knitternun

Sunday, April 29, 2007

29/04/07 4th Sunday in Easter

[PLEASE NOTE: THIS IS A "MENU" FROM WHICH TO PICK AND CHOOSE ONE OR MORE MEDITATIONS. PLEASE DO NOT THINK YOU HAVE TO PRAY ALL OF IT. PLEASE THINK OF IT AS A BUFFET OF THE DIFFERENT FLAVORS OF CHRISTIANITY. IT IS HOPED THAT ALL WILL PRAY THE COLLECT, REFLECT ON THE DAY'S SCRIPTURES AND PRAY THE ANGLICAN CYCLE OF PRAYER. AFTER THAT, YOUR CHOICE. 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
O God, whose Son Jesus is the good shepherd of your people: Grant that when we hear his voice we may know him who calls us each by name, and follow where he leads; who, with you and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
++++++++++

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

O God, whose Son Jesus is the good shepherd of your people: Grant that when we hear his voice we may know him who calls us each by name, and follow where he leads; who, with you and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
++++++++++

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

John 10:22-30. My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me.

Jesus is teaching on the temple porch when a group charges up saying, "If you're the Messiah, for heaven's sake, man, say so!" We can just see the self-important people who challenge Jesus!


Jesus sees right through them. I've taught here and done miracles, he says. But you can't hear me; you aren't my sheep. Then, his tone turns from scorn to thanksgiving: Just as sheep recognize their shepherd's voice and come towards the sound, his own people, his sheep, know him and will be his for eternity.


I found myself thinking of my shepherd's voice while watching a huge colony of noisy penguins. Work had taken me to a remote coast in Argentina, site of a breeding ground. During most of the year, male and female penguins swim hundreds, even thousands, of miles in search of food. At the start of breeding season, each male returns to the previous year's nest and waits for his mate to join him. It is a little understood miracle of nature that, amid thousands of other penguins, each returning female can pick out the calls of her own mate as she emerges from the surf. As I stood on a little rise watching the black-and-white carpet of penguins, it hit me that there's a simple explanation. She's listening.
++++++++++

Today in the Anglican Cycle of Prayer we pray for the Diocese of Nnewi (Prov. II, Nigeria)
http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acp/index.cfm
++++++++++

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

All things praise You, Lord of all the World!
St Teresa of Jesus
Life, 25.17
++++++++++

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

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.
++++++++++

Sayings of the Jewish Fathers (Pirqe Aboth)
http://www.sacred-texts.com/jud/sjf/index.htm

R. Li'ezer ben Jacob said, He who performs one precept has gotten to himself one advocate; and he who commits one transgression has gotten to himself one accuser. Repentance and good works are as a shield against punishment.
++++++++++

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

Making Our Lives Available to Others

One of the arguments we often use for not writing is this: "I have nothing original to say. Whatever I might say, someone else has already said it, and better than I will ever be able to." This, however, is not a good argument for not writing. Each human person is unique and original, and nobody has lived what we have lived. Furthermore, what we have lived, we have lived not just for ourselves but for others as well. Writing can be a very creative and invigorating way to make our lives available to ourselves and to others.

We have to trust that our stories deserve to be told. We may discover that the better we tell our stories the better we will want to live them.
++++++++++

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

Day Twenty Nine - The Third Note, cont'd

This joy is a divine gift, coming from union with God in Christ. It is still there even in times of darkness and difficulty, giving cheerful courage in the face of disappointment, and an inward serenity and confidence through sickness and suffering. Those who possess it can rejoice in weakness, insults, hardship, and persecutions for Christ's sake; for when we are weak, then we are strong.
++++++++++

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

ETERNAL ONE, revealed in waves and in the waiting stillness, teach me to rest, content in your love. Let my life be a poem that tells of your care, always ready to rise up on trusting wings and risk the wind. Amen.

- Elizabeth J. Canham
Heart Whispers

From page 70 of Heart Whispers: Benedictine Wisdom for Today by Elizabeth J. Canham. Copyright © 1999 by Elizabeth J. Canham.
+++++++++++

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

"Despair and Hope"

Rising and dying are closely related. Despair, I suspect, is another kind of dying and another kind of pain. It is not so much the loss of persons as the loss of ideals, visions and plans. For people who hitched their future or their hopes to certain stars, the loss of those stars is bitter and disabling. It usually happens slowly as we recognize unfulfilled dreams and as we gradually face our own impotence and the "sin of the world" (John 1:29). We are forced to let go of images: images that we built in our youth, images that solidified and energized our own self-image. The crash of images is experienced as a death of the spirit, as a loss of hope, as a darkness almost too much to bear. Many, if not most, become tired and cynical while maintaining the old words that have become clichés even to themselves. Spiritual growth is the willing surrender of images in favor of the True Images. It is a conversion that never stops, a surrender that never ceases. It is a surrender of self-serving and self-created images of self, of others, of God. Those who worship the images instead of living the reality simply stop growing spiritually. In this light, the First Commandment takes on a whole new power and poignancy: "You shall not make yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything in heaven or on earth or beneath the earth. You shall not bow down before them." (Exodus 20:4-5) It seems that many people, religious people in particular, would sooner relate to images than to the reality where both despair and God lie hidden. Until we walk with this despair, we will not know that our hope was hope in ourselves, in our successes, in our power to make a difference, in our image of what perfection and wholeness should be. Until we walk with this despair, we will never uncover the real hope on the other side of human achievement. Until we allow the crash and crush of our images, we will never discover the real life beyond what only seems like death.

from Radical Grace, "The Other Side of Sadness: Naming Despair"
++++++++++

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

The parchment has been torn up

Let our hearts and souls burst with love! Let them be quick to serve and stand in awe of the good, gentle Jesus! For the devil was holding on to us as his own property, as slaves and prisoners, and Jesus rescued us. He assumed responsibility for us, paid our debt, and then tore up the bond. When did he assume responsibility for us? When he assumed our humanity and became a servant. Ah, but that alone would not have been enough if he had not also paid the debt we had contracted. And when was that paid? When he gave up his life on the wood of the most holy cross to give us back the life of grace we had lost. O sweetest, boundless charity! You destroyed the bond by which the devil held us, and tore it up on the wood of the most holy cross! That bond was written on nothing less than lambskin, the skin of the spotless Lamb. He inscribed us on himself and then tore up the lambskin! So let our souls find strength in knowing that the parchment our bond was written on has been torn up, and our opponent and adversary can never again demand to have us back.

So let us run to embrace virtue with true holy desire, remembering the gentle Lamb, who in such blazing love shed his life's blood.

Catherine of Siena,(1347 - 1380) served the people of Siena with her good works and the Church at large with her peacemaking.
++++++++++

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

THE GRACIOUSNESS OF UNCERTAINTY


"It doth not yet appear what we shall be." 1 John 3:2

Naturally, we are inclined to be so mathematical and calculating that we look upon uncertainty as a bad thing. We imagine that we have to reach some end, but that is not the nature of spiritual life. The nature of spiritual life is that we are certain in our uncertainty, consequently we do not make our nests anywhere. Common sense says - "Well, supposing I were in that condition . . ." We cannot suppose ourselves in any condition we have never been in. Certainty is the mark of the common-sense life: gracious uncertainty is the mark of the spiritual life. To be certain of God means that we are uncertain in all our ways, we do not know what a day may bring forth. This is generally said with a sigh of sadness, it should be rather an expression of breathless expectation. We are uncertain of the next step, but we are certain of God. Immediately we abandon to God, and do the duty that lies nearest, He packs our life with surprises all the time. When we become advocates of a creed, something dies; we do not believe God, we only believe our belief about Him. Jesus said, "Except ye become as little children." Spiritual life is the life of a child. We are not uncertain of God, but uncertain of what He is going to do next. If we are only certain in our beliefs, we get dignified and severe and have the ban of finality about our views; but when we are rightly related to God, life is full of spontaneous, joyful uncertainty and expectancy.

"Believe also in Me," said Jesus, not - "Believe certain things about Me." Leave the whole thing to Him, it is gloriously uncertain how He will come in, but He will come. Remain loyal to Him.
++++++++++

G. K. Chesterton Day by Day
http://www.cse.dmu.ac.uk/~mward/gkc/books/gkcday/gkcday.html

THE creed of our cruel cities is not so sane and just as the creed of the old countryside; but the people are just as clever in giving names to their sins in the city as in giving names to their joys in the wilderness. One could not better sum up Christianity than by calling a small white insignificant flower 'The Star of Bethlehem.' But then again one could not better sum up the philosophy deduced from Darwinism than in the one verbal picture of 'having your monkey up.'

'Daily News.'
++++++++++

Today's reading from the Rule of St. Benedict http://www.osb.org/rb/


Chapter 71: That the Brethren Be Obedient to One Another

Not only is the boon of obedience
to be shown by all to the Abbot,
but the brethren are also to obey one another,
knowing that by this road of obedience they are going to God.
Giving priority, therefore, to the commands of the Abbot
and of the Superior appointed by him
(to which we allow no private orders to be preferred),
for the rest
let all the juniors obey their seniors
with all charity and solicitude.
But if anyone is found contentious,
let him be corrected.

And if any brother,
for however small a cause,
is corrected in any way by the Abbot or by any of his Superiors,
or if he faintly perceives
that the mind of any Superior is angered or moved against him,
however little,
let him at once, without delay,
prostrate himself on the ground at his feet
and lie there making satisfaction
until that emotion is quieted with a blessing.
But if anyone should disdain to do this,
let him undergo corporal punishment
or, if he is stubborn, let him be expelled from the monastery.


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

Into a democratic country and a highly individualistic culture, into a society where personalism approaches the pathological and independence is raised to high art, the rule brings a chapter on listening and wisdom. The rule says that we are not our own teachers, not our own guides, not our own standard setters, not a law unto ourselves. In addition to the "officials" in our lives--the employers, the supervisors, the lawgivers and the police--we have to learn to learn from those around us who have gone the path before us and know the way. It is a chapter dedicated to making us see the elderly anew and our colleagues with awe and our companions with new respect. In a society that depends on reputation to such a degree that people build themselves up by tearing other people down, the chapter on mutual obedience turns the world awry. Monastic spirituality says that we are to honor one another. We are to listen to one another. We are to reach across boundaries and differences in this fragmented world and see in our differences distinctions of great merit that can mend a competitive, uncaring and foolish world.
The Tao teaches:
If you want to become whole,
let yourself be partial.
If you want to become straight,
let yourself be crooked.
If you want to become full,
let yourself be empty.

What monastic spirituality wants among us is respect and love, not excuses, not justification, not protests of innocence or cries of misunderstandings. The rule wants respect for the elder and love for the learner. The rule wants a human response to the mystery of misunderstanding--not stand-offs, not pouting, not rejection, not eternal alienation. The rule wants relationships that have been ruptured to be repaired, not by long, legal defenses but by clear and quick gestures of human sorrow and forgiveness. The question in the rule is not who is right and who is wrong. The question in the rule is who is offended and who is sorry, who is to apologize and who is to forgive. Quickly. Immediately. Now.

The rabbi of Sassov, the Hasidic masters tell us, once gave away the last money he had in his pocket to a man of ill repute who quickly squandered it all. The rabbi's disciples threw it up to him. He answered them: "Shall I be more finicky than God, who gave it to me?" What monastic spirituality teaches in this paragraph of the Rule is that we must all relate to one another knowing our own sinfulness and depending on the love we learn from one another.
++++++++++

Dynamis http://groups.yahoo.com/group/orthodoxdynamis/

Dynamis is a daily Bible meditation based upon the lectionary of the Holy Orthodox Church. Dynamis is a project of the Education Committee of St. George Orthodox Christian Cathedral in Wichita, Kansas.


Sunday of the Paralytic: The Apostle Nathaniel Christ is Risen!
Tone 3 April 29, 2007
15th Vigil Pascha-III: Song of the Three 22-67
Apostle: Acts 9:32-42 Gospel: St. John 5:1-15

The Song of The Three - 22-67 LXX, especially vs. 34: "O all ye works of
the Lord, bless ye the Lord: praise and exalt Him above all for ever."
St. Nicholas Cabasilas teaches that the Saints in heaven, as they
glorify the Lord, "can never praise God enough; they do not consider
their own thanksgiving sufficient." Also, he points out, "they desire
that men and angels should unite with them in praising God, so that
their debt of gratitude to Him may be a little more worthily paid, owing
to the increase in the number of those who praise Him."

St. Nicholas also mentioned that "the holy sons of Azariah, who by the
grace of God overcame the flames of the fiery furnace, bear witness to
this" same truth. All of which prompted him to say, "It was fitting
that they should give thanks to God for their miraculous and unexpected
delivery; but they did not consider their own praise and acclamation
sufficient - they called to their aid the angels and every race of man,
the heavens, the sun, the stars, the earth, the mountains, inanimate
beings - in short, the whole creation."

Embracing the truth that we are blessed to be among those called to give
thanks to God, let us, being a part of the Church, take the praises of
the Three Holy Children upon our lips for the words of their hymn "teach
us to cry out in reverence: O only Trinity, Equipotent and
beginningless, blessed art Thou." Indeed, the Apostle Paul likewise
admonishes us: "in everything give thanks for this is the will of God in
Christ Jesus for you" (1 Thess. 5:18). So also, St. John Chrysostom
cautions us not to be spectators in the Divine Liturgy, nor in any
aspect of this present life. In truth, all voices of the Church:
angels, archangels, priests, archpriests, deacons, men, women, and
children are meant to unite in the praise of God.

The actual Song of the Three Holy Children divides into three natural
parts: first there is an offering of praise, exalting Him Who alone is
worthy of all glory, honor and worship (Song of the Three 28-33). This
recalls, as does the Divine Liturgy, that throughout all time God has
not ceased "to do all things until He should bring us back to heaven and
endow us with His kingdom which is to come." These verses of the hymn
join our praises to those of the heavenly tabernacle where God is seated
upon the Cherubim, on the"throne of [His] Kingdom" (vss. 31, 32).

The next, longer section of the prayer invokes all creation to join in
the praise of God (vss. 34-60). Is this possible for all creatures -
for the stars of heaven, the rain and dew, wind, fire and heat? Let us
learn from these verses that the whole created order is actively, not
passively, engaged in God's praise. Created things are not, as the
contemporary, materialists imply, mere matter to be manipulated for our
wants, but fellow creatures who, even in the times when we forget, are
ever extolling God's wonder. As St. Hippolytus of Rome says, "the three
youths in the furnace....showed [created things] to be all the servants
of God" with us. Let us, then, orient ourselves to approach all matter
with the reverence due fellow worshipers of God.

In the concluding verses, the three Holy Children call to the Church: "O
Israel, bless ye the Lord: praise and exalt Him above all for ever" (vs.
60). Praise is not for Priests alone (vs. 61), but for all of us who
are "servants of the Lord" (vs. 62), the living as well as the "spirits
and souls of the righteous" (vs. 63). Let us truly "give thanks unto
the Lord, because He is gracious: for His mercy endureth for ever" (vs.
66). Indeed, Beloved of the Lord, "It is meet and right to worship
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: the Trinity, one in Essence, and
undivided," and let us also ever lift our hearts and voices to the Lord,
"for His mercy endureth for ever" (vs. 67).

We hymn Thee, we bless Thee, we worship Thee, we glorify Thee, we give
thanks unto Thee for Thy great glory, O Lord King , heavenly God.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home