddy puddle, even the rain! Follow their example and see how it changes your day.
Idea by: Kate Austin
Lent quote: "Lord, make me see thy glory in every place." – Michaelangelo
++++++++++
A Celtic lenten Calendar
http://www.oursanctuary.net/celticlent.html
Three times
the cock crowed
and by the third
the whole world knew
that Peter had denied his Lord
The echo of that moment
can still be heard today
each time we hide our face
afraid not of death
but a mild rebuke
or at the worst
a little ridicule
the world may never know
our silent denial
for as yet, Lord
it has not known
our silent faith
++++++++++
Carmelite.com: Reflections http://www.carmelite.com/spirituality/reflection.php
A novice was grieving about her numerous distractions during prayer: "I too, have many," replied St. Therese of the Child Jesus, "but I accept all for love of the good God, even the most extravagant thoughts that come into my head."
St. Therese of the Child Jesus
++++++++++
Reading from the Desert Christians http://www.cin.org/dsrtftin.html
Abba John said, 'We have put the light burden on one side, that is to say, self-accusation, and we have loaded ourselves with a heavy one, that is to say, self-justification.'
++++++++++
Sayings of the Jewish Fathers (Pirqe Aboth)
http://www.sacred-texts.com/jud/sjf/index.htm
6. He used to say, No boor is a sinfearer; nor is the vulgar pious; nor is the shamefast apt to learn, nor the passionate to teach; nor is every one that has much traffic wise. And in a place where there are no men endeavour to be a man.
++++++++++
Daily Meditation (Henri Nouwen) http://www.henrinouwen.org/home/free_eletters/
Living Faithfully in an Ambiguous World
Our hearts and minds desire clarity. We like to have a clear picture of a situation, a clear view of how things fit together, and clear insight into our own and the world's problems. But just as in nature colors and shapes mingle without clear-cut distinctions, human life doesn't offer the clarity we are looking for. The borders between love and hate, evil and good, beauty and ugliness, heroism and cowardice, care and neglect, guilt and blamelessness are mostly vague, ambiguous, and hard to discern.
It is not easy to live faithfully in a world full of ambiguities. We have to learn to make wise choices without needing to be entirely sure.
++++++++++
From the Principles of the Third Society of St. Francis:
Day Twenty Seven - The Second Note, cont'd
The Third Order is Christian community whose members, although varied in race, education, and character, are bound into a living whole through the love we share in Christ. This unity of all who believe in him will become, as our Lord intended, a witness to the world of his divine mission. In our relationship with those outside the Order, we show the same Christ-like love, and gladly give of ouselves, remembering that love is measured by sacrifice.
++++++++++
Upper Room Daily Reflection http://www.upperroom.org/reflections/
SETBACKS ARE FRIENDS to faith. The difficulties we have in maintaining our discipline remind us — or teach us — that even in our efforts to do good, we need God. Fallible and human, we easily forget this fact when things are going well. On the other hand, when we make mistakes, we remember our humanity and faith. We are merely human, and God is God.
- Sarah Parsons
A Clearing Season
From page 74 of A Clearing Season by Sarah Parsons. Copyright © 2005 by Sarah Parsons.
+++++++++++
Richard Rohr's Daily Reflection
http://cacradicalgrace.org/getconnected/getconnected_index.html
"Becoming Who We Really Are"
God takes human life seriously. To come into this world we will discover ourselves as beloved son, daughter, brother, sister, mother and father. This is not just a time-consuming preliminary; it is the entire process. The end is summed up in the beginning. Baptism, our initiation into the new family of God, is everything all at once, symbolized and celebrated. It takes the rest of our life to understand it, to suffer it and live it. The reality precedes the word and gives authority to the word. The reality must be lived first and only then spoken about. Christian life, then, is a matter of becoming who we already are.
from Sojourners, "My People, I am Your Security"
++++++++++
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
Boast in the Lord
Not only need we feel no shame for the death of the Lord our God: we should put all our trust in it and take pride in it, since having taken up himself the death he found in us, he has promised that we shall find our life in him, a life we could never have of ourselves. If he who was sinless so loved us as to be willing to suffer what we had deserved for our sins, then surely he who has justified us will gladly give us the recompense of the just. Will he not reward his saints according to his faithful promise, when he took upon himself, guiltless though he was, the punishment due to the guilty?
And so, let us confidently acknowledge and openly declare that Christ was crucified for our sake, proclaiming it with joy and pride, not with fear and shame. The apostle Paul saw in this reason for boasting. He could have told us many great and holy things about Christ: how as God he shared with his Father the work of creation, and how as man like us he was master of the world. But he would not glory in any of these wonderful things. God forbid that I should boast of anything, he said, except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Augustine of Hippo, (354 - 430), bishop of Hippo, became the most influential person of the Western Church and left many writings to posterity.
++++++++++
Daily Readings From "My Utmost for His Highest", Oswald Chambers
http://www.myutmost.org/
VISION BY PERSONAL CHARACTER
"Come up hither, and I will shew thee things." Revelation 4:1
An elevated mood can only come out of an elevated habit of personal character. If in the externals of your life you live up to the highest you know, God will continually say - "Friend, go up higher." The golden rule in temptation is - Go higher. When you get higher up, you face other temptations and characteristics. Satan uses the strategy of elevation in temptation, and God does the same, but the effect is different. When the devil puts you into an elevated place, he makes you screw your idea of holiness beyond what flesh and blood could ever hear, it is a spiritual acrobatic performance, you are just poised and dare not move; but when God elevates you by His grace into the heavenly places, instead of finding a pinnacle to cling to, you find a great table-land where it is easy to move.
Compare this week in your spiritual history with the same week last year and see how God has called you up higher. We have all been brought to see from a higher standpoint. Never let God give you one point of truth which you do not instantly live up to. Always work it out, keep in the light of it.
Growth in grace is measured not by the fact that you have not gone back, but that you have an insight into where you are spiritually; you have heard God say "Come up higher," not to you personally, but to the insight of your character.
"Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do?" God has to hide from us what He does until by personal character we get to the place where He can reveal it.
++++++++++
Today's reading from the Rule of St. Benedict http://www.osb.org/rb/
Chapter 47: On Giving the Signal for the Time of the Work of God
The indicating of the hour for the Work of God
by day and by night
shall devolve upon the Abbot
either to give the signal himself
or to assign this duty to such a careful brother
that everything will take place at the proper hours.
Let the Psalms and the antiphons be intoned
by those who are appointed for it,
in their order after the Abbot.
And no one shall presume to sing or read
unless he can fulfill that office
in such a way as to edify the hearers.
Let this function be performed
with humility, gravity and reverence,
and by him whom the Abbot has appointed.
Commentary: http://www.eriebenedictines.org/Pages/INSPIRATION/insights.html
Prayer in a Benedictine community is to be both regular and artistic and it is the role of leadership to see that this is so. In a culture without alarm clocks and in a community that prayed in the middle of the night, the responsibility was a major one. Even centuries later, however, when we all rouse ourselves to the sound of clock radios or a dozen other automatic devices and have no need for bellringers, the situation is just as serious. The message under the message is that unless the group becomes more and more immersed in prayer and the scriptures, giving them priority no matter what the other pressures of the day, the group will cease to have any authenticity at all. It will cease to develop. It will dry up and cave in on itself and become more museum than monastery. This stress on our responsibility to call ourselves to prayer is an insight as fresh for the twenty-first century as it was for the sixth. For all of us, prayer must be regular, not haphazard, not erratic, not chance. At the same time, it cannot be routine or meaningless or without substance. Prayer has to bring beauty, substance and structure to our otherwise chaotic and superficial lives or it is not long before life itself becomes chaotic and superficial. A life of spiritual substance is a life of quality. The Tao puts it this way:
She who is centered in the Tao
can go where she wishes, without danger.
She perceives the universal harmony,
even amid great pain,
because she has found peace in her heart.
++++++++++
Church Fathers Lenten Reading Plan
Read Excerpts from the Church Fathers during Lent
http://www.churchyear.net/lentfathers.html
St. Cyril of Jerusalem: Catechetical Lectures: Lecture XIX
++++++++++
Tuesday, March 27, 2007 Great Fast Martyr Matrona
of Thessalonika
6th Hour: Isaiah 49:6-10 1st Vespers: Genesis 31:3-6
2nd Vespers: Proverbs 21:3-21
Our Lenten Shepherd: Isaiah 49:6-11 LXX, especially vs. 10: "He that has
mercy on them shall comfort them, and by fountains of waters shall He
lead them." Lent is a pilgrimage made in communion with the Church and
led by Our Shepherd (vss. 9,10). As the Lord Himself says, "I will make
every mountain a way, and every path a pasture to them."(Is. 49:11). As
a trek taken with the Shepherd, Lent follows a well-planned path, like a
graded superhighway. Thus, as we approach the end of the Fast, let us
determine to stay on the path of the Shepherd's choosing and to remain
under His guidance, for the Lord Jesus journeys with us, caring for our
needs.
To understand our Shepherd and the journey we are taking with Him more
deeply, let us study closely what Isaiah discloses concerning our
Shepherd (Is 49:6,7), the season in which we are journeying together
(vs. 8), and what we may expect along the way (vss. 9-11).
Note that God the Father addresses Christ in His humanity: "It is a
great thing for Thee to be called My servant, to establish the tribes of
Jacob, and to recover the dispersion of Israel" (vs. 6). The plan of
God embraces all human history and provides salvation for all men.
Deliverance will not be limited to the tribes of Jacob nor even for a
remnant of ancient Israel. "God so loved the world that He gave His
only-begotten Son" (Jn. 3:16). He "desires all men to be saved" (1 Tim.
2:4). Salvation is not narrowed by race, ethnicity, or nationality: "I
have given Thee for the covenant of a race, for a light of the Gentiles,
that Thou shouldest be for salvation to the end of the earth" (Is. 49:6)
- for what St. Augustine called "a remedy for mankind of a power beyond
our imagining."
As God the Father continues speaking to Him Who would and did become
Incarnate, He addresses Him as One "abhorred by the nations" (vs. 7).
Herein, God provides a pre-shadowing of the Passion of the Lord Jesus,
including those who later "spat in His face and beat Him; [while] others
struck Him with the palms of their hands" (Mt. 26:67).
These forecasts of the Passion, however, are matched against a prophecy
of triumph that has proven equally true. God the Father says, "kings
shall behold Him, and princes shall arise, and shall worship Him, for
the Lord's sake: for the Holy One of Israel is faithful" (Is. 49:7).
Let us remember the numerous Holy Monarchs who have humbled themselves
before Christ and made Him King above themselves in their realms. The
despised One also is King of Kings.
We are blessed to know that when Christ came from the Father, He came
for all men. While the Gospels record His rejection, Passion and
Resurrection authentically, we also have objective evidence provided by
two thousand years of subsequent history proving that God did not leave
the Light of the nations "under a basket" (Mt. 5:15). Rather, " in a
day of salvation have I succored Thee" (Is. 49:8). Thus, our Shepherd
continues as "a covenant of the nations, to establish the earth" through
His Church, causing even "the desert heritages" to inherit (vs. 8).
Finally, for us the Lord Jesus also is the Lenten Shepherd Who
accompanies us that we may finish well the Fast, for to prisoners of
sin, He says, "Go forth"(vs. 9). The Good Shepherd frees us, gives us
light, feeds us and slakes our thirst, protects and comforts us (vss.
9,10). Do you see? A merciful and caring Lord, God and Savior - a
true Shepherd - assures us that we "shall not hunger, neither shall [we]
thirst; neither shall the heat nor the sun smite [us]; but He that has
mercy on [us] shall comfort [us], and by fountains of waters shall He
lead [us]" (vs. 10). He has sufficient strength so that each one may
finish well the Fast.
I have passed all my life in darkness; for the night of sin hath brought
me darkness and dense fog; but since Thou art the Savior, make me
manifest as a child of the day.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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If you would like these meditations to come directly to your in box, please click here:
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Blessed are those for whom Easter is...
not a hunt, but a find;
not a greeting, but a proclamation;
not outward fashions, but inward grace;
not a day, but an eternity.
Collect
Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners: Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise; that, among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ 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/
AM Psalm [120], 121, 122, 123; PM Psalm 124, 125, 126, [127]
Jer. 25:8-17; Rom. 10:1-13; John 9:18-41
++++++++++
From Forward Day by Day: http://www.forwardmovement.org/todaysreading.cfm
John 9:18-41. Though I was blind, now I see.
Jesus' medical miracles raise such conflicting responses in me. I know that God desires human flourishing. I know that Jesus restores spiritual and physical wholeness with his healing touch: sight to the blind, agility to the lame and paralyzed, health to the diseased.
I also know that the children in pediatric hospice are going to die. When I first met Ian, his constant prayer was, "I want to be well, God, I want to be well." It didn't happen. The cancer progressed. Over the next months, though, his prayer moved from "I want to be well" to a rewrite of the 23rd psalm: "The Lord is my shepherd; he makes me feel safe." He was able, through the tender care of his loving family, to sense God's compassionate, enfolding love.
In my human blindness, I want more. I want these children alive and whole. I want Jesus to reach out and say to them, "Be cured." And yet I know that in the midst of it all, at the worst of it all, the sickroom becomes Gethsemane and Christ weeps with and for these children. They are never alone.
And I know that although we, too, may find ourselves blind or broken by illness or grief, our Lord is with us as well. We are never alone.
++++++++++
Today we remember: http://satucket.com/lectionary/Calendar.htm
Charles Henry Brent
Psalm 122 or 133
Ephesians 4:1-7,11-13; Matthew 9:35-38
Heavenly Father, whose Son prayed that we all might be one: deliver us from arrogance and prejudice, and give us wisdom and forbearance, that, following your servant Charles Henry Brent, we may be united in one family with all who confess the Name of thy Son Jesus Christ: 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 Nagpur (North India)
http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acp/index.cfm
++++++++++
40 Ideas for Lent: A Lenten calendar http://ship-of-fools.com/lent/index.html
30. THINK SMALL
TUES 27 MAR
Young children take great delight in the smallest of things – a leaf, a muddy puddle, even the rain! Follow their example and see how it changes your day.
Idea by: Kate Austin
Lent quote: "Lord, make me see thy glory in every place." – Michaelangelo
++++++++++
A Celtic lenten Calendar
http://www.oursanctuary.net/celticlent.html
Three times
the cock crowed
and by the third
the whole world knew
that Peter had denied his Lord
The echo of that moment
can still be heard today
each time we hide our face
afraid not of death
but a mild rebuke
or at the worst
a little ridicule
the world may never know
our silent denial
for as yet, Lord
it has not known
our silent faith
++++++++++
Carmelite.com: Reflections http://www.carmelite.com/spirituality/reflection.php
A novice was grieving about her numerous distractions during prayer: "I too, have many," replied St. Therese of the Child Jesus, "but I accept all for love of the good God, even the most extravagant thoughts that come into my head."
St. Therese of the Child Jesus
++++++++++
Reading from the Desert Christians http://www.cin.org/dsrtftin.html
Abba John said, 'We have put the light burden on one side, that is to say, self-accusation, and we have loaded ourselves with a heavy one, that is to say, self-justification.'
++++++++++
Sayings of the Jewish Fathers (Pirqe Aboth)
http://www.sacred-texts.com/jud/sjf/index.htm
6. He used to say, No boor is a sinfearer; nor is the vulgar pious; nor is the shamefast apt to learn, nor the passionate to teach; nor is every one that has much traffic wise. And in a place where there are no men endeavour to be a man.
++++++++++
Daily Meditation (Henri Nouwen) http://www.henrinouwen.org/home/free_eletters/
Living Faithfully in an Ambiguous World
Our hearts and minds desire clarity. We like to have a clear picture of a situation, a clear view of how things fit together, and clear insight into our own and the world's problems. But just as in nature colors and shapes mingle without clear-cut distinctions, human life doesn't offer the clarity we are looking for. The borders between love and hate, evil and good, beauty and ugliness, heroism and cowardice, care and neglect, guilt and blamelessness are mostly vague, ambiguous, and hard to discern.
It is not easy to live faithfully in a world full of ambiguities. We have to learn to make wise choices without needing to be entirely sure.
++++++++++
From the Principles of the Third Society of St. Francis:
Day Twenty Seven - The Second Note, cont'd
The Third Order is Christian community whose members, although varied in race, education, and character, are bound into a living whole through the love we share in Christ. This unity of all who believe in him will become, as our Lord intended, a witness to the world of his divine mission. In our relationship with those outside the Order, we show the same Christ-like love, and gladly give of ouselves, remembering that love is measured by sacrifice.
++++++++++
Upper Room Daily Reflection http://www.upperroom.org/reflections/
SETBACKS ARE FRIENDS to faith. The difficulties we have in maintaining our discipline remind us — or teach us — that even in our efforts to do good, we need God. Fallible and human, we easily forget this fact when things are going well. On the other hand, when we make mistakes, we remember our humanity and faith. We are merely human, and God is God.
- Sarah Parsons
A Clearing Season
From page 74 of A Clearing Season by Sarah Parsons. Copyright © 2005 by Sarah Parsons.
+++++++++++
Richard Rohr's Daily Reflection
http://cacradicalgrace.org/getconnected/getconnected_index.html
"Becoming Who We Really Are"
God takes human life seriously. To come into this world we will discover ourselves as beloved son, daughter, brother, sister, mother and father. This is not just a time-consuming preliminary; it is the entire process. The end is summed up in the beginning. Baptism, our initiation into the new family of God, is everything all at once, symbolized and celebrated. It takes the rest of our life to understand it, to suffer it and live it. The reality precedes the word and gives authority to the word. The reality must be lived first and only then spoken about. Christian life, then, is a matter of becoming who we already are.
from Sojourners, "My People, I am Your Security"
++++++++++
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
Boast in the Lord
Not only need we feel no shame for the death of the Lord our God: we should put all our trust in it and take pride in it, since having taken up himself the death he found in us, he has promised that we shall find our life in him, a life we could never have of ourselves. If he who was sinless so loved us as to be willing to suffer what we had deserved for our sins, then surely he who has justified us will gladly give us the recompense of the just. Will he not reward his saints according to his faithful promise, when he took upon himself, guiltless though he was, the punishment due to the guilty?
And so, let us confidently acknowledge and openly declare that Christ was crucified for our sake, proclaiming it with joy and pride, not with fear and shame. The apostle Paul saw in this reason for boasting. He could have told us many great and holy things about Christ: how as God he shared with his Father the work of creation, and how as man like us he was master of the world. But he would not glory in any of these wonderful things. God forbid that I should boast of anything, he said, except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Augustine of Hippo, (354 - 430), bishop of Hippo, became the most influential person of the Western Church and left many writings to posterity.
++++++++++
Daily Readings From "My Utmost for His Highest", Oswald Chambers
http://www.myutmost.org/
VISION BY PERSONAL CHARACTER
"Come up hither, and I will shew thee things." Revelation 4:1
An elevated mood can only come out of an elevated habit of personal character. If in the externals of your life you live up to the highest you know, God will continually say - "Friend, go up higher." The golden rule in temptation is - Go higher. When you get higher up, you face other temptations and characteristics. Satan uses the strategy of elevation in temptation, and God does the same, but the effect is different. When the devil puts you into an elevated place, he makes you screw your idea of holiness beyond what flesh and blood could ever hear, it is a spiritual acrobatic performance, you are just poised and dare not move; but when God elevates you by His grace into the heavenly places, instead of finding a pinnacle to cling to, you find a great table-land where it is easy to move.
Compare this week in your spiritual history with the same week last year and see how God has called you up higher. We have all been brought to see from a higher standpoint. Never let God give you one point of truth which you do not instantly live up to. Always work it out, keep in the light of it.
Growth in grace is measured not by the fact that you have not gone back, but that you have an insight into where you are spiritually; you have heard God say "Come up higher," not to you personally, but to the insight of your character.
"Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do?" God has to hide from us what He does until by personal character we get to the place where He can reveal it.
++++++++++
Today's reading from the Rule of St. Benedict http://www.osb.org/rb/
Chapter 47: On Giving the Signal for the Time of the Work of God
The indicating of the hour for the Work of God
by day and by night
shall devolve upon the Abbot
either to give the signal himself
or to assign this duty to such a careful brother
that everything will take place at the proper hours.
Let the Psalms and the antiphons be intoned
by those who are appointed for it,
in their order after the Abbot.
And no one shall presume to sing or read
unless he can fulfill that office
in such a way as to edify the hearers.
Let this function be performed
with humility, gravity and reverence,
and by him whom the Abbot has appointed.
Commentary: http://www.eriebenedictines.org/Pages/INSPIRATION/insights.html
Prayer in a Benedictine community is to be both regular and artistic and it is the role of leadership to see that this is so. In a culture without alarm clocks and in a community that prayed in the middle of the night, the responsibility was a major one. Even centuries later, however, when we all rouse ourselves to the sound of clock radios or a dozen other automatic devices and have no need for bellringers, the situation is just as serious. The message under the message is that unless the group becomes more and more immersed in prayer and the scriptures, giving them priority no matter what the other pressures of the day, the group will cease to have any authenticity at all. It will cease to develop. It will dry up and cave in on itself and become more museum than monastery. This stress on our responsibility to call ourselves to prayer is an insight as fresh for the twenty-first century as it was for the sixth. For all of us, prayer must be regular, not haphazard, not erratic, not chance. At the same time, it cannot be routine or meaningless or without substance. Prayer has to bring beauty, substance and structure to our otherwise chaotic and superficial lives or it is not long before life itself becomes chaotic and superficial. A life of spiritual substance is a life of quality. The Tao puts it this way:
She who is centered in the Tao
can go where she wishes, without danger.
She perceives the universal harmony,
even amid great pain,
because she has found peace in her heart.
++++++++++
Church Fathers Lenten Reading Plan
Read Excerpts from the Church Fathers during Lent
http://www.churchyear.net/lentfathers.html
St. Cyril of Jerusalem: Catechetical Lectures: Lecture XIX
++++++++++
Tuesday, March 27, 2007 Great Fast Martyr Matrona
of Thessalonika
6th Hour: Isaiah 49:6-10 1st Vespers: Genesis 31:3-6
2nd Vespers: Proverbs 21:3-21
Our Lenten Shepherd: Isaiah 49:6-11 LXX, especially vs. 10: "He that has
mercy on them shall comfort them, and by fountains of waters shall He
lead them." Lent is a pilgrimage made in communion with the Church and
led by Our Shepherd (vss. 9,10). As the Lord Himself says, "I will make
every mountain a way, and every path a pasture to them."(Is. 49:11). As
a trek taken with the Shepherd, Lent follows a well-planned path, like a
graded superhighway. Thus, as we approach the end of the Fast, let us
determine to stay on the path of the Shepherd's choosing and to remain
under His guidance, for the Lord Jesus journeys with us, caring for our
needs.
To understand our Shepherd and the journey we are taking with Him more
deeply, let us study closely what Isaiah discloses concerning our
Shepherd (Is 49:6,7), the season in which we are journeying together
(vs. 8), and what we may expect along the way (vss. 9-11).
Note that God the Father addresses Christ in His humanity: "It is a
great thing for Thee to be called My servant, to establish the tribes of
Jacob, and to recover the dispersion of Israel" (vs. 6). The plan of
God embraces all human history and provides salvation for all men.
Deliverance will not be limited to the tribes of Jacob nor even for a
remnant of ancient Israel. "God so loved the world that He gave His
only-begotten Son" (Jn. 3:16). He "desires all men to be saved" (1 Tim.
2:4). Salvation is not narrowed by race, ethnicity, or nationality: "I
have given Thee for the covenant of a race, for a light of the Gentiles,
that Thou shouldest be for salvation to the end of the earth" (Is. 49:6)
- for what St. Augustine called "a remedy for mankind of a power beyond
our imagining."
As God the Father continues speaking to Him Who would and did become
Incarnate, He addresses Him as One "abhorred by the nations" (vs. 7).
Herein, God provides a pre-shadowing of the Passion of the Lord Jesus,
including those who later "spat in His face and beat Him; [while] others
struck Him with the palms of their hands" (Mt. 26:67).
These forecasts of the Passion, however, are matched against a prophecy
of triumph that has proven equally true. God the Father says, "kings
shall behold Him, and princes shall arise, and shall worship Him, for
the Lord's sake: for the Holy One of Israel is faithful" (Is. 49:7).
Let us remember the numerous Holy Monarchs who have humbled themselves
before Christ and made Him King above themselves in their realms. The
despised One also is King of Kings.
We are blessed to know that when Christ came from the Father, He came
for all men. While the Gospels record His rejection, Passion and
Resurrection authentically, we also have objective evidence provided by
two thousand years of subsequent history proving that God did not leave
the Light of the nations "under a basket" (Mt. 5:15). Rather, " in a
day of salvation have I succored Thee" (Is. 49:8). Thus, our Shepherd
continues as "a covenant of the nations, to establish the earth" through
His Church, causing even "the desert heritages" to inherit (vs. 8).
Finally, for us the Lord Jesus also is the Lenten Shepherd Who
accompanies us that we may finish well the Fast, for to prisoners of
sin, He says, "Go forth"(vs. 9). The Good Shepherd frees us, gives us
light, feeds us and slakes our thirst, protects and comforts us (vss.
9,10). Do you see? A merciful and caring Lord, God and Savior - a
true Shepherd - assures us that we "shall not hunger, neither shall [we]
thirst; neither shall the heat nor the sun smite [us]; but He that has
mercy on [us] shall comfort [us], and by fountains of waters shall He
lead [us]" (vs. 10). He has sufficient strength so that each one may
finish well the Fast.
I have passed all my life in darkness; for the night of sin hath brought
me darkness and dense fog; but since Thou art the Savior, make me
manifest as a child of the day.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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posted by Gloriamarie Amalfitano @ 9:41 AM
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