knitternun

Thursday, May 31, 2007

31/05/07 Visitation of Mary

[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
'Father in heaven, by your grace the virgin mother of your incarnate Son was blessed in bearing him, but still more blessed in keeping your word: Grant us who honor the exaltation of her lowliness to follow the example of her devotion to your will; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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Today's Scripture http://www.satucket.com/lectionary/

AM Psalm 37:1-18; PM Psalm 37:19-42
Deut. 4:32-40; 2 Cor. 3:1-18; Luke 16:1-9
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From Forward Day by Day: http://www.forwardmovement.org/todaysreading.cfm

1 Samuel 1:1-20*. Hannah, why do you weep? Why do you not eat? Why is your heart sad? Am I not more to you than ten sons?

The loving words from the text today come from Elkanah, Hannah's husband. Filled with the pain of barrenness and the ridicule of a rival wife, Hannah is in misery. Steeped in the cultural norm which claims she is not worthy or whole unless she bears a son, she weeps and prays for deliverance. In the end her prayer is answered, and Samuel is born.


But the real hero of the story is Elkanah, the husband whose words defy the very cultural norms that would exile Hannah from the social circle. Elkanah claims Hannah as whole and worthy. He even offers himself to her, proclaiming his care--in spite of what the culture might dictate.


I often make note of unnamed or forgotten women of the Bible. Here is a forgotten (though not unnamed) man who honored the woman for herself. Elkanah's is a long-ago witness whose message is a gift for today.
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Today we remember: http://satucket.com/lectionary/Calendar.htm

Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

AM Psalm 72; 1 Samuel 1:1-20; Hebrews 3:1-6
PM Psalm 146, 147; Zechariah 2:10-13; John 3: 25-30
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Today in the Anglican Cycle of Prayer we pray for the Diocese of Ogbomoso (Prov. of Ibadan, Nigeria)
http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acp/index.cfm
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Carmelite.com: Reflections http://www.carmelite.com/spirituality/reflection.php

The beginner must think of themselves as one setting out to make a garden in which the Lord is to take His delight.
St Teresa of Jesus
Life 11.6
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Reading from the Desert Christians http://www.cin.org/dsrtftin.html

When blessed Antony was praying in his cell, a voice spoke to him, saying, "Antony, you have not yet come to the measure of the the tanner who is in Alexandria." When he heard this, the old man arose and took his stick and hurried into the city. When he had found the tanner...he said to him, "Tell me about your work, for today I have left the desert and come here to see you."

He replied, "I am not aware that I have done anything good. When I get up in the morning, before I sit down to work, I say that the whole of this city, small and great, will go into the Kingdom of God because of their good deeds, while I alone will go into eternal punishment because of my evil deeds. Every evening I repeat the same words and believe them in my heart."

When blessed Antony heard this he said, "My son, you sit in your own house and work well, and you have the peace of the Kingdom of God; but i spend all my time in solitude with no distractions, and i have not come near the measure of such words."
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Sayings of the Jewish Fathers (Pirqe Aboth)
http://www.sacred-texts.com/jud/sjf/index.htm

Rabbi Chanania ben 'Aqashia said, The Holy One, blessed is He, was pleased to give merit to Israel: therefore he multiplied unto them Thorah and precepts, for it is said, The Lord is well pleased for his righteousness' sake; he will magnify the law, and make it honourable (Is. xlii. 21).
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Daily Meditation (Henri Nouwen) http://www.henrinouwen.org/home/free_eletters/

Jesus Is Persecuted

Jesus, the favorite Child of God, is persecuted. He who is poor, gentle, mourning; he who hungers and thirsts for uprightness; is merciful, pure of heart and a peacemaker is not welcome in this world. The Blessed One of God is a threat to the established order and a source of constant irritation to those who consider themselves the rulers of this world. Without his accusing anyone he is considered an accuser, without his condemning anyone he makes people feel guilty and ashamed, without his judging anyone those who see him feel judged. In their eyes, he cannot be tolerated and needs to be destroyed, because letting him be seems like a confession of guilt.

When we want to become like Jesus, we cannot expect always to be liked and admired. We have to be prepared to be rejected.
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Upper Room Daily Reflection http://www.upperroom.org/reflections/

LIFE, IF WE LET IT, FORMS US. It teaches us the varied wisdom of its seasons: the mysterious arts of welcoming our children; of becoming the nurturers, the active protectors and teachers; then the arts of letting go, of loving more, of having hearts stretch wide and deep enough to surrender — the fiery brilliance of our autumn harvest yielding to the gray yet deeply rooted winter tide.

- Wendy Wright
“Potter and Clay: Thoughts on Forming and Being Formed”
Weavings Journal

From Weavings Journal, March/April 2002. Copyright © 2002 by The Upper Room. All Rights Reserved.
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Richard Rohr's Daily Reflection
http://cacradicalgrace.org/getconnected/getconnected_index.html

"Silence Is Golden"

As a people, we are afraid of silence. That’s our major barrier to prayer. I believe silence and words are related. Words that don’t come out of silence probably don’t say much. They probably are more an unloading than a communicating. Yet words feed silence, and that’s why we have the word of God- the read word, the proclaimed word, the written word. But that written and proclaimed word, doesn’t bear a great deal of fruit- it doesn’t really break open the heart of the Spirit- unless it’s tasted and chewed, unless it’s felt and suffered and enjoyed at a level beyond words. Blaise Pascal said all human evil comes into the world because people can’t sit still in a chair for thirty minutes! I hope that’s an exaggeration. Maybe he’s saying that running from silence is undoubtedly running from our souls, ourselves, and therefore, from God. If I had to advise one thing for spiritual growth, it would be silence.

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

The Visitation

My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit exults in God my Savior. How charmingly and beautifully Mary sings in response to her older cousin! How devoutly and humbly she turns the praise from herself to God the giver of all gifts! It is as if she were saying: Elizabeth, my cousin, you extol me, but I do not extol myself; rather, for all that you have said my soul magnifies the Lord. You said that your child exulted in your womb when I spoke; my spirit exults with joy beyond measure in God my Savior. You call me blessed because you are not the first or the only one to praise me; rather henceforth all generations will call me blessed: the children of our children, and those born of them in turn.

But why will they call me blessed? For my merits? No, but out of regard for God, because the Most High has looked upon the lowliness of his handmaid. For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed, and rightly, justly so, for he who is mighty has done great things for me. I acknowledge the favor and claim no greatness of my own. I am indeed great, not of myself, however, but because he who is mighty has done great things for me.

Thomas of Villanova, O.S.A.
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Daily Readings From "My Utmost for His Highest", Oswald Chambers
http://www.myutmost.org/

GOD FIRST


Put God First in Trust. "Jesus did not commit Himself unto them . . . for He knew what was in man." John 2:24-25

Our Lord trusted no man; yet He was never suspicious, never bitter, never in despair about any man, because He put God first in trust; He trusted absolutely in what God's grace could do for any man. If I put my trust in human beings first, I will end in despairing of everyone; I will become bitter, because I have insisted on man being what no man ever can be - absolutely right. Never trust anything but the grace of God in yourself or in anyone else.

Put God's Needs First. "Lo, I come to do Thy will, 0 God." Hebrews 10:9

A man's obedience is to what he sees to be a need; Our Lord's obedience was to the will of His Father. The cry to-day is - "We must get some work to do; the heathen are dying without God; we must go and tell them of Him." We have to see first of all that God's needs in us personally are being met. "Tarry ye until. . . ." The purpose of this College is to get us rightly related to the needs of God. When God's needs in us have been met, then He will open the way for us to realize His needs elsewhere.

Put God's Trust First. "And whoso receiveth one such little child in my name receiveth Me." Matthew 18:5

God's trust is that He gives me Himself as a babe. God expects my personal life to be a "Bethlehem." Am I allowing my natural life to be slowly transfigured by the indwelling life of the Son of God? God's ultimate purpose is that His Son might be manifested in my mortal flesh.
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G. K. Chesterton Day by Day
http://www.cse.dmu.ac.uk/~mward/gkc/books/gkcday/gkcday.html

OUR civilization has decided, and very justly decided, that determining the guilt or innocence of men is a thing too important to be trusted to trained men. If it wishes for light upon that awful matter, it asks men who know no more law than I know, but who can feel the things that I felt in the jury-box. When it wants a library catalogued, or the solar system discovered, or any trifle of that kind, it uses up its specialists. But when it wishes anything done which is really serious, it collects twelve of the ordinary men standing round. The same thing was done, if I remember right, by the Founder of Christianity.

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

Chapter 7: On Humility

The second degree of humility
is that a person love not his own will
nor take pleasure in satisfying his desires,
but model his actions on the saying of the Lord,
"I have come not to do My own will,
but the will of Him who sent Me" (John 6:38).
It is written also,
"Self-will has its punishment,
but constraint wins a crown."

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


The first rung of the ladder of the spiritual life is to recognize that God is God, that nothing else can be permitted to consume us or satisfy us, that we must reach out for God before we can even begin to live the God-life. We must come to understand that we are not our own destinies.

The second rung of the spiritual life follows naturally: If God is my center and my end, then I must accept the will of God, knowing that in it lies the fullness of life for me, however obscure. The question, of course, is how do we recognize the Will of God? How do we tell the will of God from our own? How do we know when to resist the tide and confront the opposition and when to embrace the pain and accept the bitterness because "God wills it for us." The answer lies in the fact that the Jesus who said "I have come not to do my own will but the will of the One who sent me" is also the Jesus who prayed in Gethsemane, "Let this chalice pass from me:" The will of God for us is what remains of a situation after we try without stint and pray without ceasing to change it.

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Dynamis http://groups.yahoo.com/group/orthodoxdynamis/
Dynamis is a daily Bible meditation based upon the lectionary of the Holy Orthodox Church.

Thursday, May 31, 2007
The Martyrs Hermias, Eusebios, and Haralampos
Kellia: Deuteronomy 9:7-17, 25-29 Epistle: Romans 1:28-2:9
Gospel: St. Matthew 5:27-32

Intercession: Deuteronomy 9:7-17, 25-29, especially vs. 26: "And I
prayed to God, and said, O Lord, King of gods, destroy not Thy people
and Thine inheritance, whom Thou didst redeem, whom Thou broughtest out
of the land of Egypt with Thy great power, and with Thy strong hand, and
with Thy high arm." At the dismissal in the Divine Liturgy, the Priest
prays: "May Christ our true God...have mercy upon us and save us,
forasmuch as He is good and loveth mankind." However, note the
additional language of this prayer that qualifies this simple, basic
petition with many added phrases: "through the intercessions of His
all-immaculate and all-blameless holy Mother; by the might of the
precious and life-giving Cross, by the protection of the honorable
bodiless powers of heaven; at the supplications of the honorable,
glorious Prophet, Forerunner, and Baptist, John; of the holy, glorious
and all-laudable Apostles; of our father among the saints, John
Chrysostom, archbishop of Constantinople; of the holy, glorious and
right-victorious martyrs; of our venerable and God-bearing fathers; of
[the patron saint of the Church]; of the holy and righteous ancestors of
God, Joachim and Anna; of [the saint of the day] whose memory we
celebrate and of all the saints: have mercy upon us and save us...,"etc.

The People of God rely on the intercessions of the Saints of God in
their necessities, especially for God's mercy and for salvation, a
practice within the history of God's People for long millennia, even
from the righteous Noah who interceded for all living things upon
leaving the ark, for he "built an altar to the Lord...and offered a
whole burnt-offering" (Gen. 8:20). God responded to Noah with this
promise, "I will not any more curse the earth, because of the works of
men, because the imagination of man is intently bent upon evil things
from his youth, I will not therefore any more smite all living flesh as
I have done. All the days of the earth, seed and harvest, cold and
heat, summer and spring, shall not cease by day or night" (Gen. 8:21,22).

God reveals His People's sins, the state of their souls, and of their
many needs to His Righteous Prophet Moses who responds as an
intercessor. First, the Lord directs Moses to "arise, go down quickly
from hence, for thy people whom thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt
have transgressed" (Deut. 9:12). God alerts Moses to an evil situation
requiring earnest prayer, and the Prophet hastens down the mountain to
look for himself to see how the people have "gone aside quickly out of
the way which I commanded them" (vs. 12). Of course, there Moses
discovers the grievous sin: they have cast a golden statue of a calf and
are worshiping it (Deut. 9:16; Ex. 32:4-6). He turns directly to
intercession, making petition before the Lord (Deut 9:18).

Thus, as the Lord informs the Prophet of the idolatry going on at the
foot of the mountain, He calls the Israelites, the ancient People of
God, as "thy people" (Deut. 9:12) instead of "My people." . The bond
between us and God and the Saints, results from common union in Christ.
While the Saints know our necessities and care for us and our welfare
far more than we can imagine, being joined to us in Christ, still we can
cut ourselves off from them and God.

After Moses observes for himself what the people are doing, he knows
exactly what is required in the circumstance. This is not something he
thinks through, but a godly movement of his heart: he "prayed before the
Lord forty days and forty nights...for the Lord said that He would
utterly destroy [them], and [he] prayed to God, and said, O Lord, King
of gods, destroy not Thy people and Thine inheritance" (vss. 25,26).
The Saints are ready, willing, and eager to pray for us in our needs
before the throne of God. Let us humbly and earnestly seek their
intercessions.

O protection of Christians, mediation unto the Creator most constant: be
thou quick, O good one, to hasten to intercession and speed thou to make
supplications, O Theotokos.

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

30/05/07 Wednesday after Pentecost

[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

Almighty God, on this day you opened the way of eternal life to every race and nation by the promised gift of your Holy Spirit: Shed abroad this gift throughout the world by the preaching of the Gospel, that it may reach to the ends of the earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

or this

O God, who on this day taught the hearts of your faithful people by sending to them the light of your Holy Spirit: Grant us by the same Spirit to have a right judgment in all things, and evermore to rejoice in his holy comfort; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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Today's Scripture http://www.satucket.com/lectionary/

AM Psalm 38; PM Psalm 119:25-48
Deut. 4:25-31; 2 Cor. 1:23-2:17; Luke 15:1-2,11-32
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From Forward Day by Day: http://www.forwardmovement.org/todaysreading.cfm

Luke 15:1-2, 11-32. Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.

Sometimes I would like to be the "prodigal daughter." I envision the coming home moment of the younger son and imagine the pain of the past washed away. Reconciliation and return are the sweet fruit of returning from the land of self-centered grief.


My own life actually is more that of the elder son. Slogging away as the responsible one, it sometimes seemed as if those around me were having all the fun and freedom. I failed to see the despair of the younger brother, the search for identity, the transformation required for his return. But most of all I failed to see the constant generosity of the father in the story or the rich blessings of my own life.


The father was not just generous to the returning son, but to the elder as well who just couldn't see that the father's love and care were part of his everyday life. Opening our eyes to the ever-present gifts of life, to the blessings of each day is sometimes a challenge. But when we meet it, our hearts are open to the constant love which surrounds us
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Today in the Anglican Cycle of Prayer we pray for the Diocese of Offa (Prov. of Ibadan, Nigeria)
http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acp/index.cfm
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Carmelite.com: Reflections http://www.carmelite.com/spirituality/reflection.php

Take God for your bridegroom and friend, and walk with him continually; and you will not sin and will learn to love, and the things you must do will work out prosperously for you.
St John of the Cross
Sayings of Light and Love, 68.
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Reading from the Desert Christians http://www.cin.org/dsrtftin.html

Abba Isidore said, "If you fast regularly, do not be inflated with pride; if you think highly of yourself because of it, then you had better eat meat. It is better for a man to eat meat than to be inflated with pride and glorify himself."
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Sayings of the Jewish Fathers (Pirqe Aboth)
http://www.sacred-texts.com/jud/sjf/index.htm

Whatsoever the Holy One, blessed is He, created in his world, he created not but for his glory, for it is said, Every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him (Is. xliii. 7); and it saith, The Lord shall reign for ever and ever (Ex. xv. 18).
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Daily Meditation (Henri Nouwen) http://www.henrinouwen.org/home/free_eletters/
Jesus Is a Peacemaker

Jesus, the Blessed Child of the Father, is a peacemaker. His peace doesn't mean only absence of war. It is not simply harmony or equilibrium. His peace is the fullness of well-being, gratuitously given by God. Jesus says, "Peace I leave to you, my own peace I give you, a peace which the world cannot give, this is my gift to you" (John 14:27).

Peace is Shalom --- well-being of mind, heart, and body, individually and communally. It can exist in the midst of a war-torn world, even in the midst of unresolved problems and increasing human conflicts. Jesus made that peace by giving his life for his brothers and sisters. This is no easy peace, but it is everlasting and it comes from God. Are we willing to give our lives in the service of peace?


Weekly Reflection
On the Journey Towards Becoming More Gentle
written by RITA O'CONNOR
Gentle is not the first word people use when they describe me. I'm not even sure it is the tenth word. I work as a supply teacher, and my class control methods on more than one occasion have prompted the students to salute me. I do know I'm on the journey toward gentleness.

I've learned that being gentle means being aware of the other person. I am gentle with babies: holding them close and speaking to them sweetly. I am gentle with toddlers, keeping a distance and asking, "May I help you with that?" I was gentle with each of my parents in their last illnesses. Sick people, at least these two, abhor loud noises and "fuss." So with them I was a softer-spoken, slower-moving person.

Somehow for me gentleness links to reverence. Some years ago a family friend began to speak of the day she found her husband, who had died by suicide. I listened. Not asking a question, not making a comment. I can recall other moments of reverent listening as well.

I move fast and talk fast and loud, so if you look up gentle in a dictionary you won't find my picture. But. I'm on the journey.



RITA O'CONNOR is a single, middle aged teacher living in Richmond Hill, Ontario. She is a staunch Roman Catholic and attends a United Church. She has been an assistant at L'Arche Daybreak and remains a friend of the community.
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From the Principles of the Third Society of St. Francis:

Day Thirty - The Three Notes

The humility, love and joy which mark the lives of Tertiaries are all God given graces. They can never be obtained by human effort. They are gifts of the Holy Spirit. The purpose of Christ is to work miracles through people who are willing to be emptied of self and to surrender to him. We then become channels of grace through whom his mighty work is done.
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Upper Room Daily Reflection http://www.upperroom.org/reflections/

WHAT’S THE MOST IMPORTANT thing I can say about the Holy Spirit? Power? Tongues? Gifts? No. Fellowship! Yes, fellowship is the deepest work of God’s Spirit. The Spirit of God is drawing us all of the time into a common life with one another. That is the central work of God’s Spirit — creating community.

- Trevor Hudson and Stephen D. Bryant
The Way of Transforming Discipleship

From page 71 of The Way of Transforming Discipleship by Trevor Hudson and Stephen D. Bryant. Copyright © 2005 by Upper Room Books.
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Richard Rohr's Daily Reflection
http://cacradicalgrace.org/getconnected/getconnected_index.html


"Don’t Save Your Soul"

We prostituted Christianity when we told our people they had to “save their souls.” That attitude often affirmed the ego “spiritually,” which is very dangerous and deceptive. We called it the journey into holiness, but it was often disguised and denied self-interest. Saving one’s soul and falling in love with God are two very different journeys. Because we told our people to save their souls, they got into spiritual consumerism, gathering sacraments, holy works, ascetical practices-all affirming the false self. Now we’ve got these big Christian egos walking around, who are very self-protective, satisfied and conservative in the wrong way. Conversion is not on their agenda. Every preacher or teacher knows what I’m talking about. An unhealthy conservatism is incapable of exodus, of risk, of passion, and, therefore, perhaps incapable of living God.

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

A love from human partiality

Love unites us to God; it cancels innumerable sins, has no limits to its endurance, bears everything patiently. Love is neither servile nor arrogant. It does not provoke schisms or form cliques, but always acts in harmony with others. By it all God's chosen ones have been sanctified; without it, it is impossible to please him. Out of love the Lord took us to himself; because he loved us and it was God's will, our Lord Jesus Christ gave his life's blood for us—he gave his body for our body, his soul for our soul.

See then, beloved, what a great and wonderful thing love is, and how inexpressible its perfection. Who are worthy to possess it unless God makes them so? To God therefore we must turn, begging of his mercy that there may be found in us a love free from human partiality and beyond reproach. Every generation from Adam's time to ours has passed away; but those who by God's grace were made perfect in love have a dwelling now among the saints, and when at last the kingdom of Christ appears, they will be revealed.

Happy are we, beloved, if love enables us to live in harmony and in the observance of God's commandments, for then it will also gain for us the remission of our sins.

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

"YES - BUT . . . !"


"Lord, I will follow Thee; but . . ." Luke 9:61

Supposing God tells you to do something which is an enormous test to your common sense, what are you going to do? Hang back? If you get into the habit of doing a thing in the physical domain, you will do it every time until you break the habit determinedly; and the same is true spiritually. Again and again you will get up to what Jesus Christ wants, and every time you will turn back when it comes to the point, until you abandon resolutely. "Yes, but - supposing I do obey God in this matter, what about . . . ?" "Yes, I will obey God if He will let me use my common sense, but don't ask me to take a step in the dark." Jesus Christ demands of the man who trusts Him the same reckless sporting spirit that the natural man exhibits. If a man is going to do anything worth while, there are times when he has to risk everything on his leap, and in the spiritual domain Jesus Christ demands that you risk everything you hold by common sense and leap into what He says, and immediately you do, you find that what He says fits on as solidly as common sense. At the bar of common sense Jesus Christ's statements may seem mad; but bring them to the bar of faith, and you begin to find with awestruck spirit that they are the words of God. Trust entirely in God, and when He brings you to the venture, see that you take it. We act like pagans in a crisis, only one out of a crowd is daring enough to bank his faith in the character of God.
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G. K. Chesterton Day by Day
http://www.cse.dmu.ac.uk/~mward/gkc/books/gkcday/gkcday.html

BLESSED JOAN OF ARC

JOAN of Arc was not stuck at the Cross Roads either by rejecting all the paths like Tolstoy or by accepting them all like Nietzsche. She chose a path and went down it like a thunderbolt. Yet Joan, when I come to think of her, had in her all that was true either in Tolstoy or Nietzsche -- all that was even tolerable in eitber of them. I thought of all that is noble in Tolstoy: the pleasure in plain things, especially in plain pity, the actualities of the earth, the reverence for the poor, the dignity of the bowed back. Joan of Arc had all that, and with this great addition: that she endured poverty while she admired it, whereas Tolstoy is only a typical aristocrat trying to find out its secret. And then I thought of all that was brave and proud and pathetic in poor Nietzsche and his mutiny against the emptiness and timidity of our time. I thought of his cry for the ecstatic equilibrium of danger, his hunger for the rush of great horses, his cry to arms. Well, Joan of Arc had all that and, again, with this difference, that she did not praise fighting, but fought. We know that she was not afraid of an army, while Nietzsche for all we know was afraid of a cow. Tolstoy only praised the peasant; she was the peasant. Nietzsche only praised the warrior; she was the warrior. She beat them both at their own antagonistic ideals she was more gentle than the one, more violent than the other. Yet she was a perfectly practical person who did something, while they are wild speculators who do nothing.

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

Chapter 7: On Humility

We must be on our guard, therefore, against evil desires,
for death lies close by the gate of pleasure.
Hence the Scripture gives this command:
"Go not after your concupiscences" (Eccles. 18:30).

So therefore,
since the eyes of the Lord observe the good and the evil (Prov. 15:3)
and the Lord is always looking down from heaven
on the children of earth
"to see if there be anyone who understands and seeks God" (Ps. 13:2),
and since our deeds are daily,
day and night,
reported to the Lord by the Angels assigned to us,
we must constantly beware, brethren,
as the Prophet says in the Psalm,
lest at any time God see us falling into evil ways
and becoming unprofitable (Ps. 13:3);
and lest, having spared us for the present
because in His kindness He awaits our reformation,
He say to us in the future,
"These things you did, and I held My peace" (Ps. 49:21).

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


The God-life, Benedict is telling us, is a never-ending, unremitting, totally absorbing enterprise. God is intent on it; so must we be. The Hebrew poet, Moses Ibn Ezra, writes: "Those who persist in knocking will succeed in entering." Benedict thinks no less. It is not perfection that leads us to God; it is perseverance.

++++++++++

Dynamis http://groups.yahoo.com/group/orthodoxdynamis/
Dynamis is a daily Bible meditation based upon the lectionary of the Holy Orthodox Church.

Isaac, Founder of the Dalmaton Monastery in Constantinople
Kellia: Deuteronomy 8:1-10 Epistle: Romans 1:18-27
Gospel: St. Matthew 5:20-26

Expect Only Good From God: Deuteronomy 8:1-10, especially vs. 3: “And He
afflicted thee and straitened thee with hunger, and fed thee with manna,
which thy fathers knew not; that He might teach thee that man shall not
live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of
God shall man live.” Dionysios the Areopagite, reflecting on the nature
of God, says, “'Tis the whole Being of the Supernal Godhead (saith the
Scripture) that the Absolute Goodness hath defined and revealed. For in
what other sense may we take the words of Holy Writ when it tells us how
the Godhead spake concerning Himself, and said: ‘Why asketh thou Me
concerning the good? None is good save One, that is, God [Mk. 10:18].’”
Let us then expect only the good from God; at the same time, let us also
understand that it is He Who defines the good even as He gives what is
the best for us.

In this passage from Deuteronomy, the Prophet Moses reveals four things
the People of God may expect from the Lord: 1) He will humble us, 2) He
will test us, 3) He will discipline us, and 4) He will bring us “into a
good land” (vs. 7). Moses further reminds us that God gives us these
good things with a desire to evoke right thinking and wholesome actions
from us.

The successful man of the world may object to the Prophet’s proposal
that humbling is one of God’s good gifts to His Beloved. Yes, there is a
painful, bitter side to being humbled, but notice what Moses reveals as
God’s purpose in humbling us: “to know what was in [our] heart” (vs. 2).
So that God might know? Not at all, for the Lord already knows what is
in a man’s heart (Jn. 2:25). Rather, the Lord humbles us that we might
discover what is in our heart, that we might face whether we are
inclined to keep His commandments, and that, with this knowledge, we
might cleanse everything from our heart that is not worthy of us or our
Creator.

God tests us also, Moses says (Deut. 8:2), and the Prophet closely
associates God’s testing of His People with His humbling of us. God does
test and humble us, not only that we should discern what is going on in
our hearts, but also to learn that “man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God shall man live”
(vs. 3).

God tested ancient Israel by leading them into a desert largely devoid
of resources for food and shelter. In the stark barrenness of Sinai, the
Lord provided an unexpected food, called manna, a source of nourishment
they had not experienced before. Furthermore, He took care that their
clothing did not wear out (vss. 3,4).

Testing and humbling are Divinely provided educational experiences that
rouse our hearts to utter dependence on God and heighten the acuity of
our spiritual ears so that we become attentive to the word of God in
every situation, in every temptation (Mt. 4:3,4), and in all choices and
decisions (1 Kngs. 3:9).

We may also expect discipline from the Lord that we may grow in the
capacity to walk in His ways and fear Him (Deut. 8:6). Even when
discipline is experienced as punishment, so long as it is received from
the hand of the Lord, not in bitterness or anger toward Him, it can
guide us through the “narrow gate” and onto that “difficult...way which
leads to life” (Mt. 7:13).

Finally, God’s humbling, testing, and disciplining have the great value
of awakening us to the truth that He is bringing [us] into a “good land”
(Deut. 8:7). For ancient Israel, Moses spelled out the evidence of the
goodness of the Promised Land, that they might remember (as we also
should) “to bless the Lord [our] God for the good land He has given
[us]” (vs. 10). In Christ, we expect a “good land” that is “not of this
world,” but a Kingdom rich in life, both now and ever.

“Our Father Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name: Thy Kingdom come.
Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven” (Mt. 6:9-10).

Labels:

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

29/05/07 Tuesday after Pentecost

[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

Almighty God, on this day you opened the way of eternal life to every
race and nation by the promised gift of your Holy Spirit: Shed abroad
this gift throughout the world by the preaching of the Gospel, that it
may reach to the ends of the earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who
lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God,
for ever and ever. Amen.

or this

O God, who on this day taught the hearts of your faithful people by
sending to them the light of your Holy Spirit: Grant us by the same
Spirit to have a right judgment in all things, and evermore to rejoice
in his holy comfort; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives
and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for
ever and ever. Amen.
++++++++++

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

AM Psalm 26, 28; PM Psalm 36, 39
Deut. 4:15-24; 2 Cor. 1:12-22; Luke 15:1-10
++++++++++

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

Luke 15:1-10. Which of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of
them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after
the one that is lost until he finds it?

I often find myself spending an inordinate amount of time balancing my
checkbook to the penny, or working overtime to ensure that one
person's confusion and complaints are heard with loving care.


I resent the time spent making things right. Wouldn't it be easier to
hope the bank is correct? To suggest the unhappy member look for
another parish? After all, we wouldn't want to let one bad apple spoil
the bunch. I have often thought my neighbor should just forget the
wayward one and pay attention to the others. I think of the
ninety-nine sheep in Jesus' wilderness and wonder if there is anyone
watching them while the shepherd goes searching for the one.


I suspect my struggle with the text is that I see myself in the pack
of ninety-nine, the coin that stays safely in the purse, the child who
does not run away. And I miss the care of the shepherd who seems
preoccupied with one of the other sheep. Yet, if I go deeper into
myself, I know I too have been lost. And I am glad the shepherd goes
searching.
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Today in the Anglican Cycle of Prayer we pray for the Diocese of
Nyahururu (Kenya)
http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acp/index.cfm
++++++++++

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

She lived in solitude, and now in Solitude has built her nest; and in
Solitude her beloved alone guides her, who also bears in solitude the
wound of love.
St John of the Cross
Spiritual Canticle, 35.
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Reading from the Desert Christians http://www.cin.org/dsrtftin.html

Amma Matrona said, "There are many in the mountains who behave as if
they were in the town, and they are wasting their time. It is better
to have many people around you and to live the solitary life in your
will than to be alone and always longing to be with a crowd."
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Sayings of the Jewish Fathers (Pirqe Aboth)
http://www.sacred-texts.com/jud/sjf/index.htm

Five, possessions possessed the Holy One, blessed is He, in his
world, and these are they: THORAH, one possession; HEAVEN AND EARTH,
one possession; Abraham, one possession; ISRAEL, one possession; THE
SANCTUARY, one possession. Thorah, whence? because it is written, The
Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old
(Prov. viii. 22); Heaven and Earth, whence? because it is written,
Thus saith the Lord, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my
footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the
place of my rest (Is. lxvi. 1)? and it saith, O Lord, how manifold are
thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy
possessions (Ps. civ. 24); Abraham, whence? because it is written, And
he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God,
possessor of heaven and earth (Gen. xiv. 19); Israel, whence? because
it is written, Till thy people pass over, O Lord, till the people pass
over, which thou hast possessed (Ex. xv. 16); and it saith, To the
saints that are in the earth, and to the excellent, in whom is all my
delight (Ps. xvi. 3); The Sanctuary, whence? because it is written,
The place, O Lord, which thou hast made for thee to dwell in, the
sanctuary, O Lord, which thy hands have established (Ex. xv. 17); and
it saith, And he brought them to the border of his sanctuary, even to
this mountain, which his right-hand had possessed (Ps. lxxviii. 54).
++++++++++

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

Jesus Is Pure of Heart

Jesus, the Beloved of God, has a pure heart. Having a pure heart means
willing one thing. Jesus wanted only to do the will of his heavenly
Father. Whatever Jesus did or said, he did and said it as the obedient
Son of God: "What I say is what the Father has taught me; he who sent
me is with me, and has not left me to myself, for I always do what
pleases him" (John 8:28-29). There are no divisions in Jesus' heart,
no double motives or secret intentions. In Jesus there is complete
inner unity because of his complete unity with God.

Becoming like Jesus is growing into purity of heart. That purity is
what gave Jesus and will give us true spiritual vision
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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.
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Upper Room Daily Reflection http://www.upperroom.org/reflections/

THE PURE IN HEART will see God; the peacemakers will become the
children of God; the persecuted will receive the kingdom of God's
heaven; and those who are reviled falsely by their enemies will enter
into the joy of that heaven.

To me, these are not just promises for the future but a present
reality beginning, if we choose, this moment.

- Flora Slosson Wuellner
Forgiveness, the Passionate Journey

From page 142 of Forgiveness, the Passionate Journey by Flora Slosson
Wuellner. Copyright (c) 2001 by Flora Slosson Wuellner.
+++++++++++

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

"We Still Need the Saints"

The saints are our heroes and heroines: It's worth being Catholic
to hope that we might be like them. It's good to stand on the
shoulders of these giants, these free, poor and in-love people.
Catholicism at its best wants to give you the freedom of a saint. It
can lead you on a wisdom journey, a universal tradition that includes
Abraham, Sarah, Moses, the prophets, Jesus, Mary and two thousand
years of saints. Saints, like all of us, are forgiven sinners. But
saints have rejoiced in forgiveness and not been overwhelmed by the
sin. Many of them, frankly, were ignorant, biased, broken and
neurotic. That gives me hope. I've been inspired, motivated and
energized much more in my Catholicism by reading biographies and lives
of saints than any book of theology. They were the heroes and heroines
who formed my ideals as a young man. We still need to read the lives
of the saints, and I think our young people do, too. Every culture I
am aware of forms its next generation by heroic epics and myths.

from Why Be Catholic

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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

Pupils in the school of Christ

Our Lord Jesus Christ wished us to understand that what he did for
people's bodies he also did for their souls. He did not work miracles
merely for miracles' sake; his object was that his deeds might arouse
wonder in the beholders and reveal the truth to those capable of
understanding.

A person who sees the letters in a beautifully written book without
being able to read them will praise the skill of the copyist because
he admires the graceful shape of the letters, but the purpose and
meaning of these letters he does not grasp. What he sees with his eyes
prompts him to praise, but his mind is not enriched with knowledge.
Another, praising the artistry, will also grasp the meaning; one, that
is, who is able not only to see what everyone else sees but also to
read it, which is a skill that has to be learned. So too, those who
observed Christ's miracles without grasping their purpose and the
meaning they had for those able to understand simply admired the
deeds. Others went further: they admired the deeds and also grasped
the meaning. As pupils in the school of Christ, we must be such as
these.

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

UNDISTURBED RELATIONSHIP


"At that day ye shall ask in My name . . ." "The Father Himself loveth
you." John 16:26, 27

"At that day ye shall ask in My name," i.e., in My nature. Not - "You
shall use My name as a magic word," but - "You will be so intimate
with Me that you will be one with Me." "That day" is not a day
hereafter, but a day meant for here and now. "The Father Himself
loveth you" - the union is so complete and absolute. Our Lord does not
mean that life will be free from external perplexities, but that just
as He knew the Father's heart and mind, so by the baptism of the Holy
Ghost He can lift us into the heavenly places where He can reveal the
counsels of God to us.

"Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My name. . . ." "That day" is a
day of undisturbed relationship between God and the saint. Just as
Jesus stood unsullied in the presence of His Father, so by the mighty
efficacy of the baptism of the Holy Ghost, we can be lifted into that
relationship - "that they may be one, even as We are One."

"He will give it you." Jesus says that God will recognize our prayers.
What a challenge! By the Resurrection and Ascension power of Jesus, by
the sent-down Holy Ghost, we can be lifted into such a relationship
with the Father that we are at one with the perfect sovereign will of
God by our free choice even as Jesus was. In that wonderful position,
placed there by Jesus Christ, we can pray to God in His name, in His
nature, which is gifted to us by the Holy Ghost, and Jesus says -
"What soever ye shall ask the Father in My name, He will give it you."
- The sovereign character of Jesus Christ is tested by His own
statements.
++++++++++

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

THE RESTORATION

IT is a commonplace that the Restoration Movement can only be
understood when considered as a reaction against Puritanism. But it is
insufficiently realized that the tyranny which half frustrated all the
good work of Puritanism was of a very peculiar kind. It was not the
fire of Puritanism, the exultation in sobriety, the frenzy of
restraint, which passed away: that still burns in the heart of
England, only to be quenched by the final overwhelming sea. But it is
seldom remembered that the Puritans were in their day emphatically
intellectual bullies, that they relied swaggeringly on the logical
necessity of Calvinism, that they bound omnipotence itself in the
chains of syllogism. The Puritans fell, through the damning fact that
they had a complete theory of life, through the eternal paradox that a
satisfactory explanation can never satisfy.

'Twelve Types.'
++++++++++

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

Chapter 7: On Humility

As for self-will,
we are forbidden to do our own will
by the Scripture, which says to us,
"Turn away from your own will" (Eccles. 18:30),
and likewise by the prayer in which we ask God
that His will be done in us.
And rightly are we taught not to do our own will
when we take heed to the warning of Scripture:
"There are ways which seem right,
but the ends of them plunge into the depths of hell" (Prov. 16:25);
and also when we tremble at what is said of the careless:
"They are corrupt and have become abominable in their will."

And as for the desires of the flesh,
let us believe with the Prophet that God is ever present to us,
when he says to the Lord,
"Every desire of mine is before You" (Ps. 37:10).

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

Benedict makes two points clearly: First, we are capable of choosing
for God in life. We are not trapped by an essential weakness that
makes God knowable but not possible. Second, we are more than the
body. Choosing God means having to concentrate on nourishing the soul
rather than on sating the flesh, not because the flesh is bad but
because the flesh is not enough to make the human fully human. To give
ourselves entirely to the pleasures of the body may close us to
beauties known only to the soul.

Humility lies in knowing who we are and what our lives are meant to
garner. The irony of humility is that, if we have it, we know we are
made for greatness, we are made for God.
++++++++++

Dynamis http://groups.yahoo.com/group/orthodoxdynamis/
Dynamis is a daily Bible meditation based upon the lectionary of the
Holy Orthodox Church.

Tuesday, May 29, 2007 Hieromartyr Luke, Surgeon of Simferopol
Kellia: Deuteronomy 7:1-2, 16-26 Epistle: Romans
1:1-7, 13-17
Gospel: St. Matthew 4:25-5:3

Precept and Promise: Deuteronomy 7:1-2, 16-26, especially vss. 1-2: "And
when the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land, into which thou
goest to possess it....and shall remove seven nations more numerous and
stronger than you, and...deliver them into thy hands, then thou shalt
smite them: thou shalt utterly destroy them: thou shalt not make a
covenant with them, neither shall ye pity them." In light of this
passage, we ought to be moved to enlarge the petition of Vespers to
read: "O Holy One; enlighten me with thy precepts and promises." For
even as the Lord our God obligates us with precepts, expecting us, as
His covenant People, to act upon that which He commands, even so He
promises to give us "all the spoils of the nations" (Deut 7:16).

In this present age, stained with the blood and cruel horror of genocide
across the globe, this portion of Moses' last will and testament
conjures up images that make us hesitate to read these Divine words and
seek from them any foreshadowing of the glorious Gospel of Christ our
God. Still, the pattern of Divine precept and promise that dominates
these verses indeed will rally the careful reader to obedient action as
a true partner with God in the salvation of the world. After all, the
land, into which we are going to possess, is the vast battlefield of our
hearts, where God has promised to "remove great nations from before
thee" (vs. 1).

For all who have ever seriously delved into this danger zone of battle
and promise, know that the inner space of "great temptations which thine
eyes have seen," is likewise filled with "those signs and great wonders,
the strong hand, and the high arm" of "the Lord thy God" (vs. 19).
Yes, there are deadly foes within us, but more important is the living,
present God Who promises His Faithful that He "shall consume these
nations before [His People] by little and little" (vs. 22). Be not
dismayed, O People of God, for steadfast and able is He Who has laid
these precepts upon us and made us unchangeable promises that He will
fulfill.

What does He promise? He assures us, His People, that He will bring His
Church "into the land" and remove great nations of enemies "from before
thee" (vs. 1), and "deliver them into thy hands" (vss. 2,23). Where is
this promised land? As He has said, "the Kingdom of God is within you"
(Lk. 17:21). Well we ought to recoil at the enemies that we encounter
within us, fiends who tear us every way possible from the Lord; but let
us heed His promises: "the Lord thy God shall send against them the
hornets, until they that are left and they that are hidden from thee be
utterly destroyed" (Deut 7:20). The nests of evils within us must be
destroyed.

Of course we hesitate to do battle because we fear the wounds of
combat. We know our frailty, for we have been stricken in previous
skirmishes. We have seen comrades and loved ones fall. God understands
this, but He assures us: "thou shalt not be wounded before them, because
the Lord thy God in the midst of thee is a great and powerful God" (vs.
21). God is with us! Yes, we would prefer a quick victory, but, in
promising us that we shall prevail, the Lord also tells us honestly that
He will consume these seemingly invincible enemies before us, but only
"by little and little; thou shalt not be able to consume them speedily"
(vs. 22). No quick fixes!

God's precepts are the key to victory. As we turn inward in prayer, let
us smite our foes (vs. 2). Let us "not make a covenant with them" nor
"pity them" (vs. 2). Rather let us "destroy them utterly" (vs. 24),
burn up every image of them that intrudes into our hearts and minds (vs.
25). Let us resist every temptation to give the abominations of the
enemy a place in our inner life. Dethrone these kings, refuse their
sovereignty over the soul (vs. 26). Christ is Victor!

Be Thou exalted above the heavens, O God, and Thy glory above all the
earth. That Thy beloved ones may be delivered, save Thou with Thy right
hand and hearken unto us.

Labels:

Monday, May 28, 2007

28/05/07 Monday in the week of Pentecost

[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

Almighty and everliving God, whose servant Thomas Cranmer, with others, restored the language of the people in the prayers of your Church: Make us always thankful for this heritage; and help us so to pray in the Spirit and with the understanding, that we may worthily magnify your holy Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen
++++++++++

Today's Scripture http://www.satucket.com/lectionary/
AM Psalm 25; PM Psalm 9, 15
Deut. 4:9-14; 2 Cor. 1:1-11; Luke 14:25-35

++++++++++

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

Luke 14:25-35. Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple.

What does Jesus mean by these words? I often make compromises with such texts, interpreting them to mean something else. Perhaps this text means that God is to be first in our lives, that all decisions are to be shaped by commitment to discipleship. I have experienced the freedom of losing my life to find it, of the aloneness which has, at least in glimpses, made Jesus primary in my life.


But this text goes further than my inner struggles with loss or job discernment. This suggests turning my back on all I learned about responsibility to family. Is that what discipleship meant for Jesus, for us?


It is good for us to ponder what Jesus might mean. I have no clear answer as to what action is required. What is clear is that discipleship comes at a cost. Sometimes that cost is a break with the tradition we grew up with. Accepting Jesus may cause some close to us to distance themselves from us. How must we change to be a disciple? Perhaps in the willingness to struggle for truth we find the answer.
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Today we remember: http://satucket.com/lectionary/Calendar.htm

The First Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 96:1-9 or 33:1-5, 20-21
Acts 2:38-42; John 4:21-24
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Today in the Anglican Cycle of Prayer we pray for the Diocese of Nsukka (Prov. of the Niger, Nigeria)
http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acp/index.cfm
++++++++++

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

Scattering a thousand graces, he passed through these groves in haste, and looking on them as he went, with his glance alone, he clothed them in beauty.
St John of the Cross
Spiritual Canticle, 5.
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Reading from the Desert Christians http://www.cin.org/dsrtftin.html

This place was called Cellia, because of the number of cells there, scattered about the desert. Those who have already begun their training there [i.e. in Nitria] and want to live a more remote life, stripped of external things, withdraw there. For this is the utter desert and the cells are divided from one another by so great a distance that no one can see his neighbour nor can any voice be heard. They live alone in their cells and there is a huge silence and a great quiet there. Only on Saturday and Sunday do they meet in church, and then they see each other
++++++++++

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

Said Rabbi Jose ben Qisma, Once I was walking by the way, and there met me a man, and be gave me "Peace"; and I returned him "Peace." He said to me, Rabbi, from what place art thou? I said to him, From a great city of wise men, and doctors, am I. He said to me, Rabbi, should it be thy pleasure to dwell with us in our place, I will give thee a thousand thousand dinars of gold, and goodly stones, and pearls. I said to him, If thou shouldest give me all the silver, and gold, and goodly stones, and pearls that are in the world, I would not dwell but in a place of Thorah; and thus it is written in the book of Psalms, by the hands of David, king of Israel, The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver (Ps. cxix. 72). Moreover in the hour of a man's decease not silver, nor gold, nor goodly stones, and pearls accompany the man, but Thorah and good works alone, for it is said, When thou goest, it shall lead thee; when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee; and when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee (Prov. vi. 22). "When thou goest, it shall lead thee," in this world: "when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee," in the grave: "and when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee," in the world to come. And it saith, The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord of hosts (Hang. ii. 8).
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Daily Meditation (Henri Nouwen) http://www.henrinouwen.org/home/free_eletters/

Jesus Is Merciful

Jesus, the Blessed Child of God, is merciful. Showing mercy is different from having pity. Pity connotes distance, even looking down upon. When a beggar asks for money and you give him something out of pity, you are not showing mercy. Mercy comes from a compassionate heart; it comes from a desire to be an equal. Jesus didn't want to look down on us. He wanted to become one of us and feel deeply with us.

When Jesus called the only son of the widow of Nain to life, he did so because he felt the deep sorrow of the grieving mother in his own heart (see Luke 7:11-17). Let us look at Jesus when we want to know how to show mercy to our brothers and sisters.
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The Merton Reflection for the Week of May 28, 2007 www.mertoninstitute.org

"Lady, when on that night I left the Island that was once your England, your love went with me, although I could not know it, and could not make myself aware of it. It was your love, your intercession for me before God that was preparing the seas before my ship, laying open the way for me to another country. I was not sure where I was going and I could not see what I would do when I got to New York. But you saw further and clearer than I and you opened the seas before my ship whose track led me across the waters to a place I had never dreamed of, and which you were even then preparing for me to be my rescue and my shelter and my home. And when I thought there was no God and no love and no mercy, you were leading me all the while into the midst of His love and His mercy and taking me, without my knowing anything about it, to the house that would hide me in the secret of His Face."

Thomas Merton. The Seven Storey Mountain. New York: Harcourt, Brace: 129-130.

Thought to Remember

"I really need prayer in sorrow of heart, more humble thought of how to go about saying and doing what I say and do. I try to act as if I were wise, but I do not have the fear of God without which there is no beginning of wisdom. "

Thomas Merton. A Search for Solitude. Journals, volume 4. Lawrence S. Cunningham, editor. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1996: 277.
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From the Principles of the Third Society of St. Francis:

Day Twenty Eight - The Third Note -

Joy

Tertiaries, rejoicing in the Lord always, show in our lives the grace and beauty of divine joy. We remember that they follow the Son of Man, who came eating and drinking, who loved the birds and the flowers, who blessed little children, who was a friend of tax collectors and sinners, and who sat at the tables of both the rich and the poor. We delight in fun and laughter, rejoicing in God's world, its beauty and its living creatures, calling nothing common or unclean. We mix freely with all people, ready to bind up the broken-hearted and to bring joy into the lives of others. We carry within them an inner peace and happiness which others may perceive, even if they do not know its source.

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

MY GOD, EVERY FIBER of my being vibrates at the touch of your grace — whereby I am given the privilege of being your child. My joy at your overwhelming gestures of love and the high privilege you extend to me of entering into your life invades my being with an acute sense of your ever-nearness. In response to this, my Lord, I offer praises to you.

Yet, my Lord, I am often cold toward you. I forget to love you for long periods of time — and this to my own harm and regret. Forgive me, Lord! Everloving God, set my life aflame with love for you only. O my God, I long to reflect your image throughout the world so that others might observe your doing in me and themselves be convinced that you love them also.

- Norman Shawchuck
A Guide to Prayer for All Who Seek God

From pages 402-403 of A Guide to Prayer for All Who Seek God by Norman Shawchuck and Rueben P. Job. Copyright © 2003 by Norman Shawchuck and Rueben P. Job.
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Richard Rohr's Daily Reflection
http://cacradicalgrace.org/getconnected/getconnected_index.html

"Breakthrough"

As Catholic Christians in America, we’ve got to make connections with all cultures, with all our brothers and sisters who share the bread and the cup with us. We must ask, How are they brothers and sisters? Are we really Kingdom people? Or, after all is said and done, are we only American people? In this century, I think, Catholics have the greatest chance to make this breakthrough. The Catholic Church is an international institution. Our brothers and sisters from other countries keep telling us there’s a bigger world. I think we’re going to get converted. The U.S. bishop’s pastorals on peace and on economic justice give us hope. The pope’s social encyclicals are truly global in scope. Yes, our eyes are opening. We’re discovering that we North Americans just might be the most unliberated, and therefore the most ready for liberation. We who have the greatest blindness think we don’t need liberation. We think Time and Newsweek tell us the whole truth, and we are content with that worldview. We must fight that blindness with vision. The global access of American Catholics is fated to become global responsibility.

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

A second birth of Christ

We have Saint Augustine's authority for calling this feast of the resurrection a second birth of Christ. The saint says that Christ had two births. The first occurred when he was born from the matchless virginal womb of Mary, for there has not been and never will be another of comparable virginity. This first birth was truly a birth. The second birth occurred when Christ emerged from the tomb and was a metaphorical birth. He thus dwelt in two unique wombs, for the womb of the sepulcher was as unique in its own way as the Virgin's womb was in its way.

In this second birth the Mother of God, who had ceased to be a mother, was again chosen to be Mother of God. Let us go a step further and see which feast was more fully hers: the feast of the resurrection or the feast of the nativity. Truly, the former was much more hers! At the nativity she truly became the Mother of God because she gave birth to him; at the resurrection, however, she became the Mother of God by recovering what she had lost. At the nativity she became a mother who would cease to be a mother; at the resurrection she became a mother who would not again cease to be a mother.

Dionisio Vazquez, O.S.A., (1479 - 1529), an Augustinian friar, who preached both at the papal court in Rome and at the imperial court in Spain, was the forerunner of several great Spanish preachers of the sixteenth century.
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Daily Readings From "My Utmost for His Highest", Oswald Chambers
http://www.myutmost.org/

UNQUESTIONED REVELATION


"And in that day ye shall ask Me nothing." John 16:23

When is "that day"? When the Ascended Lord makes you one with the Father. In that day you will be one with the Father as Jesus is, and "in that day," Jesus says, "ye shall ask Me nothing." Until the resurrection life of Jesus is manifested in you, you want to ask this and that; then after a while you find all questions gone, you do not seem to have any left to ask. You have come to the place of entire reliance on the resurrection life of Jesus which brings you into perfect contact with the purpose of God. Are you living that life now? If not, why shouldn't you?

There may be any number of things dark to your understanding, but they do not come in between your heart and God. "And in that day ye shall ask Me no question" - you do not need to, you are so certain that God will bring things out in accordance with His will. John 14:1 has become the real state of your heart, and there are no more questions to be asked. If anything is a mystery to you and it is coming in between you and God, never look for the explanation in your intellect, look for it in your disposition, it is that which is wrong. When once your disposition is willing to submit to the life of Jesus, the understanding will be perfectly clear, and you will get to the place where there is no distance between the Father and His child because the Lord has made you one, and "in that day ye shall ask Me no question."

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

BOYS like romantic tales; but babies like realistic tales -- because they find them romantic. In fact, a baby is about the only person, I should think, to whom a modern realistic novel could be read without boring him.

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

Chapter 7: On Humility

Let a man consider
that God is always looking at him from heaven,
that his actions are everywhere visible to the divine eyes
and are constantly being reported to God by the Angels.
This is what the Prophet shows us
when he represents God as ever present within our thoughts,
in the words "Searcher of minds and hearts is God" (Ps. 7:10)
and again in the words "The Lord knows the thoughts of men" (Ps. 93:11).
Again he says,
"You have read my thoughts from afar" (Ps. 138:3)
and "The thoughts of people will confess to You" (Ps. 75:11).

In order that he may be careful
about his wrongful thoughts, therefore,
let the faithful brother say constantly in his heart,
"Then shall I be spotless before Him,
if I have kept myself from my iniquity" (Ps. 17:24).

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

Benedict, whose whole way of life is steeped in the psalms, relies heavily on the psalms here to prove God's probing presence to the individual soul. God, Benedict says quite clearly, is within us to be realized, not outside of us to be stumbled upon. It is not a game of hide and seek we play in the spiritual life. It is simply a matter of opening our eyes to the light which drives out the darkness within us.

"How does a person seek union with God?" the seeker asked.
"The harder you seek," the teacher said, "the more distance you create between God and you."
"So what does one do about the distance?"
"Understand that it isn't there," the teacher said.
"Does that mean that God and I are one?" the seeker said.
"Not one. Not two."
"How is that possible?" the seeker asked.
"The sun and its light, the ocean and the wave, the singer and his song.--Not one. Not two."
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Dynamis http://groups.yahoo.com/group/orthodoxdynamis/
Dynamis is a daily Bible meditation based upon the lectionary of the Holy Orthodox Church.

Holy Spirit Day, Monday, May 28, 2007
Memorial Day - US Germanos, Bishop of Paris
3rd Vespers Pentecost: Ezekiel 36:24-28
Epistle: Ephesians 5:9-19 Gospel: St. Matthew18:10-20

Coming Home: Ezekiel 36:24-28, especially vs. 24: "For I will take you
from the nations, and gather you from all the countries, and bring you
into your own land." The nationalist longing of Jews around the world
for a homeland is, in part, a lasting result of Prophets like Ezekiel,
who himself was exiled in Babylon. Beginning in the middle of the 19th
century AD, Jewish thinkers advanced a back-to-Zion movement, which in
1897 became the Zionist Organization, dedicated to securing a home in
Palestine. Practical Zionism at first could do little more than
establish a few isolated Jewish agricultural settlements in Palestine,
but in the 1920s, after the area became a British Mandate, more land was
purchased and immigration increased. Both in 1929 and 1936 there were
major protests by the Palestinian Arabs, Christians and Moslems alike,
which led to the idea of partitioning. In the post-World War II era,
Israel became a state after two local wars. Large-scale immigration
followed, and there definitely has been no lessening of tensions.

How then are Orthodox Christians, as the true Israel - the true People
of God - to understand Ezekiel's prophecy? What is meant by "coming
into our own land," for we are a worldwide people in many lands? While
the first and last verses of this prophecy speak of "land," the reading
actually is concerned with God's promise to transform the hearts of His
People by His Holy Spirit, which makes these verses appropriate to the
Feast of Pentecost. It is the work of the Spirit in the hearts of God's
People that enables us to "walk in [His] statutes and be careful to
observe [His] ordinances," and be His People for whom He is God (vss.
27, 28).

The Orthodox prayer for the Holy Spirit used regularly at the beginning
of our services, teaches us that the Holy Spirit is "everywhere present
and fillest all things." Hence, there can be no land that is not under
the sovereignty of God nor is beyond His rule and providence.
Therefore, wherever we are is "our own land" as long as we are seeking
the infilling of the Spirit and in all things endeavoring to follow and
observe His gracious governance. Most of all, "our own land," is the
Kingdom of Christ; but, as the Lord Jesus told Pontius Pilate, it is
"not of this world" (Jn. 18:36). Still, we reach its "boundaries" each
time we gather as the Church.

When we are assembled as Church the Spirit especially is known to "come
and dwell in us and cleanse us of every stain of sin," as the prayer of
the Spirit reveals. In fact, if He does not come and cleanse us and
dwell in us, we cannot even be the Church. His renewing and purifying
work becomes most evident as we receive the Christian Mystery, for
thereby God bestows upon us "a new birth through water and the Spirit."
By His action, we are empowered to cast off the idols that pollute our
hearts, separate us from God and turn us into Kingdom aliens.

The Christian Mysteries received in the assemblies of the Church are the
very means by which God "gives us hearts of flesh and puts His Spirit
within us" (Ezek. 36:26,27). This is why at every celebration of the
Divine Liturgy we pray the Lord to "send down Thy Holy Spirit" not only
on the "Gifts here spread forth" but also "upon us....unto Communion of
the Thy Holy Spirit, unto the fulfillment of the Kingdom of Heaven, unto
boldness toward Thee, and not unto judgment or unto condemnation," so
that we "may....observe [God's] ordinances" (vs. 27).

While the Jews desperately still are looking for their "own land" and to
establish it by human strength, we are blessed, time and time again, to
experience the Kingdom over which God rules now and ever. Beloved, we
are enabled by the power of the Spirit to "dwell in the land which [the
Lord] gave to your fathers;" for we are His People, and He is our God
(vs. 28).

All-Holy Spirit, issuing from the Father and coming through the Son upon
us, save and sanctify all those who know Thee as God, Life, and Life-Giver.

Labels:

Sunday, May 27, 2007

28/05/07 Feast of Pentecost

[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

Almighty God, on this day you opened the way of eternal life to every race and nation by the promised gift of your Holy Spirit: Shed abroad this gift throughout the world by the preaching of the Gospel, that it may reach to the ends of the earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

or this

O God, who on this day taught the hearts of your faithful people by sending to them the light of your Holy Spirit: Grant us by the same Spirit to have a right judgment in all things, and evermore to rejoice in his holy comfort; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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Today's Scripture http://www.satucket.com/lectionary/

AM Psalm 118; PM Psalm 145
Isa. 11:1-9; 1 Cor. 2:1-13; John 14:21-29
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From Forward Day by Day: http://www.forwardmovement.org/todaysreading.cfm

1 Cor. 12:4-13. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

Though it's not my regular parish, I have been grateful to be part of what was called a "charismatic" community. Among the gifts of the Spirit of that community were healing and speaking in tongues. Generally, these gifts were seen as part of the whole. But from time to time, especially on Pentecost, a competition arose as to who might be the star of glossolalia. Wisely, the rector was aware of this competition and reminded the community that any gift of the Spirit, however manifest, is for the common good and not for self-aggrandizement. As we discern the gifts we offer to the church, it is well always to ask first the question of the common good.


The languages of Pentecost are nothing if not understood by the people. The gifts of healing and working of miracles are not for show but so the community might be bound together in love. I am reminded of this as I hone my own skills for work in the church. It is not a bad thing for others to notice one's inspirational speaking, but unless it builds up the body for the common good, it is not a manifestation of the Spirit.
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Today in the Anglican Cycle of Prayer we pray for the Diocese of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island (Canada, Canada)
http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acp/index.cfm
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Carmelite.com: Reflections http://www.carmelite.com/spirituality/reflection.php

Our most holy King has much more to give: He would rejoice to do nothing but give could He find souls capable of receiving.
St Teresa of Jesus
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Reading from the Desert Christians http://www.cin.org/dsrtftin.html

Theophilus of holy memory, bishop of Alexandria, journeyed to Scetis and the brethren coming together said to abba Pambo, "Say a word or two to the bishop, that his soul may be edified in this place." The old man replied, "If he is not edified by my silence, there is no hope that he will be edified by my words."
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Sayings of the Jewish Fathers (Pirqe Aboth)
http://www.sacred-texts.com/jud/sjf/index.htm

Rabbi Shime'on ben Jehudah, in the name of Rabbi Shime'on ben Jochai, said, Comeliness, and strength, and wealth, and honour, and wisdom, and age, and hoariness, and sons, are comely to the righteous, and comely to the world, for it is said, The hoary head is a crown of glory; it is found in the way of righteousness (Prov. xvi. 31); and it saith, The glory of young men is their strength: and the beauty of old men is the grey head (Prov. xx. 29); and it saith, Sons' sons are the crown of old men; and the glory of sons are their fathers (Prov. xvii. 6); and it saith, Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously (Is. xxiv. 23).
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Daily Meditation (Henri Nouwen) http://www.henrinouwen.org/home/free_eletters/

Jesus Hungers and Thirsts for Uprightness

Jesus, the Blessed Son of God, hungers and thirsts for uprightness. He abhors injustice. He resists those who try to gather wealth and influence by oppression and exploitation. His whole being yearns for people to treat one another as brothers and sisters, sons and daughters of the same God.

With fervor he proclaims that the way to the Kingdom is not saying many prayers or offering many sacrifices but in feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and visiting the sick and the prisoners (see Matthew 25:31-46). He longs for a just world. He wants us to live with the same hunger and thirst.
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From the Principles of the Third Society of St. Francis:

Day Twenty Eight - The Third Note -

Joy

Tertiaries, rejoicing in the Lord always, show in our lives the grace and beauty of divine joy. We remember that they follow the Son of Man, who came eating and drinking, who loved the birds and the flowers, who blessed little children, who was a friend of tax collectors and sinners, and who sat at the tables of both the rich and the poor. We delight in fun and laughter, rejoicing in God's world, its beauty and its living creatures, calling nothing common or unclean. We mix freely with all people, ready to bind up the broken-hearted and to bring joy into the lives of others. We carry within them an inner peace and happiness which others may perceive, even if they do not know its source.
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Upper Room Daily Reflection http://www.upperroom.org/reflections/

AT PENTECOST the Spirit came to empower the church as prophetic community. To accomplish this, the gifts of the Spirit were distributed to each member so that through their sharing the sum of the gifts might be available to all. The way in which this gift-giving occurred is described in the scriptures as tongues of fire riding on the wind and coming to rest on the apostles. The power and vitality of the image is captivating. The rush of wind and flame, the startled surprise of the ones being gifted, the surge of empowerment that bursts in only to burst through and extend beyond. The coming of the gifts of the Spirit is dynamic and dramatic.

However one defines the gifts of the Spirit, one truth remains: the gifts are not given for individual enrichment or enhancement; they are given to be shared. They are meant to give life to the whole community. … The Pentecost event is at the core of our identity as church. As Jesus promised, the Spirit was sent. And it empowered the church with a variety of gifts meant to be shared.

- Wendy M. Wright
The Rising

From pages 179-180 of The Rising by Wendy M. Wright. Copyright © 1994 by Wendy M. Wright.
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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

Think of the cross as an example to inspire you

Our Savior wishes us to use the cross as a sign in all our meditations and actions and imprint it as a symbol of himself on everything we do or say, just as the portrait of a monarch is stamped on all genuine royal coinage. It will not be difficult for you to do this, he says, if you continue in your love for me, because love is as strong as death. As by God's decree death conquers everything, so too does love overcome all things, proving stronger even than death itself. Think of the cross as an example to inspire you. If the thought of it remains strong in your hearts, you will refuse to regard anything else as more precious, or to let anything dishearten or discourage you. The sign of the cross will put you in communion with me.

Theodoret of Cyrus ,(393 - 466) was the last great theologian of Antioch whose exegetical works are among the finest of the Antiochene school, and he made a contribution to almost every field of sacred science.
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Daily Readings From "My Utmost for His Highest", Oswald Chambers
http://www.myutmost.org/

THE LIFE THAT LIVES


"Tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high." Luke 24:49

The disciples had to tarry until the day of Pentecost not for their own preparation only; they had to wait until the Lord was glorified historically. As soon as He was glorified, what happened? "Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, He hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear." The parenthesis in John 7:39 ("For the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified") does not apply to us; the Holy Ghost has been given, the Lord is glorified; the waiting depends not on God's providence, but on our fitness.

The Holy Spirit's influence and power were at work before Pentecost, but He was not here. Immediately Our Lord was glorified in Ascension, the Holy Spirit came into this world, and He has been here ever since. We have to receive the revelation that He is here. The reception of the Holy Spirit is the maintained attitude of a believer. When we receive the Holy Spirit, we receive quickening life from the ascended Lord.

It is not the baptism of the Holy Ghost which changes men, but the power of the ascended Christ coming into men's lives by the Holy Ghost that changes them. We too often divorce what the New Testament never divorces. The baptism of the Holy Ghost is not an experience apart from Jesus Christ: it is the evidence of the ascended Christ.

The baptism of the Holy Ghost does not make you think of Time or Eternity, it is one amazing glorious NOW. "This is life eternal that they might know Thee." Begin to know Him now, and finish never.
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G. K. Chesterton Day by Day
http://www.cse.dmu.ac.uk/~mward/gkc/books/gkcday/gkcday.html

WHITSUNDAY

I HAVE a far more solid and central ground for submitting to Christianity as a faith, instead of merely picking up hints from it as a scheme. And that is this; that the Christian Church in its practical relation to my soul is a living teacher, not a dead one. It not only certainly taught me yesterday, but will almost certainly teach me to-morrow. Once I saw suddenly the meaning of the shape of the cross some day I may see suddenly the meaning of the shape of the mitre. One fine morning I saw why windows were pointed; some fine morning I may see why priests were shaven. Plato has told you a truth; but Plato is dead. Shakespeare has startled you with an image; but Shakespeare will not startle you with any more. But imagine what it would be to live with such men still living. To know that Plato might break out with an original lecture to-morrow, or that at any moment Shakespeare might shatter everything with a single song. The man who lives in contact with what he believes to be a living Church is a man always expecting to meet Plato and Shakespeare to-morrow at breakfast. He is always expecting to see some truth that he has never seen before.

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

Chapter 7: On Humility

The first degree of humility, then,
is that a person keep the fear of God before his eyes
and beware of ever forgetting it.
Let him be ever mindful of all that God has commanded;
let his thoughts constantly recur
to the hell-fire which will burn for their sins
those who despise God,
and to the life everlasting which is prepared
for those who fear Him.
Let him keep himself at every moment from sins and vices,
whether of the mind, the tongue, the hands, the feet,
or the self-will,
and check also the desires of the flesh.

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

The very consciousness of God in time is central to Benedict's perception of the spiritual life. Benedict's position is both shocking and simple: being sinless is not enough. Being steeped in the mind of God is most important. While we restrain ourselves from harsh speech and bad actions and demands of the flesh and pride of soul, what is most vital to the fanning of the spiritual fire is to become aware that the God we seek is aware of us. Sanctity, in other words, is not a matter of moral athletics. Sanctity is a conscious relationship with the conscious but invisible God. The theology is an enlivening and liberating one: It is not a matter, the posture implies, of our becoming good enough to gain the God who is somewhere outside of us. It is a matter of gaining the God within, the love of Whom impels us to good.

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Dynamis http://groups.yahoo.com/group/orthodoxdynamis/
Dynamis is a daily Bible meditation based upon the lectionary of the Holy Orthodox Church.

Holy Pentecost: Trinity Sunday Fast Free Week
The Lord’s Day, May 27, 2007
2nd Vespers Pentecost: Joel 2:23-32
Apostle: Acts 2:1-11 Gospel: St. John 7:37-52

Recompense: Joel 2:23-32, especially vs. 29: “And on My servants and on
My handmaids in those days will I pour out of My Spirit.” The Prophet
Joel foretold an outpouring of the Spirit of God, and Christ’s Apostle
declares its arrival: “this is that which was spoken by the Prophet”
(Acts 2:16). We are living in those days that Joel foresaw, days “which
the Lord hath made; let us rejoice and be glad therein” (Ps. 117:24
LXX), for God has endowed us “with the seal of the Spirit;” indeed, “we
have received the heavenly Spirit...for He hath saved us.” Consider the
wonder of fulfillment, cause for rejoicing and gladness, “ye children of
Zion, in the Lord your God” (Joel 2:23). “This is the Lord’s doing, and
it is marvelous in our eyes” (Ps. 117:23 LXX).

Over the years of our life, “the locust, and the caterpillar, and the
palmerworm, and the cankerworm” of our sins “have eaten” away at our
spiritual vitality, stripping life from our hearts and souls, coming
like a “great army” of consequences into inner being - a devouring horde
to eat up our joy, peace, and purity. And the Lord allowed all this to
come upon us - has even sent it like an army against us for our
wrongdoings and transgressions (Joel 2:25).

Let us be clear: it is we who have invited this swarm of locusts that
eat up the spiritual food God would give us. However, today, at this
moment, as is ever true with God, the Lord Jesus Christ Who fully
assumed our humanity has a place for us at His heavenly banquet table.
After all, Beloved of the Lord, we are His - His own sons and daughters.
Truly, how He longs for us to come home to Him like awakened prodigals,
like true returning sons and daughters! Come, let us “eat abundantly,
and be satisfied, and...praise the Name of the Lord [our] God for the
things which He has wrought wonderfully with [us]” (vs. 26).

What has God “wrought”? As St. John Chrysostom reminds us so often: He
did not “cease to do all things until” He had “brought us back to
heaven, and...endowed us with [His] Kingdom which is to come” - we hear
it in every Liturgy. Remember: God Himself took our flesh from the
Virgin. God the Son “Himself has suffered, being tempted...to aid those
who are tempted” (Heb. 2:18), but more, He has become “food indeed” (Jn.
6:55) for us, His People, “bread which came down from heaven;” and those
who eat “this bread will live forever.”

Consider the present condition of our life in Christ - as members of the
Church of the Living God: if we confess our sins, the Lord removes our
shame forever (Joel 2:26). Listen to Him: “know that I Am in the midst
of Israel, and that I Am the Lord your God” (Joel 2:27). As He says, He
is raining “on [us] the early and the latter rain” (vs. 23) of His Holy
Spirit. Do we not pray to a good God? Do we not ask Him to: “send down
Thy Holy Spirit upon us and upon these Gifts”? Do we think that He does
not honor the prayers of His Beloved? The Holy Spirit is falling upon
us, fulfilling “the Kingdom of Heaven unto boldness” toward our God. The
Lord means to “recompense [us] for the years which the locust....have
eaten” (vs. 25).

Children of Zion, “let us rejoice then and be glad” (vs. 23), casting
away the shame of our sins into the oblivion of His mercy and
forgiveness, and let us “dream dreams, and...see visions” of what God
has wrought among us (vs. 28). Let us not hesitate to “call on the Name
of the Lord [and] be saved: for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall the
saved one [the Church] be as the Lord has said” (vs. 32). Never forget
that “He Who rose again from the dead, Christ our true God - through the
intercessions of His all-immaculate...Mother....[has] mercy on us and
[saves] us forasmuch as He is good and loveth mankind.”

May the blessing of the Lord and His mercy come upon us through His
grace and love toward mankind, always, now and ever, and unto ages of
ages. Amen.

Saturday, May 26, 2007

26/05/07 Saturday, week of 7th 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, the King of glory, you have exalted your only Son Jesus Christ with great triumph to your kingdom in heaven: Do not leave us comfortless, but send us your Holy Spirit to strengthen us, and exalt us to that place where our Savior Christ has gone before; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.
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Today's Scripture http://www.satucket.com/lectionary/

AM Psalm 107:33-43, 108:1-6(7-13)
Ezek. 43:1-12; Heb. 9:1-14; Luke 11:14-23
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From Forward Day by Day: http://www.forwardmovement.org/todaysreading.cfm

Psalm 108. Wake up, my spirit; awake, lute and harp; I myself will waken the dawn.

Most mornings I am awakened by the musical sound of my radio alarm. Outside, even in May, there is only a glimpse of the emerging dawn. It is as if the music itself brings on the morning. Occasionally on this particular station there are even the sounds of lyre and harp. In my waking sleep I imagine some faraway hillside where less classical versions of these instruments accompany daily work. I am grateful for this awakening music which is usually of a quiet, celebratory, classically ordered nature. It gives me a sense that whatever the events of the day before me and however fitful my sleep may have been, I can face the day to come with the same joy, order, and equanimity that comes from the musical strains of my radio.


As I push the sleep button for ten more minutes, the musical interlude is an invitation not just for the dawn, but for my own body to ready itself for the day. I awaken not merely to the rising sun, but to everything this day will offer.
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Today we remember: http://satucket.com/lectionary/Calendar.htm

Augustine of Canterbury
Psalm 66:1-8 or 103:1-4,13-18
2 Corinthians 5:17-20a; Luke 5:1-11

O Lord our God, who by your Son Jesus Christ called your apostles and sent them forth to preach the Gospel to the nations: We bless your holy name for your servant Augustine, first Archbishop of Canterbury, whose labors in propagating your Church among the English people we commemorate today; and we pray that all whom you call and send may do your will, and bide your time, and see your glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.


Eve of Pentecost:
PM Psalm 33; Exod. 19:3-8a,16-20; 1 Pet. 2:4-10
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Today in the Anglican Cycle of Prayer we pray for the Archbishop of Canterbury and churches in communion with the See of Canterbury

http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acp/index.cfm
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Carmelite.com: Reflections http://www.carmelite.com/spirituality/reflection.php

O living flame of love, that tenderly wounds my soul, in it deepest centre! Since now you are not oppressive, now consummate! if it be your will: tear through the veil of this sweet encounter!
St John of the Cross
Living Flame, stanza 1.
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Reading from the Desert Christians http://www.cin.org/dsrtftin.html

Abba Nilus said, "The arrows of the enemy cannot touch one who loves quietness; but he who moves about in a crowd will often be wounded."
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Sayings of the Jewish Fathers (Pirqe Aboth)
http://www.sacred-texts.com/jud/sjf/index.htm

Great is Thorah, which gives life to those who practise it in this world and in the world to come, for it is said, For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh (Prov. iv. 22); and it saith, It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones (Prov. iii. 8); and it saith, She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that retaineth her (Prov. iii. 18); and it saith, For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck (Prov. i. 9); and it saith, She shall give to thine head an ornament of grace: a crown of glory shall she deliver to thee (Prov. iv. 9); and it saith, For by me thy days shall be multiplied, and the years of thy life shall be increased (Prov. ix. 11); and it saith, Length of days is in her right hand; and in her left hand riches and honour (Prov. iii. 16): and it saith, For length of days, and years of life, and peace, shall they add to thee (Prov. iii. 2).
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Daily Meditation (Henri Nouwen) http://www.henrinouwen.org/home/free_eletters/

Jesus Mourns

Jesus, the Blessed One, mourns. Jesus mourns when his friend Lazarus dies (see John 11:33-36); he mourns when he overlooks the city of Jerusalem, soon to be destroyed (see Luke 19:41-44). Jesus mourns over all losses and devastations that fill the human heart with pain. He grieves with those who grieve and sheds tears with those who cry.

The violence, greed, lust, and so many other evils that have distorted the face of the earth and its people causes the Beloved Son of God to mourn. We too have to mourn if we hope to experience God's consolation.
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From the Principles of the Third Society of St. Francis:

Day Twenty Six - The Second Note, cont'd

Therefore, we seek to love all those to whom we are bound by ties of family or friendship. Our love for them increases as their love for Christ grows deeper. We have a special love and affection for members of the Third Order, praying for each other individually and seeking to grow in that love. We are on our guard against anything which might injure this love, and we seek reconciliation with those from whom we are estranged. We seek the same love for those with whom we have little natural affinity, for this kind of love is not a welling up of emotion, but is a bond founded in our common union with Christ.
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Upper Room Daily Reflection http://www.upperroom.org/reflections/

PEACEMAKERS ARE THOSE who see that the world and its people are broken but also hold a dream, a vision, that God can and does reach out to heal our world. And God does it through the acts of those who live by the values of this new kingdom where God’s will is being done.

- Mary Lou Redding
The Power of a Focused Heart

From page 93 of The Power of a Focused Heart by Mary Lou Redding. Copyright © 2006 by Mary Lou Redding.
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Richard Rohr's Daily Reflection
http://cacradicalgrace.org/getconnected/getconnected_index.html

"Spirit, Come"

We have been waiting for what will come tomorrow. Nine days, fifty days, fifty years, five hundred years we have been waiting. It is the day we are always waiting for, but never prepared for, the day of the great outpouring, the day that ties all other days together. It is the day when we can speak and be understood at last, the day when we can babble incoherently and people do not laugh, when it is OK to love God without apology or fear, when we know that all of the parts are different and yet all of the parts are enjoying one another. It is Pentecost, the day of the great gathering in and the great sending out. We have been waiting for this Spirit-somehow forgetting that the Spirit was given us a long time ago-in fact it was hovering over chaos in the first lines of the Bible. We are waiting for one who has already come. We are waiting for water that has already been poured fresh and sparkling into our cup. We are waiting for a cool breeze in a desert of our own making. We are waiting for a fire that has been burning incessantly within. We are waiting for the life that we already have. We are waiting, we say, and yet we have padlocked the door-out of fear. We are afraid of this part of God that awe cannot control or explain or merit, which is seductive and cannot be legislated, measured or mandated. Let’s be honest. We do not like this part of God which is dove, water and invisible wind. We are threatened by this pat of God “which blows where it will” and which our theologies cannot predict or inhibit. We, like the disciples in the Upper Room, sit behind locked doors of fear, and still day that we are waiting and preparing for his Holy Spirit. Fortunately, God has brown used to our small and cowardly ways. God knows that we settle for easy certitudes instead of gospel freedom. And God is determined to break through. The Spirit eventually overcomes the obstacles that we present and surrounds us with enough peace so that we can face the “wounds in his hands and his side.” We meet the true Jesus, wounds and all, and we greet our true selves for perhaps the first time. The two are almost the same. “Peace be with you,” he says again.

from unpublished sermon notes
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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

Why doubt?

Not only did God justify us, glorify us, and imprint on us his Son's image: he even gave up his Son for us. So Paul continues: How could he who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all fail to bestow on us every other gift as well? After giving up his own Son, refusing to spare him, how could he possibly abandon us? Think of God's great goodness in not withholding even his own Son but giving him up for all, for the mean and ungrateful, for enemies and blasphemers! How then could he fail to bestow on us every other gift as well? It is as though he said: God gave his own Son, and not only gave him but delivered him up to death. Why doubt any more about other things when you have received the Master? Why be incredulous concerning chattels when you have the Lord?

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

THINK AS JESUS TAUGHT


"Pray without ceasing." 1 Thessalonians 5:17

We think rightly or wrongly about prayer according to the conception we have in our minds of prayer. If we think of prayer as the breath in our lungs and the blood from our hearts, we think rightly. The blood flows ceaselessly, and breathing continues ceaselessly; we are not conscious of it, but it is always going on. We are not always conscious of Jesus keeping us in perfect joint with God, but if we are obeying Him, He always is. Prayer is not an exercise, it is the life. Beware of anything that stops ejaculatory prayer. "Pray without ceasing," keep the childlike habit of ejaculatory prayer in your heart to God all the time.

Jesus never mentioned unanswered prayer, He had the boundless certainty that prayer is always answered. Have we by the Spirit the unspeakable certainty that Jesus had about prayer, or do we think of the times when God does not seem to have answered prayer? "Every one that asketh receiveth." We say - "But . . . , but . . ." God answers prayer in the best way, not sometimes, but every time, although the immediate manifestation of the answer in the domain in which we want it may not always follow. Do we expect God to answer prayer?

The danger with us is that we want to water down the things that Jesus says and make them mean something in accordance with common sense; if it were only common sense, it was not worth while for Him to say it. The things Jesus says about prayer are supernatural revelations.

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

ST. AUGUSTINE OF ENGLAND'S DAY

IF our faith had been a mere fad of the fading empire, fad would have followed fad in the twilight, and if the civilization ever re-emerged (and many such have never re-emerged) it would have been under some new barbaric flag. But the Christian Church was the last life of the old society and was also the first life of the new. She took the people who were forgetting how to make an arch, and she taught them to invent the Gothic arch. In a word, the most absurd thing that could be said of the Church is the thing we have all heard said of it. How can we say that the Church wishes to bring us back into the Dark Ages? The Church was the only thing that ever brought us out of them.

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

Chapter 7: On Humility

Holy Scripture, brethren, cries out to us, saying,
"Everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled,
and he who humbles himself shall be exalted" (Luke 14:11).
In saying this it shows us
that all exaltation is a kind of pride,
against which the Prophet proves himself to be on guard
when he says,
"Lord, my heart is not exalted,
nor are mine eyes lifted up;
neither have I walked in great matters,
nor in wonders above me."
But how has he acted?
"Rather have I been of humble mind
than exalting myself;
as a weaned child on its mother's breast,
so You solace my soul" (Ps. 130:1-2).

Hence, brethren,
if we wish to reach the very highest point of humility
and to arrive speedily at that heavenly exaltation
to which ascent is made through the humility of this present life,
we must
by our ascending actions
erect the ladder Jacob saw in his dream,
on which Angels appeared to him descending and ascending.
By that descent and ascent
we must surely understand nothing else than this,
that we descend by self-exaltation and ascend by humility.
And the ladder thus set up is our life in the would,
which the Lord raises up to heaven if our heart is humbled.
For we call our body and soul the sides of the ladder,
and into these sides our divine vocation has inserted
the different steps of humility and discipline we must climb.

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

If the twentieth century has lost anything that needs to be rediscovered, if the western world has denied anything that needs to be owned, if individuals have rejected anything that needs to be professed again, if the preservation of the globe in the twenty-first century requires anything of the past at all, it may well be the commitment of the Rule of Benedict to humility.

The Roman Empire in which Benedict of Nursia wrote his alternative rule of life was a civilization in a decline not unlike our own. The economy was deteriorating, the helpless were being destroyed by the warlike, the rich lived on the backs of the poor, the powerful few made decisions that profited them but plunged the powerless many into continual chaos, the Empire expended more and more of its resources on militarism designed to maintain a system that, strained from within and threatened from without, was already long dead.

It is an environment like that into which Benedict of Nursia flung a Rule for privileged Roman citizens calling for humility, a proper sense of self in a universe of wonders. When we make ourselves God, no one in the world is safe in our presence. Humility, in other words, is the basis for right relationships in life.

Later centuries distorted the notion and confused the concept of humility with lack of self-esteem and substituted the warped and useless practice of humiliations for the idea of humility. Eventually the thought of humility was rejected out of hand and we have been left as a civilization to stew in the consequences of our arrogance.

Benedict's magna carta of humility directs us to begin the spiritual life by knowing our place in the universe, our connectedness, our dependence on God for the little greatness we have. Anything else, he says, is to find ourselves in the position of "a weaned child on its mother's lap," cut off from nourishment, puny, helpless--however grandiose our images of ourselves--and left without the resources necessary to grow in the spirit of God. No infant child is independent of its mother, weaned or not. No spiritual maturity can be achieved independent of a sense of God's role in our development.

Jacob's ladder is a recurring image of spiritual progress in classic spiritual literature, as clear in meaning to its time as the concept of the spiritual journey, for instance, would be to a later age. It connected heaven and earth. It was the process by which the soul saw and touched and climbed and clung to the presence of God in life, whose angels "descended and ascended" in an attempt to bring God down and raise us up. That ladder, that precariously balanced pathway to the invisible God, Benedict said, is the integration of body and soul. One without the other, it seems, will not do. Dualism is a hoax.

Just as false, though, is the idea that "getting ahead" and "being on top" are marks of real human achievement. Benedict says that in the spiritual life up is down and down is up, "we descend by exaltation and we ascend by humility." The goals and values of the spiritual life, in other words, are just plain different than the goals and values we've been taught by the world around us. Winning, owning, having, consuming, and controlling are not the high posts of the spiritual life. And this is the basis for social revolution in the modern world.
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Dynamis http://groups.yahoo.com/group/orthodoxdynamis/
Dynamis is a daily Bible meditation based upon the lectionary of the Holy Orthodox Church.

Saturday, May 26, 2007
Augustine of Canterbury, Enlightener of England
1st Vespers Pentecost: Numbers 11:16-17,
24-29
Apostle: Acts 28:1-31 Gospel: St. John 21:15-25

The Holy Spirit: Numbers 11:16-17, 24-29, especially vs. 25: "And the
Lord came down in a cloud, and spoke to [Moses], and took of the spirit
that was upon him, and put it upon the seventy men that were elders; and
when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied and ceased." This
selection is the first reading at the Vespers of the forthcoming Feast
of Pentecost. It illumines certain aspects of the teaching in that
service: "The Holy Spirit provideth all; overfloweth with prophecy;
fulfilleth the Priesthood; and hath taught wisdom to the illiterate. He
hath revealed the fishermen as theologians. He bringeth together all
laws of the Church. Wherefore, O Comforter, equal to the Father in
Substance and the throne, glory to Thee!"

The passage in Numbers draws from the experience of the ancient People
of God, yet it reveals the Holy Spirit as the Provider of every gift for
the Church in her common life. In particular, the Spirit empowers the
prophetic ministry among God's People. Also, He completes the ministry
of the Priesthood, imparts wisdom to all the Faithful - even those
lacking formal education - and it is He Who enables the Church to carry
out its administrative tasks well.

The Prophet Moses, the wilderness leader of God's ancient People,
Israel, at one point became overwhelmed by the burdens of his office for
he was functioning alone. He reached a point of desperation and cried
out to God, "And if Thou doest thus to me, slay me utterly, if I have
found favor with Thee, that I may not see my affliction." (Nu. 11:15).
God responded by directing Moses to "Gather Me seventy men from the
elders of Israel" upon whom the Lord would place His Spirit (Nu.
11:16). Likewise, the Church needs a diversity of gifts to carry on our
Lord Jesus' mission and worship. As the Apostle teaches: many different
ministries are required, but it is "the same Spirit" Who provides the
various skills and abilities (1 Cor 12:5, 11).

Observe that the Holy Spirit empowered the seventy with prophecy to
assist in leading the People (vss. 25-27). Prophesy is essential among
the Spirit's gifts, being a capacity that St. John Chrysostom describes
as "not only the telling of things future but also of the present," the
power to speak forthrightly to conditions in the Church and society. In
a time of extensive secularization like the present, when the Church is
more and more alien in the world, this gift from the Spirit is vital so
that the Faithful not be led away from the truth of the Gospel.

Moses' family were members of the tribe of Levi (Ex. 2:1,2), that clan
of Israelites that God set aside to serve in the tabernacle (Nu. 1:53).
As a result, the priestly caste all descended from Aaron, Moses' brother
(Nu. 3:9,10) as also did the Levites. Therefore, when the gift of the
Spirit was bestowed upon elders from all twelve of Israel's tribes, the
Lord revealed the necessary relationship between all of God's People and
the Church's Bishops and Priests. All members of the Church have
responsibility to work with the clergy in carrying out the mission.

The case of Eldad and Medad is instructive, for "they had not gone out
to the tent" for the ordination of the Seventy who were serve as the
governing council of Israel, the Sanhedrin; yet the Holy Spirit also
came upon them (Nu. 11:26). Holy wisdom imparted by the Spirit is not
given exclusively in the Church's seminaries. Many among the Faithful,
through worship, prayer, and the ascesis of may spiritual exercises, are
well-grounded in the essentials of the Faith.

Finally, God the Holy Spirit assists the Church in all its
administrative tasks, giving light and wisdom to both clergy and laity.
The Seventy did not become Priests, but still bore the "burden of the
people" with Moses in the other aspects of governance (vs. 17).

O Christ our God, send upon Thy People the Comforter, Who is Thy Spirit
and the Spirit of the Father, that in Him we may be strengthened to
serve Thee worthily before the world.

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