knitternun

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

26/06/07 Tuesday in the week of the 4th Sunday 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

O Lord, make us have perpetual love and reverence for your holy Name, for you never fail to help and govern those whom you have set upon the sure foundation of your loving­kindness; 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 97, 99, [100]; PM Psalm 94, [95]
1 Samuel 6:1-16; Acts 5:27-42; Luke 21:37-22:13
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From Forward Day by Day: http://www.forwardmovement.org/todaysreading.cfm

Luke 21:37-22:13. So they went and found everything as he had told them; and they prepared the Passover meal.

Peter and John did the cooking. Jesus sent these two to cook, then had all the apostles around him at the table to celebrate the feast. Little did the two cooks know that it would be the most famous meal ever eaten. Later Jesus would say, "I am among you as one who serves." Peter and John had been selected because he honored them, not because he thought they should bear the drudgery of the chore.


This event reminds me of time spent on the altar guild when I would prepare the communion meal in total anonymity. There is something holy in such a preparation which comes without thanks. I can understand the consternation of a French visitor who would not eat "on the fly." A meal to him was a real communion, never a burger wolfed down in a car.


The Last Supper was treasured by Jesus. The choice of Peter and John to do the laborious cooking was treasured as well. When we prepare the meal behind the scenes with no thanks, then we share with them in this time of holiness.

[Sr. Gloriamarie just has to interject... Peter and John made the arrangements certainly, but I have found the Leonardo version of who was present at it hard to beleive. I much prefer this and considering how important were women and children to Jesus, that the following is the more faithful representation: http://www.iol.ie/~duacon/lastsup.jpg )
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Today in the Anglican Cycle of Prayer we pray for the Diocese of Paraguay (South America)
http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acp/index.cfm
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Speaking to the Soul: http://www.episcopalcafe.com/

Desert solitude

Daily Reading for June 26

Solitude is one of the defining features of the wilderness. When one is alone with God two distinct opportunities emerge. In the first place, one can be more attentive to the work of the Holy Spirit inside when freed a while from competing, outside concerns. Oftentimes, God chooses to be subtle, and his subtle activity can go unnoticed if one’s world is full of jabbering televisions or idle chatter. In solitude one comes to know God as an engaging, and often witty, companion on the day’s journey rather than as an occasionally-glimpsed, stern presence. In this way, solitude often has a unique sweetness and beauty.

As one passes through the wilderness on the way back to God, one discovers a new depth and efficaciousness at prayer. Previously one might have thought that prayer consisted in saying things to God and that it trafficked only in words and mental images. In the desert the words and images fall away, and one is left with a simple awareness of God’s presence. The subtle presence of God is as palpable as that of a friend or lover, and yet one does not see God. Rather, it is as though for a moment in the corner of one’s eye one glimpses God passing. One feels caught up in God’s presence and transformed by it.

From From Image to Likeness: The Christian Journey into God by William A. Simpson (Continuum, 1997).
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Carmelite.com: Reflections http://www.carmelite.com/spirituality/reflection.php

All things praise You, Lord of all the World!

St Teresa of Jesus
Life, 25.17
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Reading from the Desert Christians http://www.cin.org/dsrtftin.html

Abba Antony said, "I no longer fear God, I love him; for love casts out fear."
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Daily Meditation (Henri Nouwen) http://www.henrinouwen.org/home/free_eletters/

A Courageous Life

"Have courage," we often say to one another. Courage is a spiritual virtue. The word courage comes from the Latin word cor, which means "heart. A courageous act is an act coming from the heart. A courageous word is a word arising from the heart. The heart, however, is not just the place where our emotions are located. The heart is the centre of our being, the centre of all thoughts, feelings, passions, and decisions.

When the flesh - the lived human experience - becomes word, community can develop. When we say, "Let me tell you what we saw. Come and listen to what we did. Sit down and let me explain to you what happened to us. Wait until you hear whom we met," we call people together and make our lives into lives for others. The word brings us together and calls us into community. When the flesh becomes word, our bodies become part of a body of people.
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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/

WHEN GOD’S PROVIDENCE is hardest to see, faith comes to the forefront — faith that keeps integrity to the dreams God entrusts to us; faith that determines to enact those dreams; faith that understands, by hope in God’s providence, its dreams will not be lost in slavery or prison or perish with bullets or crosses. For faith trusts that dreams, even when given up for dead, will rise.

- John Indermark
Genesis of Grace

From page 107 of Genesis of Grace by John Indermark. Copyright © 1997 by John Indermark. Published by Upper Room Books. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission. http://www.upperroom.org/bookstore/. Learn more about or purchase this book.
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Richard Rohr's Daily Reflection
http://cacradicalgrace.org/getconnected/getconnected_index.html


"Five Great Gifts: Prophethood"

The prophet is the one who speaks with an immediacy, an authority, an insight that is often seen as foresight into the plan of God. The prophet speaks with a special kind of non-institutional authority and tends to be in healthy tension with the apostle. If the apostle is in any sense an institutionalist, the prophet is the iconoclast. In the whole biblical tradition we always see that healthy tension between the priests and the prophets. It is the necessary and ultimately creative tension between David and Nathan (Samuel 12:7) and between Peter and Paul (Galatians 2:11). It is essential, yet most rare, that priests and prophets honor and remain in dialogue with one another’s gifts. They need one another, today perhaps more than ever. The prophet could be compared to the court jester who keeps the king honest and on course. The prophet is the passion, the justice, the truth-speaker of God, especially to all forms of institutional idolatry. They are set up for conflict and rejection (see Matthew 23:34ff.).

from The Price of Peoplehood
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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

Life to me means Christ

In all our actions and thoughts let us be intent more on the love of God than on knowledge and disputation. For love delights the soul and calms the conscience, drawing it away from the enjoyment of lesser delights and from the pursuit of our own glory. Learning without love does not lead to everlasting salvation but puffs up and ends in the most wretched ruin. Let our soul be courageous, then, in undertaking hard tasks for God; let it have the wisdom to savor heavenly things, not earthly; let it long to be enlightened by eternal wisdom and inflamed by that sweet fire that stirs us to love and desire the Creator alone and enables us to spurn all that is transitory. So far as transitory things are concerned, let us take comfort only in the fact that they do not last. In this present age we have no permanent resting place, but are ever seeking one that is to come not made by human hands, and we cry out: Life to me means Christ, and death I regard as a gain.

Richard Rolle, (1300 - 1349) was a hermit and a mystic in England who left us the fruits of his contemplation in writing.
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Daily Readings From "My Utmost for His Highest", Oswald Chambers
http://www.myutmost.org/

ALWAYS NOW


"We . . . beseech you that ye receive not the grace of God in vain." 2 Corinthians 6:1

The grace you had yesterday will not do for to-day. Grace is the overflowing favour of God; you can always reckon it is there to draw upon. "In much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses" - that is where the test for patience comes. Are you failing the grace of God there? Are you saying - Oh, well, I won't count this time? It is not a question of praying and asking God to help you; it is taking the grace of God now. We make prayer the preparation for work, it is never that in the Bible. Prayer is the exercise of drawing on the grace of God. Don't say - I will endure this until I can get away and pray. Pray now; draw on the grace of God in the moment of need. Prayer is the most practical thing, it is not the reflex action of devotion. Prayer is the last thing in which we learn to draw on God's grace.

"In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours" - in all these things manifest a drawing upon the grace of God that will make you a marvel to yourself and to others. Draw now, not presently. The one word in the spiritual vocabulary is Now. Let circumstances bring you where they will, keep drawing on the grace of God in every conceivable condition you may be in. One of the greatest proofs that you are drawing on the grace of God is that you can be humiliated without manifesting the slightest trace of anything but His grace.

"Having nothing . . ." Never reserve anything. Pour out the best you have, and always be poor. Never be diplomatic and careful about the treasure God gives. This is poverty triumphant.
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G. K. Chesterton Day by Day
http://www.cse.dmu.ac.uk/~mward/gkc/books/gkcday/gkcday.html

IF the old priests forced a statement on mankind, at least they previously took some trouble to make it lucid. It has been left for the modern mobs of Anglicans and Nonconformists to persecute for a doctrine without even stating it.

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

Chapter 19: On the Manner of Saying the Divine Office

We believe that the divine presence is everywhere
and that "the eyes of the Lord
are looking on the good and the evil in every place" (Prov. 15:3).
But we should believe this especially without any doubt
when we are assisting at the Work of God.
To that end let us be mindful always of the Prophet's words,
"Serve the Lord in fear" (Ps. 2:11)
and again "Sing praises wisely" (Ps. 46:8)
and "In the sight of the Angels I will sing praise to You" (Ps. 137:1).
Let us therefore consider how we ought to conduct ourselves
in sight of the Godhead and of His Angels,
and let us take part in the psalmody in such a way
that our mind may be in harmony with our voice.

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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.


Tuesday, June 26, 2007 Apostles
Fast David of Thessalonika
Kellia: Job 3:1-20 Epistle: Romans 14:9-18
Gospel: St. Matthew 12:14-16, 22-30

Anguish: Job 3:1-10, 13-20 LXX, especially vs. 1: "After this Job opened
his mouth, and cursed his day, saying, 'Let the day perish in which I
was born, and the night in which they said, Behold a manchild!'" Always
read during Great and Holy Week, the first two chapters of the Book of
Job explore the character of the Prophet. Repeatedly he is called
"righteous, and godly, abstaining from everything evil" (Job 1:1). Now,
in opening the third chapter, at a cursory reading, one confronts the
startling words quoted above. Knowing what has befallen Job, we hear
the anguished cries of his soul as appearing appropriate for a Prophet;
yet what he says seems totally out of character for one who "did not sin
at all with lips before God" (Job 2:10). The question is, how can he
curse his day of birth, his God-given life? The question is put well by
St. John Chrysostom: "What, then does this signify: 'saying let the day
perish in which I was born'?"

Among the Holy Fathers, one finds two answers to the question. St. John
exhibits one of them: "It is also in his grief that Job spoke. Do you
not see, beloved, that those who are injured pour out great cries? Do
you blame them? Not at all; but we pardon them." The other is taken
from St. Hesychios of Jerusalem: "'Let the day perish in which I was
born'...not the day on which he was made, but that on which he was
born....For God formed me (Gen.2:7) for the good, but Eve, who
transgressed, has delivered me into trouble (Gen.3:16)."

What these two Fathers share is the Biblical assumption of the fallen
state of mankind, Job included. Hence, St. John exclaims on behalf of
the grievously tormented, including Job: "...if they had not expressed
themselves in this way, it would seem as if they do not participate in
human nature." In these words, one hears the voice of the Apostle:
"...all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Rom.3:23).

It is the Holy Spirit Who reveals to us Job as a partaker of the fallen
world, corrupted like ourselves with our common ailment. But note what
captures St. Hesychios' imagination is the disclosure of the Prophet as
a true holy man, one swift to "trample underfoot the appetites of the
passions and occupy [himself] fully with [the] soul." What God made is
good, but within it is "an evil world...we have made for
ourselves...which Job excoriated in his time, as he was godly and true
and abstaining from evil." Job is correct: "let that day and night be
cursed" (Job 3:6).

For St. Hesychios, the Prophet is speaking of the sad state of mankind's
affairs - the world of our making - even as Job speaks of "day and
night" and prays, "let not the Lord regard it from above, neither let
light come upon it" (vs. 4). Should the Lord God regard this day "from
above" (vs. 4), His righteousness by itself would bring "the destruction
of men." The night Job spoke of as darkness is "our enemy and Christ
is Light. Let us receive Him and not grope in the night.

When Job pleads, "let it not come into the days of the year" (vs. 6), he
is referring to "the evangelical time, during which the preaching of
salvation is accomplished," so that "the day of transgression should not
be counted among the benefits given to us by the Savior....let the curse
not spoil, even in part, the blessings which the Savior has vouchsafed
us." Rather, let every anguish we experience "be the cause of [our]
conveyance into the world [the Kingdom] which has been prepared for
[us]" (Mt. 25:34).

How then to answer Job's question: "...why is light given to those who
are in bitterness, and life to the souls which are in griefs?" (Job
3:20). St. Hesychios answers: "to receive the image of God is
happiness, but to linger in this impure life...is not desirable to the
righteous."

Grant me reverence, estrangement from evil, and perfect discipline, who
am now drowned in the passions of the flesh, estranged from Thee, O
Jesus, Savior of our souls.

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Monday, June 25, 2007

25/06/07 Monday in the week of the 4th Sunday 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, by whose providence your servant John the Baptist was wonderfully born, and sent to prepare the way of your Son our Savior by preaching repentance: Make us so to follow his teaching and holy life, that we may truly repent according to his preaching; and, following his example, constantly speak the truth, boldly rebuke vice, and patiently suffer for the truth's sake; through Jesus Christ your Son 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 89:1-18; PM Psalm 89:19-52
1 Samuel 5:1-12; Acts 5:12-26; Luke 21:29-36
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From Forward Day by Day: http://www.forwardmovement.org/todaysreading.cfm

Luke 1: 57-80. But his mother said, "No; he is to be called John."

Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, chooses a new name for him though the child would ordinarily be called Zechariah after his father. Mothers named children then, but the name John was unknown in her family. Luke calls attention to this in this passage. Elizabeth moved to respond to God's special promises for this child. What if she had said no?


There is much name-changing in the Old Testament where Abram and Sarai became Abraham and Sarah and where Jacob, after wrestling with God, became Israel, the father of nations. What a turn-around when Joseph was charged by an angel to call Mary's child Jesus! Later Simon would become Peter and Saul become Paul. Names were the expression of the essential nature of the bearer. Once one encountered the divine, he was changed-a new person given a new name.


John was to be the baptizer. John was the one who would prepare the way of the Lord.


By whatever name we are known, we are to prepare the way as well.
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Today we remember: http://satucket.com/lectionary/Calendar.htm

Nativity of St. John the Baptist: (transferred)
AM Psalm 82, 98; Malachi 3:1-5; John 3:22-30
PM Psalm 80; Malachi 4:1-6; Matthew 11:2-19

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Today in the Anglican Cycle of Prayer we pray for the Diocese of Panama (Central America)
http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acp/index.cfm
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Speaking to the Soul: http://www.episcopalcafe.com/

Arriving in the desert

Daily Reading for June 25 • The Nativity of Saint John the Baptist

To the biblical mind the wilderness is a holy place in which one may enter into communion with God. It is a place where one can clearly sense God’s sustenance, and, more importantly, it is a place where one learns to turn habitually toward God. We may arrive in the desert by different paths. We may journey there of our own accord, or we may be led there by the hidden work of the Holy Spirit. Once we arrive, however, the geography is the same. The clear and penetrating light of the desert requires that we remove the layers of fear and pretense we thought we needed in the land of unlikeness and recognize these as the unnecessary baggage they are. Now is the time for honesty. The desert demands that we discover who we really are and that we persevere in this knowledge. There is, in short, only one rule for the desert pilgrim: God created you in his image, seek his likeness.

From From Image to Likeness: The Christian Journey into God by William A. Simpson (Continuum, 1997).
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Carmelite.com: Reflections http://www.carmelite.com/spirituality/reflection.php

A novice was grieving about her numerous distractions during prayer: "I too, have many," replied St. Therese of the Child Jesus, "but I accept all for love of the good God, even the most extravagant thoughts that come into my head."
St. Therese of the Child Jesus
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Reading from the Desert Christians http://www.cin.org/dsrtftin.html

One of the beloved of Christ who had the gift of mercy used to say, "The one who is filled with mercy ought to offer it in the same manner in which he has received it, for such is the mercy of God."
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Daily Meditation (Henri Nouwen) http://www.henrinouwen.org/home/free_eletters/

Words That Create Community

The word is always a word for others. Words need to be heard. When we give words to what we are living, these words need to be received and responded to. A speaker needs a listener. A writer needs a reader.

When the flesh - the lived human experience - becomes word, community can develop. When we say, "Let me tell you what we saw. Come and listen to what we did. Sit down and let me explain to you what happened to us. Wait until you hear whom we met," we call people together and make our lives into lives for others. The word brings us together and calls us into community. When the flesh becomes word, our bodies become part of a body of people.
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From the Principles of the Third Society of St. Francis:

Day Twenty Five - The Second Note -

Love

Jesus said, "I give you a new commandment: love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." (John 13:34-35) Love is the distinguishing feature of all true disciples of Christ who wish to dedicate themselves to him as his servants.
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Upper Room Daily Reflection http://www.upperroom.org/reflections/

SECOND CORINTHIANS TELLS US that “the God of all comfort … comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God” (2 Cor. 1:3-4, NIV, italics added). As with all the other good gifts that flow into our lives, God’s comfort comes to us to be shared and multiplied so that, in this new community that Christ brings, no one will be left uncomforted.

- Mary Lou Redding
The Power of a Focused Heart

From page 34 of The Power of a Focused Heart: 8 Life Lessons from the Beatitudes 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


"Five Great Gifts: Apostleship"

St. Paul enumerates five great gifts. I like to picture these as a fence. If the five great gifts are operative, the rodeo is able to go on in the middle. The growth of the people of God is protected. The first is apostleship. An apostle is one who is sent. In Paul’s sense and apostle is one who has the vision of the whole, of how all the gifts operate together. Apostles know the risen Lord. On this ground, Mary Magdalene is the first apostle and the one sent by Jesus to convince the other twelve. She can rightly be called the “apostle to the apostles”. Apostles are rooted in the Lord and tied into the whole tradition. The apostle speaks for the whole. Apostles aren’t unaccountable; they’re under authority. So apostles can be sent away from their community, almost appearing to be lone rangers, and because they’re under authority, they can go out and call other people under authority. We have today a lot of roving evangelists and prophets who are in no way accountable. They’re not being sent from any spot. The private self decides everything. No community sends them; they just “go”. But an apostle is always sent. Apostles are free to go because they are not their own center, the gospel is.

from The Price of Peoplehood
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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

Imitating the Creator's goodness

In the love of God there can be no excess, but the love of the world is harmful in every way. We must therefore cling inseparably to the good things that are eternal but make use of those that are temporal like passers-by; then, as pilgrims hastening to our homeland, we shall use any worldly good fortune that comes to us as a means to further our journey, not as an enticement to detain us.

Because the world attracts us by its beauty, abundance, and variety, it is not easy to turn away from it unless in the beauty of visible things one loves the Creator rather than the creature; for when the Creator says: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your mind and with all your strength, he shows that it is not his will for us to loosen the bonds of our love for him in any respect whatever. And by joining to this precept love of our neighbor, he commands us to imitate his own goodness, loving what he loves and doing what he does.

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

RECEIVING ONE'S SELF IN THE FIRES OF SORROW


"What shall I say? Father, save me, from this hour? But for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify Thy name." John 12:27-29 (R.V.)

My attitude as a saint to sorrow and difficulty is not to ask that they may be prevented, but to ask that I may preserve the self God created me to be through every fire of sorrow. Our Lord received Himself in the fire of sorrow, He was saved not from the hour, but out of the hour.

We say that there ought to be no sorrow, but there is sorrow, and we have to receive ourselves in its fires. If we try and evade sorrow, refuse to lay our account with it, we are foolish. Sorrow is one of the biggest facts in life; it is no use saying sorrow ought not to be. Sin and sorrow and suffering are, and it is not for us to say that God has made a mistake in allowing them.

Sorrow burns up a great amount of shallowness, but it does not always make a man better. Suffering either gives me my self or it destroys my self. You cannot receive your self in success, you lose your head; you cannot receive your self in monotony, you grouse. The way to find yourself is in the fires of sorrow. Why it should be so is another matter, but that it is so is true in the Scriptures and in human experience. You always know the man who has been through the fires of sorrow and received himself, you are certain you can go to him in trouble and find that he has ample leisure for you. If a man has not been through the fires of sorrow, he is apt to be contemptuous, he has no time for you. If you receive yourself in the fires of sorrow, God will make you nourishment for other people.
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G. K. Chesterton Day by Day
http://www.cse.dmu.ac.uk/~mward/gkc/books/gkcday/gkcday.html

A MAN'S good work is effected by doing what he does: a woman's by being what she is.

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

Chapter 18: In What Order the Psalms Are to Be Said

The order of psalmody for the day Hours being thus arranged,
let all the remaining Psalms be equally distributed
among the seven Night Offices
by dividing the longer Psalms among them
and assigning twelve Psalms to each night.

We strongly recommend, however,
that if this distribution of the Psalms is displeasing to anyone,
she should arrange them otherwise,
in whatever way she considers better,
but taking care in any case
that the Psalter with its full number of 150 Psalms
be chanted every week
and begun again every Sunday at the Night Office.
For those monastics show themselves too lazy
in the service to which they are vowed,
who chant less than the Psalter with the customary canticles
in the course of a week,
whereas we read that our holy Fathers
strenuously fulfilled that task in a single day.
May we, lukewarm that we are, perform it at least in a whole week!
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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.

Monday, June 25, 2007 Apostles Fast After-feast
of the Forerunner's Nativity
3 Vespers of the Forerunner John: Isaiah 40:1-3, 9; 41:17-18; 45:8;
48:20-21; 54:1
Epistle: Romans 12:4-5,
15-21 Gospel:
St. Matthew 12:9-13

Doing Our Part: Isaiah 40:1-3, 9; 41:17-18; 45:8; 48:20-21; 54:1 LXX,
especially vs. 48:20: "Go forth of Babylon, you that flee from the
Chaldeans...." Reflecting on this set of verses, Theodoret of Cyrus,
notes that "it is worthwhile to admire the kindness of the
Master...because He is good and His compassion is unfathomable,
and....because He tempers His justice with infinite mercy." The
collection of verses is rich with imagery reminding us of God's love in
action for His People - comforting, bringing glad tidings, hearing and
not forsaking, slaking thirst, pouring out righteousness, and showering
with fruitfulness. These blessings all come from God's goodness upon
His Zion, His Israel, His People - upon us, His Church!

Meditate on this passage and notice three layers in God's blessings: 1)
His love in action reaches into our benighted condition, 2) He puts away
our sins despite the array of shameful deeds unworthy in His eyes, (vs.
40:2), 3) He permits our sad degradation even as He responds with mercy
and forgiveness. Still He requires us to do our part in making His
abundant love actual within us and through us. These Divine acts are
very remarkable and encouraging, especially when we heed them and
respond diligently to Him!

Our many sins, as well as the dreadful consequences that follow them,
surely impoverish our hearts. Observe, however, that God Who loves us,
also promises that "the poor and needy shall exult" (vs. 41:17). Are we
surprised? Did not Jesus our Savior teach us that the poor in spirit
are blessed, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs (Mt. 5:3)? Isaiah
understands that God provides what His People need and supplies them
lavishly (vss. 41:17,18). Do look deeper; for God expects that those
whose sins have left them thirsting and parched "shall seek water" even
when none is apparent (vs. 41:17). The Lord Jesus teaches us to seek
until we find (Mt. 7:7). St. Seraphim tells us that "to receive and
behold in the heart the light of Christ, [we] must, as far as possible,
divert [our] attention away from visible objects" and repent.

Are we not captive in our passions, in "bondage to the elements of the
world" (Gal.4:3), and in exile from paradise? These are the Babylon and
the Chaldeans of our lives, for "while we were yet sinners Christ died
for us" (Rom. 5:8). The Prophet prepares us for this truth finally
realized in Christ: "The Lord has delivered His servant Jacob" (Is. 48:20).

"[We] are baptized. [We] are illumined. [We] have received anointment
with Holy Chrism. [We] are sanctified. [We] are "washed: in the Name of
the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." Let us "utter
aloud a voice of joy, and let this be made known, proclaim it to the end
of the earth" (vs. 48:20). Along with His encouragement, God also
commands: "Go forth of Babylon, you that flee from the Chaldeans" (vs.
48:20). We must leave slavery, as St. Antioch says, "If we live in an
alien city and our city is far from this city, and if we know our city:
then why do we tarry in an alien city?" Definitely, let us turn and
seek what is above (Col. 3:1)!

Barrenness, infertility, and sterility of body, soul, and spirit are the
results of sin. However, God took our flesh upon Himself to defeat
death with Life. Theodoret of Cyrus says it plainly: "the true
consolation, the genuine comfort, and the real deliverance from the
iniquities of men is the Incarnation of our God and Savior." Let us
"break forth and cry" (vs. 54:1). In addition, as God aids us in
Christ, let us also heed His command and "spread forth [our] tent yet to
the right and to the left: for [our] seed shall inherit the [nations]"
(Is. 54:3).

I am encompassed in the deep of sins, O Savior, and drowned in the
tempest of this life. But as Thou raised Jonah from the belly of the
whale, so draw me out of passion and save me.

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Thursday, June 21, 2007

21/06/07 Thurs in the week of the 3rd Sunday 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
Keep, O Lord, your household the Church in your steadfast faith and love, that through your grace we may proclaim your truth with boldness, and minister your justice with compassion; for the sake of our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
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Today's Scripture http://www.satucket.com/lectionary/

AM Psalm [83] or 34; PM Psalm 85, 86
1 Samuel 2:27-36; Acts 2:22-36; Luke 20:41-21:4
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From Forward Day by Day: http://www.forwardmovement.org/todaysreading.cfm

Psalm 34. Proclaim with me the greatness of the LORD; let us exalt his Name together.

Seeing a butterfly and a hummingbird drinking together at my feeder reminds me that togetherness in worship is also possible. What is church? It is the gathering of Christians exalting God's name. This psalm was a favorite of the early church. Martyrs sang it on the way to execution knowing they would gain courage from fellow sufferers--and from God.


Henry David Thoreau lived at Walden Pond more than a year in solitude, yet he went into town to hear the news that he sorely missed. Near the end of Walden Thoreau admits this, for like the hummingbird and the butterfly he wanted community.


Jesus said that when two or three are gathered in his name, he is present. Sam Potaro in Sheer Christianity says the stories of Pentecost and Babel point to the dangers of exclusive views of God. God is both what you and I think he is plus much more. Christians do not exist, he says, in isolation. More than ever we need unity. We need to admit our oneness in Christ. We need to exalt his Name together.
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Today in the Anglican Cycle of Prayer we pray for the Diocese of Owerri (Owerri, Nigeria)
http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acp/index.cfm
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Carmelite.com: Reflections http://www.carmelite.com/spirituality/reflection.php

Though we are always in the presence of God, it seems to me that the manner is different for those who practice prayer, for they are aware that he is looking at them.
St Teresa of Jesus
Book of Her Life, ch. 8
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Reading from the Desert Christians http://www.cin.org/dsrtftin.html

When abba Apollo heard the sound of singing from the monks who welcomed us, he greeted us according to the custom which all monks folow... He first lay prostrate on the ground, then got up and kissed us and having brought us in he prayed for us; then, after washing our feet with his own hands, he invited us to partake of some refreshment...

One could see his monks were filled with joy and a bodily contentment such as one cannot see on earth. For nobody among them was gloomy or downcast.

If anyone did appear a little downcast, abba Apollo at once asked him the reason and told each one what was the secret recesses of his heart. He used to say, "Those who are going to inherit the Kingdom of heaven must not be depondent about their salvation... we who have been considered worthy of so great a hope, how shall we not rejoice without ceasing, since the Apostle urges us always, "Pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks"?"
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Daily Meditation (Henri Nouwen) http://www.henrinouwen.org/home/free_eletters/

Growing into the Truth We Speak

Can we only speak when we are fully living what we are saying? If all our words had to cover all our actions, we would be doomed to permanent silence! Sometimes we are called to proclaim God's love even when we are not yet fully able to live it. Does that mean we are hypocrites? Only when our own words no longer call us to conversion. Nobody completely lives up to his or her own ideals and visions. But by proclaiming our ideals and visions with great conviction and great humility, we may gradually grow into the truth we speak. As long as we know that our lives always will speak louder than our words, we can trust that our words will remain humble.
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From the Principles of the Third Society of St. Francis:

Day Twenty One - The Three Notes of the Order

Humility, love, and joy are the three notes which mark the lives of Tertiaries. When these characteristics are evident throughout the Order, its work will be fruitful. Without them, all that it attempts will be in vain.
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Upper Room Daily Reflection http://www.upperroom.org/reflections/

CHRIST IS THE UNSEEN MEDIATOR
who dwells at the center of our kinship with others.
Christ is the one who invited us
into deeper communion with the Divine
through the common experience of human encounter.

- Stephanie Ford
Kindred Souls

From page 17 of Kindred Souls: Connecting through Spiritual Friendship by Stephanie Ford. Copyright © 2006 by Stephanie Ford.
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Richard Rohr's Daily Reflection
http://cacradicalgrace.org/getconnected/getconnected_index.html

"Hospitality"

Shared life is a way of being present to another person so that another person can be present to you. It’s a quality of being, of living. A sharing attitude makes room inside of you so that others can crawl in and you can crawl out into them. You become touched and touchable, supporting and supportable. A Christian home is one with the doors open, and a Christian community of any form has doors open and swinging both ways. There’s life moving in and life moving out. I could summarize Jesus’ most radical teaching as a call to “universal table fellowship” (see with whom he eats, whom he invites to the banquet, and then you will know why they killed him!). Don’t tell people to come to our church or to come to hear Father preach. Ask them to come over for supper. That’s more real and natural. Talk to them over the back fence. We hope our life is good news. When out neighbors see our unity and our good news, maybe then they’ll say, I’d like to come celebrate and worship with you.

From The Spiritual Family and the Natural Family
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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

God's union with the beloved

Anyone who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him. As God's kindness is beyond all telling, as his love for our race defies human utterance and is commensurate with the divine goodness alone, so it follows that his union with his beloved ones is closer than any other conceivable union and admits of no comparison. Scripture of necessity has recourse to many models in order to describe that intimacy, for one alone is insufficient. Sometimes it takes a dweller and his house as an example, sometimes a vine and its branch, sometimes marriage, sometimes members and head; but none of these is adequate to express it or bring us to the complete truth. Friendship and love tend necessarily to unite, but what human friendship can compare with the love of God? The models which seem best fitted to connote intimacy and oneness are marriage and the harmonious subordination of the members of a body to its head.

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

THE MINISTRY OF THE INTERIOR


"But ye are . . . a royal priesthood." 1 Peter 2:9

By what right do we become "a royal priesthood"? By the right of the Atonement. Are we prepared to leave ourselves resolutely alone and to launch out into the priestly work of prayer? The continual grubbing on the inside to see whether we are what we ought to be generates a self-centred, morbid type of Christianity, not the robust, simple life of the child of God. Until we get into a right relationship to God, it is a case of hanging on by the skin of our teeth, and we say - What a wonderful victory I have got. There is nothing indicative of the miracle of Redemption in that. Launch out in reckless belief that the Redemption is complete, and then bother no more about yourself, but begin to do as Jesus Christ said - pray for the friend who comes to you at midnight, pray for the saints, pray for all men. Pray on the realization that you are only perfect in Christ Jesus, not on this plea - "O Lord, I have done my best, please hear me."

How long is it going to take God to free us from the morbid habit of thinking about ourselves? We must get sick unto death of ourselves, until there is no longer any surprise at anything God can tell us about ourselves. We cannot touch the depths of meanness in ourselves. There is only one place where we are right, and that is in Christ Jesus. When we are there, then we have to pour out for all we are worth in this ministry of the interior.
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Today's reading from the Rule of St. Benedict http://www.osb.org/rb/

Chapter 17: How Many Psalms Are to Be Said at These Hours

We have already arranged the order of the psalmody
for the Night and Morning Offices;
let us now provide for the remaining Hours.

At Prime let three Psalms be said,
separately and not under one "Glory be to the Father."
The hymn of that Hour
is to follow the verse "Incline unto my aid, O God,"
before the Psalms begin.
Upon completion of the three Psalms
let one lesson be recited,
then a verse,
the "Lord, have mercy on us" and the concluding prayers.

The Offices of Terce, Sext and None
are to be celebrated in the same order,
that is:
the "Incline unto my aid, O God," the hymn proper to each Hour,
three Psalms, lesson and verse,
"Lord, have mercy on us" and concluding prayers.

If the community is a large one,
let the Psalms be sung with antiphons;
but if small,
let them be sung straight through.

Let the Psalms of the Vesper Office be limited to four,
with antiphons.
After these Psalms the lesson is to be recited,
then the responsory, the Te Deum, the verse,
the canticle from the Gospel book,
the litany, the Lord's Prayer and the concluding prayers.

Let Compline be limited to the saying of three Psalms,
which are to be said straight through without antiphon,
and after them the hymn of that Hour,
one lesson, a verse, the "Lord, have mercy on us,"
the blessing and the concluding prayers.

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


Perhaps the most important point to be made about the structure of prayer during the day hours, during the periods of distraction and the times of work is simply this. Even then, prayer is to be prayer, not a glancing thought, not a shrug or a gesture or a mindless moment of empty daydreaming. It is to be brief, yes. It is not, however, to be superficial. Benedict wants us to pray the psalms. His own monks, many of them illiterate and all of them without manuscripts, memorized the psalms of the day hours so that they could be prayed in the fields as well as in the prayer place.

This chapter, consequently, of all the chapters in the Rule on prayer is a real challenge to a modern society. What psalm prayers can we say without reading? What prayers ring in our hearts? What do we think about when we're not thinking about anything special? Do we ever simply stop the work we are doing during the day, look straight ahead and pray? What memorized material does run through our minds and why do we memorize what we do but not our prayers?
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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, June 21, 2007 Apostles Fast Martyr Julian of Tarsus
Kellia: Deuteronomy 33:1-29 Epistle: Romans 11:13-24 Gospel: St. Matthew
11:27-30

Blessings: Deuteronomy 33:1-29 LXX, especially vs. 29: “Blessed art
thou, O Israel; who is like to thee, O people saved by the Lord? Thy
helper shall hold His shield over thee, and His sword is thy boast” Two
words express ‘blessing’ in Scripture, in Hebrew, barak and esher. The
parallels in Greek are, evlogetos and makarios. Both Hebrew words are
used in the present passage, the first in the opening verse (vs.1) and
the latter in the final verse (vs.29). Biblical writers use evlogetos or
barak to address God or to acclaim His initiative (Lk.1:68 or
Deut.33:1). esher and makarios describe those who are blessed. Makarios
is used in the Beatitudes (Mt. 5:3-11) to refer to the felicity of the
godly (Lk. 1:48), while evlogetos most often is used when addressing God
or to describe graces that He pours out on men (see Eph.1:3 where both
uses occur).

In the present passage, although it is Moses, “the man of God” (Deut.
33:1), who blesses the Lord’s People, in fact it is God blessing His
People through His Prophet. The prophecies in this passage (vss. 6-25)
are set in a larger context of God’s unending blessing upon His People
(vss.1-5,26-29). Orthodox Christians should recognize this context since
it includes us. Moses reveals what the Apostle means when he declares
that “God...has blessed us with every spiritual blessing...in Christ”
(Eph.1:3). The Prophet unveils the depth of St. Paul’s words in ten
phrases that capture the rich, vivid portrait of the felicitous
blessings of God upon His People.

“The Lord...has appeared from Seir to us” (Deut. 33: 2). Orthodox
Christian, recall the words at Orthros: “God is the Lord which hath
shown us light (or appeared to us) (Ps.117:26 LXX). God “hath appeared
to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself” (Heb. 9:26).

Saying that “the Lord...has hasted out of the mount of Paran, with the
ten thousands of holy ones” (Deut. 33:2), prefigures St. Paul’s promise
of Christ’s majestic return: “the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from
heaven with his mighty angels” (2 Thess. 1:7).

“He spared His people” (Deut.33:3) as He saves us by grace through faith
(Eph. 2:8).
God’s People in every generation “are under...the law which Moses
charged us” (Deut. 33:3,4), and Christ teaches us that He did “not come
to destroy (the Law) but to fulfill” it (Mt. 5:17). Thus, we, too, are
to perfect the intent of the Law, even as our Father does (Mt. 5:48).

The Lord God was “prince with the beloved one” for old Israel (Deut.
33:5), while the Lord Jesus is King over Israel, as the Church, His
People today, is called. When Pilate asked, “Art thou the King of the
Jews?” Jesus agreed, “Thou sayest” (Mt. 27:11). And Who is the King in
His parable Who says, “Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the
Kingdom” (Mt. 25:34)?

As “There is not any such as the God” (Deut. 33:26), so also who can
compare with Jesus our God and Savior? As the Apostle points out: in old
times God spoke through the prophets in diverse ways, but in these last
days He has “spoken unto us in His Son” (Heb.1:8).

Ancient Israel was “under the strength of the everlasting arms”
(Deut.33:27), while we have “the whole armour of God, that [we] may be
able to withstand in the evil day” (Eph. 6:13).

God “cast forth the enemy” (Deut.33:27) of old, and still, in the
Church, no power can separate us “from the love of God, which is in
Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:39).

God promised that “Israel shall dwell in confidence” (Deut. 33:28) -
both ancient Israel and the Church today. Likewise, all who enter into
Christ “shall be saved” (Jn.10:9).

Yes, Israel, ancient or new, is“a people saved by the Lord” (Dt.33:29),
for, as the Lord Jesus promised: “lo, I Am with you always, even to the
end of the age. Amen” (Mt. 28:20).

We give thanks unto Thee, O King invisible, Who by Thy boundless power
hast blessed us with Thy grace and compassions and love toward mankind,
O Thou good and dread Master.

Labels:

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

20/06/07 Wed in the week of the 3rd Sunday 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

Keep, O Lord, your household the Church in your steadfast faith and love, that through your grace we may proclaim your truth with boldness, and minister your justice with compassion; for the sake of our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
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Today's Scripture http://www.satucket.com/lectionary/

AM Psalm 119:97-120; PM Psalm 81, 82
1 Samuel 2:12-26; Acts 2:1-21; Luke 20:27-40
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From Forward Day by Day: http://www.forwardmovement.org/todaysreading.cfm

Luke 20:27-40. For they no longer dared to ask him another question.

During the Lincoln-Douglas debates in 1858 someone asked Abraham Lincoln what he thought about slavery. He quoted Matthew as he answered, "A house divided against itself cannot stand." His answer was so succinct he was remembered for it and considered good presidential timber.


In a recent presidential debate, however, a question asked by an audience participant went awry: "What are three things you regret doing?" While one might say the question was a trick, the candidate side-stepped the question. Perhaps he missed his chance to give an answer based on the truth.


The Sadducees tried to trick Jesus with a complex question from the law of Moses, but Jesus answered carefully so that the men dared not ask more. Only at his death was Jesus silent. Like God the Father, he never said "no comment." He accepted his fate.


Words well spoken are long remembered. Today's press would be speechless over the answers of Jesus. He that hath ears, let him hear.
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Today we remember: http://satucket.com/lectionary/Calendar.htm

Let us pray for all missionaries.
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Today in the Anglican Cycle of Prayer we pray for the Diocese of Oturkpo (Jos, Nigeria)
http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acp/index.cfm
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Speaking to the Soul: http://www.episcopalcafe.com/

Washing dishes

Daily Reading for June 20

For much of my life I’ve lived contentedly by a few simple rules: don’t track mud in the house, take care of your own, help others, do as little harm as you can, change your oil every three thousand miles. But maybe enlightenment is simpler than we think. I’ve been told that religion boils down to two beliefs: first, that there is something of ultimate significance in the universe; second, that there is a way of being connected to it. Each of the world’s religions offers a distinct way of connecting, and each of us must find his or her own way in to ultimate significance. Prayer, meditation, and selfless service are all honored methods. The Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh has taught me that, if done right, washing dishes can serve as well.

From Learning to Fall: The Blessings of an Imperfect Life by Philip Simmons (Bantam Books, 2000).

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

For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and faith.
St. Therese of the Child Jesus
Story of a Soul.
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Reading from the Desert Christians http://www.cin.org/dsrtftin.html

Abba Hyperichius said, "Praise God continally with spiritual hymns and always remain in meditation and in this way you will be able to bear the burden of the temptations that come upon you. A traveller who is carrying a heavy load pauses from time to time and draws in deep breaths; it makes the journey easier and the burden lighter."
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Daily Meditation (Henri Nouwen) http://www.henrinouwen.org/home/free_eletters/

Right Living and Right Speaking

To be a witness for God is to be a living sign of God's presence in the world. What we live is more important than what we say, because the right way of living always leads to the right way of speaking. When we forgive our neighbours from our hearts, our hearts will speak forgiving words. When we are grateful, we will speak grateful words, and when we are hopeful and joyful, we will speak hopeful and joyful words.

When our words come too soon and we are not yet living what we are saying, we easily give double messages. Giving double messages - one with our words and another with our actions - makes us hypocrites. May our lives give us the right words and may our words lead us to the right life.
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From the Principles of the Third Society of St. Francis:

Day Twenty - The Third Way of Service, cont'd

Tertiaries endeavor to serve others in active work. We try to find expression for each of the three aims of the Order in our lives, and whenever possible actively help others who are engaged in similar work. The chief form of service which we have to offer is to reflect the love of Christ, who, in his beauty and power, is the inspiration and joy of our lives.
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Upper Room Daily Reflection http://www.upperroom.org/reflections/

AS WE LISTEN TO THE GROANS OF OTHERS, we build a bridge between our inner journey and the outer journey of those around us. In doing so, we find ourselves being delivered from private spirituality. As we listen to the groans we find ourselves able to love God with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strength and to love our neighbors as ourselves.

- Trevor Hudson with Stephen Bryant
Listening to the Groans

From pages 14-15 of Listening to the Groans: A Spirituality for Ministry and Mission by Trevor Hudson with Stephen Bryant. Copyright © 2007 by Trevor Hudson and Stephen Bryant.
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Richard Rohr's Daily Reflection
http://cacradicalgrace.org/getconnected/getconnected_index.html


"I Trust Unity"

I trust those who have achieved in their relationships, by God’s grace, a deep personal unity. I trust unity (with allowance for plenty of human sinfulness). That is why forgiveness and reconciliation are the primary gospel gifts. I think people who live in unity have the power of life and love. They alone can be trusted to bear good news. By their life together they have necessarily shown that they are capable of surrender, sacrifice, forgiveness, generosity-and compassion. Those brothers and sisters are the ones I’ll take with me into the front lines. I know they’re not going to back out when it gets hard. I know they’re not on a head trip. The brothers and sisters who are capable of membership in the Body-not roles and functions and titles and gifts and habits, but membership. That’s why we say you’ve got to first be a brother or sister in the Body before you can talk about being a father or mother in the Body. I don’t trust ministers in the Church who are not also satisfied to be members. Among the people of unity I see the possibility of a healed humanity. And therefore I can realistically hope for some coming of the Kingdom from amongst them. Jesus thus gives great authority to those who gathered in his name whom he sends forth “two by two”. He tells them in the apostolic discourse, in words that are harsh and strange to our ears, that as they enter a house they are to greet it. And if the house deserves it, their peace will descend upon it. And if it does not, their peace will return to them. If anyone does not welcome you or listen to what you have to say, walk out of the house, shake the dust from your feet (see Matthew 10:12-14). The new family of God is not to apologize for itself. God has created unity between them, deep faith, hope and love. The greatest weapon that the world holds against this unity is its own disunity, its own antagonistic hearts which arise from sin, self-hatred and vested interests. If we sell out to that disunity, if we are in any way taken in to their displeasure and their self-hatred, we have lost our gift. We must confront the world with its inability to share in peace and enjoy brotherhood and sisterhood. We cannot at any step of the way deny or defend our unity simply because they have not shared in it yet. Our unity is God’s love, and it’s all we really have. It is all we have to offer to the enslaved world. It is a life that we can invite others into. It is the font from which our own life continues to proceed. When we have lost our unity, we have just plain lost.

From The Spiritual Family and the Natural Family
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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 mental faculty of the soul

In heart and mind, sinners living in darkness can be far from the body, can live at a great distance from it; they can travel in a moment of time to remote lands, so that often, while the body lies stretched out upon the earth, the mind is in another country with its beloved, and sees itself as living there. If then the soul of a sinner is so light and swift that his mind speeds without let or hindrance to faraway places, how much easier it must be for the soul from whom the veil of darkness has been lifted by the power of the Holy Spirit, whose mental eyes have been illuminated by heavenly light, who has been completely delivered from shameful passions and made pure by grace, to be at once wholly in heaven serving the Lord in Spirit, and wholly in the body serving him. The mental faculty of such a soul is so greatly expanded that she is present everywhere, and can serve Christ wherever and whenever she wishes.

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

HAVE YOU COME TO "WHEN" YET?


"And the Lord turned the captivity of Job when he prayed for his friends." Job 42:10

The plaintive, self-centred, morbid kind of prayer, a dead-set that I want to be right, is never found in the New Testament. The fact that I am trying to be right with God is a sign that I am rebelling against the Atonement. "Lord, I will purify my heart if You will answer my prayer; I will walk rightly if You will help me." I cannot make myself right with God, I cannot make my life perfect; I can only be right with God if I accept the Atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ as an absolute gift. Am I humble enough to accept it? I have to resign every kind of claim and cease from every effort, and leave myself entirely alone in His hands, and then begin to pour out in the priestly work of intercession. There is much prayer that arises from real disbelief in the Atonement. Jesus is not beginning to save us, He has saved us, the thing is done, and it is an insult to ask Him to do it.

If you are not getting the hundredfold more, not getting insight into God's word, then start praying for your friends, enter into the ministry of the interior. "The Lord turned the captivity of Job when he prayed for his friends." The real business of your life as a saved soul is intercessory prayer. Wherever God puts you in circumstances, pray immediately, pray that His Atonement may be realized in other lives as it has been in yours. Pray for your friends now; pray for those with whom you come in contact now.
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G. K. Chesterton Day by Day
http://www.cse.dmu.ac.uk/~mward/gkc/books/gkcday/gkcday.html

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

Chapter 16: How the Work of God Is to Be Performed During the Day

"Seven times in the day," says the Prophet,
"I have rendered praise to You" (Ps. 118:164).
Now that sacred number of seven will be fulfilled by us
if we perform the Offices of our service
at the time of the Morning Office,
of Prime, of Terce, of Sext, of None,
of Vespers and of Compline,
since it was of these day Hours that he said,
"Seven times in the day I have rendered praise to You."
For as to the Night Office the same Prophet says,
"In the middle of the night I arose to glorify You" (Ps. 118:62).

Let us therefore bring our tribute of praise to our Creator
"for the judgments of His justice" (Ps. 118:164)
at these times:
the Morning Office, Prime, Terce, Sext, None,
Vespers and Compline;
and in the night let us arise to glorify Him.

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

"Prayer is the service of the heart," the Talmud says. Benedict clearly thought the same. In forming his communities in prayer, Benedict had two realities with which to deal. The first was the biblical injunction "to pray always" around which the monastics of the desert had centered their lives. The second was the reality of community life itself: "We earn our bread by the toil of our hands," the Rule says.

The problem was that Benedict's monks were not hermits who scratched their daily fare out of a dry desert, living on locusts and honey. They were not gyrovagues, wandering monks, who, to demonstrate their dependence on God, begged their way through life. Benedict's monks were cenobites, community people with a family to support. They were each as responsible for their inexperienced young and worn out elderly as they were for themselves. They were, in other words, just like us.

To sanctify both situations Benedict instructs his communities to rise early in the night, as his culture allowed, to study and to pray and then, during the day, to recite brief, simple, scriptural prayers at regular intervals, easy enough to be recited and prayed even in the workplace, to wrench their minds from the mundane to the mystical, away from concentration on life's petty particulars to attention on its transcendent meaning.

Benedict scheduled prayer times during the day to coincide with the times of the changing of the Roman imperial guard. When the world was revering its secular rulers Benedict taught us to give our homage to God, the divine ruler of heaven and earth. There was to be no stopping at the obvious, at the lesser, for a Benedictine.

The point is clear: there is to be no time, no thing, that absorbs us so much that we lose contact with the God of life; no stress so tension-producing, no burden so complex, no work so exhausting that God is not our greatest agenda, our constant companion, our rest and our refuge. More, whatever other people worship, we are to keep our minds and hearts on God.
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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.

Wednesday, June 20, 2007 Apostles Fast Hieromartyr
Methodios, Bishop of Patara
Kellia: Deuteronomy 32:1-49 Epistle: Romans 11:2-12
Gospel: St. Matthew 11:20-26

Fulfilling the Prophecy: Deuteronomy 32:1-43 LXX, especially vs. 2: "Let
mine instruction be awaited like rain, and let my words come down like
the dew, like a shower upon the tender grass, like snow upon the green
herb." This long reading is the Second of the Nine Odes of the Church.
Each of the odes underlies many different canons used in Orthodox
worship. All of the odes are from the Old Testament except for the
Ninth, the Song of the Theotokos (Lk. 1:46-55).

The Second Ode is unique because it "is never chanted, save only in
Great Lent during which, on Tuesday only, it is chanted to its end, and
for each of the troparia of the Second Ode of the Canon, we say: Glory
to Thee, our God, glory to Thee!" Both the first and second Ode (Ex.
15:1-19) are Moses' compositions and frame his ministry. The first is
an offering of praise to God for deliverance at the Red Sea, and the
second is a prophecy at the end of Moses' life.

The primary theme of this second prophecy is stated briefly in a
troparion associated with the use of the Ode during Great Lent: "Who
will not weep for thee? Who will not mourn for thee, O my soul? For
thou yearnest for the evil things, and seekest not the good with
eagerness. And thou always despisest the righteous Judge Who is
longsuffering for thy sake." Let us be stricken at heart that we may
turn, repent, and heed the warning in this solemn prophecy!

First, let us rouse ourselves and listen to the Prophet Moses: "let the
earth hear the words of my mouth" (vs. 1). Let us not merely read the
words of the Ode, but struggle to take hold of them with all our heart
and soul, as Theoliptos of Philadelphia urges: "do not allow any phrase
to go uncomprehended. Should anything escape your understanding, begin
the verse again, and repeat this as many times as necessary, until [your
heart] grasps what is being said."

Then, let us "render majesty unto our God" (vs. 3)! Notice how the Ode
teaches us the uniqueness of the Lord. He is: faithful, righteous, holy
(vs. 5), a Father (vs. 7), a Savior (vs. 18), Creator and Provider (vs.
21), the only God (vs. 44) and Judge of all (vs. 49). How do we
acknowledge all this about Him? By worshiping Him Who takes us "upon
His pinions" (vs 13). There is no substitute for the worship of God,
for we are "the apple of His eye" (vs. 12).

After the introductory verses, the Ode's first major section follows
(vss. 4-14) in which the Prophet details the love of God for His People
- both ancient Israel and the Church. He is our Father Who created us
and brought us into existence, both into life and as His People (vs.
7). We are "a portion for the Lord, Jacob His People " (vs. 11). "Let
us worship and fall down before Him...for He is our God, and we are the
people of His pasture" (Ps. 94:6,7 LXX).

The next section details the ingratitude of God's people (Deut.
32:18-24). Ingratitude always mars the relationship between Orthodox
Christians and God, just as it corrupted His covenant with ancient
Israel. How else can we explain the punishing arrows of God? Let us
heed another troparion of the Ode: "By fervent repentance escape from
the fire; through thy mourning, tear in pieces the mourning garment of
the passions and put on the robe of God."

Often the Lord uses pagans, secular foes, and atheists to punish His
People, to "make their memorial cease from among men" (vs. 29). The
final section (vss. 25-49) reveals that vengeance and recompense on
God's People as well as on the enemies of the Church belong to God, when
"they have not the wit to understand all these things" (vs. 32). Hence,
the Prophet cries out: "Be glad, ye nations, with His people, and let
all the sons of God be strengthened in Him for....His sons shall He
avenge" (vs. 49). O Merciful Lord, take pity on us and save us.

O all ye angelic powers, Archangels, Cherubim and Seraphim, supplicate
God, the Giver of all good, that He may grant us remission of our debts
and release from passions.

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Monday, June 18, 2007

18/06/07 Monday in the week of the 3rd Sunbday 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

Keep, O Lord, your household the Church in your steadfast faith and love, that through your grace we may proclaim your truth with boldness, and minister your justice with compassion; for the sake of our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
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Today's Scripture http://www.satucket.com/lectionary/

AM Psalm 80; PM Psalm 77, [79]
1 Samuel 1:1-20; Acts 1:1-14; Luke 20:9-19
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From Forward Day by Day: http://www.forwardmovement.org/todaysreading.cfm

Psalm 80. Turn now, O God of hosts, look down from heaven; behold and tend this vine; preserve what your right hand has planted.

Our well-tended garden was once destroyed by neighborhood children in a thoughtless act. At first we thought deer had trampled the rows of corn and tomatoes, so severe was the destruction. Yet it was children, our dear neighbors. The psalmist speaks of the children of Israel who are God's chosen people, a vine which is trampled as though by a wild boar.


It is hard to be a child and resist the spontaneous urges of youth. It is even harder to resist the influence of friends who lead one astray. Maturity comes after much nurturing by parents and friends, not by the punishment by angry parents. The vine, says the psalmist, has been planted, but it must be tended or it will not grow. There will be better behavior in the future.


One of our garden's destroyers is now eight years old, and he and I are the best of friends. He has helped me turn over the compost pile and plant hills of squash. Sometimes we hold hands going back down the hill, reaffirming our relationship with cookies in the kitchen. This is a relationship which must be tended. We both know this is true.
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Today we remember: http://satucket.com/lectionary/Calendar.htm

Bernard Mizeki:
Psalm 116:1-8 or 124
Revelation 7:13-17; Luke 12:2-12

Almighty and everlasting God, who kindled the flame of your love in the heart of your holy martyr Bernard Mizeki: Grant to us, your humble servants, a like faith and power of love, that we who rejoice in his triumph may profit by his example; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
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Today in the Anglican Cycle of Prayer we pray for the Diocese of Osun (Ibadan, Nigeria)
http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acp/index.cfm
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Speaking to the Soul: http://www.episcopalcafe.com/

Mud season

Daily Reading for June 18 • Bernard Mizeki, Catechist and Martyr in Rhodesia, 1896

The example of Jesus, and the experience of mud season, remind me of a harsher truth: to be reborn, we first must die. The way to Jerusalem lies through mud. Dying, like mud, can take many forms, but every death, in the sense I mean, is a letting go. We let go of ambition, of pride, of ego. We let go of relationships, of perfect health, of loved ones who go before us to their own deaths. We let go of insisting that the world be a certain way. Letting go of any of these things can seem the failure of every design, the loss of every cherished hope. But in letting them go, we may also let go of fear, let go our white-knuckled grip on a life that never seems to meet our expectation, let go our anguished hold on smaller selves our spirits have outgrown. We may feel at times that we have let go of life itself, only to find ourselves in a new one, freer, roomier, more joyful than we could have imagined. All of us, young and old, soon and late, find our way to the mud, the season of our terrible and certain joy. Let us bring to it all the spirit we can muster.

From Learning to Fall: The Blessings of an Imperfect Life by Philip Simmons (Bantam Books, 2000).
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Carmelite.com: Reflections http://www.carmelite.com/spirituality/reflection.php

Take God for your friend and walk with him - and you will learn to love.
St John of the Cross
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Reading from the Desert Christians http://www.cin.org/dsrtftin.html

Amma Syncletica said, "In the beginning there are a great many battles and a good deal of suffering for those who are advancing towards God and, afterwards, ineffable joy. It is like those who wish to light a fire. At first they are ckoked with smoke and cry, until they obtain what they seek. As it is written, "Our God is a consuming fire" (Hebrews 12:24); so we also must kindle the divine fire in ourselves through tears and hard work."
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Daily Meditation (Henri Nouwen) http://www.henrinouwen.org/home/free_eletters/

We Are the Glory of God

Living a spiritual life is living a life in which our spirits and the Spirit of God bear a joint witness that we belong to God as God's beloved children, (see Romans 8:16). This witness involves every aspect of our lives. Paul says: "Whatever you eat, then, or drink, and whatever else you do, do it all for the glory of God" (Romans 10:31). And we are the glory of God when we give full visibility to the freedom of the children of God.

When we live in communion with God's Spirit, we can only be witnesses, because wherever we go and whomever we meet, God's Spirit will manifest itself through us.
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From the Principles of the Third Society of St. Francis:

Day Eighteen - The Second Way of Service, cont'd

As well as the devotional study of Scripture, we all recognize our Christian responsibility to pursue other branches of study, both sacred and secular. In particular, some of us accept the duty of contributing, through research and writing, to a better understanding of the church's mission in the world: the application of Christian principles to the use and distribution of wealth; questions concerning justice and peace; and of all other questions concerning the life of faith.
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Upper Room Daily Reflection http://www.upperroom.org/reflections/

JESUS SAYS that the kingdom of God belongs to those who have little or nothing spiritually. Have you ever felt spiritually inadequate? Have you said, “God, there’s no way I can do this?” Then, Jesus says, you’re the kind of person who will fit right into this new community God is building! In fact, you and people like you will be running things! The entire kingdom will belong to you.

- Mary Lou Redding
The Power of a Focused Heart

From page 19 of The Power of a Focused Heart: 8 Life Lessons from the Beatitudes by Mary Lou Redding. Copyright © 2006 by Mary Lou Redding. Published by Upper Room Books.
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Richard Rohr's Daily Reflection
http://cacradicalgrace.org/getconnected/getconnected_index.html

"Get Together by Getting Together"

The only way that I know how to get people together is to start getting people together. When they start dealing with each other, they start learning who they are. They start getting feelings and resentments. They start getting hurts. They say, Brother, why are you getting hurt right now? What’s hurting you? What need isn’t being met? What are you afraid of? OK, let’s deal with that. Don’t run from it. Unless you’ve make some commitments, unless you understand loyalty, that’s the point where you’re going to move out. That’s why there are and must be marriage vows. Who of you in the second year of marriage wouldn’t have run away? The Lord gives you that pledge, that promise to hold you in there. It’s the same way in the Church: We’ve laid our lives down for one another. I’m not free to pull back on my love commitment to my brothers and sisters. Where you see unity, trust it. Now you might think I’m going to say the converse of that: Where you see disunity, distrust it. No. Where you see disunity, lay down your life until there is unity. What else would the cross be? What else will redeem the broken world? Did you ever notice that God had to lock Noah and all the wild and creeping things in the ark? God know they would try to escape from their own salvation (see Genesis 7:16).

From The Spiritual Family and the Natural Family
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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

Keep our tranquility

Let us bring together in Christ the gold of our thoughts and the silver of our speech, so that once we have been purified in the furnace of this world, the examiner of souls pleasing to him may transform us into refined gold, worthy of the stamp of his image, and we by our light reflecting actions may offer ourselves to him as precious stones. Let us make sure that our hearts are not hard like dead wood, our deeds arid like dry hay, our faith and love fickle and light like unsubstantial chaff.

To ensure that the work we have undertaken is not burnt up but rises safe and sound through our peaceful labor, let us implore the Most High to give us that peace for our building which prevailed in ancient times when the temple walls were under construction, so that no hammer or axe or any iron implement may be heard in it. For we shall become a house of prayer and peace only if preoccupation with earthly affairs does not impede us, or the tumult of the world disturb our tranquility.

Paulinus of Nola (353 - 431), bishop of Nola, was the foremost Christian Latin poet of his time and the friend of Martin of Tours, Ambrose, and Augustine. Many of his letters survive.
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Daily Readings From "My Utmost for His Highest", Oswald Chambers
http://www.myutmost.org/

DON'T THINK NOW, TAKE THE ROAD


"And Peter . . . walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid." Matthew 14:29-30

The wind was actually boisterous, the waves were actually high, but Peter did not see them at first. He did not reckon with them, he simply recognized his Lord and stepped out in recognition of Him, and walked on the water. Then he began to reckon with the actual things, and down he went instantly. Why could not our Lord have enabled him to walk at the bottom of the waves as well as on the top of them? Neither could be done saving by recognition of the Lord Jesus.

We step right out on God over some things, then self-consideration enters in and down we go. If you are recognizing your Lord, you have no business with where He engineers your circumstances. The actual things are, but immediately you look at them you are overwhelmed, you cannot recognize Jesus, and the rebuke comes: "Wherefore didst thou doubt?" Let actual circumstances be what they may, keep recognizing Jesus, maintain complete reliance on Him.

If you debate for a second when God has spoken, it is all up. Never begin to say - "Well, I wonder if He did speak?" Be reckless immediately, fling it all out on Him. You do not know when His voice will come, but whenever the realization of God comes in the faintest way imaginable, recklessly abandon. It is only by abandon that you recognize Him. You will only realize His voice more clearly by recklessness.
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G. K. Chesterton Day by Day
http://www.cse.dmu.ac.uk/~mward/gkc/books/gkcday/gkcday.html

WATERLOO DAY

THE time of big theories was the time of big results. In the era of sentiment and fine words, at the end of the eighteenth century, men were really robust and effective. The sentimentalists conquered Napoleon. The cynics could not catch De Wet. A hundred years ago our affairs for good or evil were wielded triumphantly by rhetoricians. Now our affairs are hopelessly muddled by strong, silent men.

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

Chapter 14: How the Night Office Is to Be Said on the Feasts of the Saints

On the feasts of Saints and on all festivals
let the Office be performed
as we have prescribed for Sundays,
except that the Psalms, the antiphons and the lessons
belonging to that particular day are to be said.
Their number, however, shall remain as we have specified above.


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

The meaning of this chapter is not so much in its content as in its existence. The fact that it is here at all in a document written when the identification of saints was largely a matter of public acclamation and then far fewer than they are now says something about Benedict's ideas both about church and the meaning of prayer. Benedict's theology of prayer is as much attuned to the Communion of Saints, to our connectedness to those who have gone before us in the faith, to those who stand as sign to us that the Christian life is possible, as it is to the feasts that mark the Paschal Mystery of Christ.
We all need heroes. We all need someone in our lives who brings courage. We all need to get to know how the Christian life looks at its best, at its most difficult, at its most joyous.

The lesson is that we must keep the human dimensions of the faith very much in mind and find in models from the past proof that daily chaos can be ordered and the ordinary transfigured for us, too.
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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.

Monday, June 18, 2007 Apostles Fast Martyrs Leontios, Hypatios &
Theodoulos in Syria
Kellia: Deuteronomy 29:2, 9-21 Epistle: Romans 9:18-33
Gospel: St. Matthew 11:2-15

Committing and Scorning: Deuteronomy 29:2, 9-21 LXX, especially vss. 9,
18: "And ye shall take heed to do all the words of this covenant lest
there be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart has
turned aside from the Lord your God." Nearing the end of his mortal
life, the Prophet Moses assembled the People of Israel, reviewed their
national experience with them, and solemnly reminded them that they were
standing, as always, in the presence of God (vs. 10). Then the great
Prophet warned them, each and every one - men and women, young and old,
esteemed leaders and lowly workers - that all of them were facing a
momentous decision: either to enter into the "sworn covenant" under
which God had sustained them from the time of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob
(vss. 10-12), or "to turn aside" from the Lord (vs. 18).

Beloved, like Israel we are the People of God. Therefore, let us heed
the Prophet's warning and determine that our lives never shall stand
apart from God at any point or in any manner. Each day, in each of the
countless choices we make, in the grand as well as in the seemingly
insignificant decisions of daily life, we face the same eternal and
precipitous watershed. Either we "take heed to do all the words of this
covenant" (vs. 9) into which we are pledged in Christ, or we turn our
hearts "aside from the Lord [our] God" (vs. 18). This constant
alternative stands before us - either to commit to or to scorn God and
His words.

Indeed, Orthodox Christians should strive to receive and embrace our
Lord Jesus Christ Himself within, making our hearts a pure and worthy
place for Him, "that He may appoint thee to Himself for a People"
(vs.13). Archimandrite Sophrony assures us that with Christ's coming
"the heart and mind are both completely occupied by Him only. This
visible world gives place to a reality of another, higher order...a
state difficult to describe." Therefore, Brethren, let us never scorn
the Lord and become a mere "root springing up with gall and bitterness"
(Deut. 29:18).

Let us Orthodox People with one soul choose that "He shall be thy God"
(vs. 13), each and every one refusing to "flatter himself" and walk "in
the error of [his] heart" (vs. 19). Rather, let us be a united People
and say, "The Lord is the defender of my life; of whom then shall I be
afraid" (Ps. 26:1 LXX). To explicitly reject God, disdain the Life our
gracious God offers, and refuse the light of Christ to illumine our path
is plainly foolhardy. "God shall by no means be willing to pardon"
(Deut. 29:20). Dire consequences follow.

Every choice a person makes impacts all aspects of his personal
existence, but, for those who are members of Christ's Holy Church, our
decisions also affect all other members of the Christ's Body - past,
present, and future - "those...who are here with you today before the
Lord your God, and to those who are not here with you today" (vs. 15).
The Faithful prosper when all submit to God's will (vs. 9), when, as one
People we "enter into the covenant of the Lord thy God" (vs. 12). "But
lest the sinner destroy the guiltless with him: God shall by no means be
willing to pardon him" (vss. 19,20). Rather, "the wrath of the Lord and
His jealousy shall flame out against that man; and all the curses of
this covenant shall attach themselves to him" (vs. 20).

God save us from the consequences of scorning God; for the Lord will not
pardon the self-assured in his errors. Against him God promises the
curses of covenant violation. The Lord Himself "shall blot out his name
from under heaven " (vs. 20). How terrible to have the Lord separate
that [one] for evil of all [his] children (vs. 21)! O Brethren, Christ
our God has come that we "might have life, and...might have it more
abundantly" (Jn.10:10).

Open to me the doors of repentance, O Life-giver; for my soul goeth
early to the temple of Thy holiness. Because Thou art compassionate,
purify me by the compassion of Thy mercies.

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There are five words that can heal all things

Posted here with permission. I commend my rector's sermon on Sunday to
all. Not to mention his Trinity Sunday sermon which I think is the
best Trinity Sunday sermon i've ever heard. You can hear them here:
www.all-souls.com

Below is a snippet of his sermon of yesterday posted to Ho/B/D



---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Michael Russell


There are five words that can heal all things

"I am sorry."

"Thank you"

The woman at Jesus feet knew that is forgiveness preceded her even saying
I am sorry. The Pharisee required hearing the words. Jesus simply pointed
out that the woman's actions and disposition showed her faith and hunger for
unity with God without her needing to satisfy any human bureaucrat or
self-appointed judge of worthiness.

In her actions at his feet she said those words.

If you think about it those five words summarize the Eucharist.

I am sorry is the pinnacle moment before the peace

Thank you is the balance of the service

When I did mediation very stubborn persons fiercely holding their
position would suddenly melt when the other person said "I'm sorry" even it
if was about the conflict and not an admission of the other person's claim.
It was amazing to see.

The unnamed woman is perhaps the exemplar of how we might all work
through this present moment. She did not fall at the feet of the Pharisee
in the hopes of being restored to HIS exclusive community. She fell at
Jesus' feet. It is there that mercy and loving kindness are taught us.
Jesus has no concern at all for those there who protested his forgiving
her. Neither should we when we practice being rich in forgiveness and
loving kindness to those whom the Pharisees reject.

Mike

--
Michael Russell, Rector
All Souls' Point Loma
C4 San Diego 2006 MA, MDiv, LLC

Every three seconds a child dies from poverty related causes, every
eight seconds the death is from water borne causes. Three hundred die
during the average Sunday sermon, sixteen hundred during the average
Sunday Eucharist.

Publisher of the soon to be available second Via Media Edition: Of the Laws
of Ecclesiastical Polity
author of "Hooker's Blueprint: An Essence Outline
of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity"
www.viamediapress.com
Please feel free to share whatever you find useful from letters posted to
the HOBD. If its a personal letter, please ask for permission to share.

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The obedience asked by Jesus was to love and go on loving

> I was reading Sister Gloriamarie's offering for the 3rd Sunday after
> Pentecost and came across this:
> "God graciously blesses His servants, but He gives all good things
> contingent upon our obedience."
> I wonder how you react to this? Out of context, it doesn't work for me.
> However, I note that the author goes on:
> "Yes, it is true, the Lord blesses the good and the evil, the just and
> the unjust (Mt. 5:45). However, He particularly blesses those who obeyHis
> commandments."
> The writer is commenting on a reading from Deuteronomy with regard to
> Israel.
> It seems to me that the obedience asked by Jesus was to love and go on
> loving.
> Just wondering what you think?


Yesterday's daily meditation sparked the above comment:

My first thought is what specifically is mean by "the obedience asked by Jesus was to love and go on loving."? I ask this because I live in the USA and a lot of people think they are being loving if they experience the warm fuzzies.

To love and to be loving has to have a shape, I think. Jesus tells us that all the Law and the prophets can be summed up in what we now call the 2 Great Commandments: loving God with everything we are and have and loving our neighbors as ourselves. But what does that look like? Evelyn Underhill tells us that love of God is genuine only when it overflows the bounds of our bodies, flows from our pores onto other people. The truest mystic is one who is out and about doing what needs to be done.

The author of the piece quoted above is writing about orthopraxy, right practice, something we don't hear too much about in our post-modern emphasis on love and loving. Once upon a time, orthdoxy and orthopraxy were so intertwined you couldn't have one without the other. Right belief led to right practice, i.e. lifestyle and right practice demonstrated a solid understanding of right belief. Here in the USA, I get the sense that such a way of thinking is viewed as sterile, works for the sake of works.

My own thought is that we have a trinity: love and loving, right belief, right practice. All intertwined and interconnected so that it is really not possible to say where one starts and the other ends. Three concepts; one reality. I think this is what Jesus speaks of and about which Paul wrote. As i see it, in any relationship of love there are those thoughts, words and deeds which can either decrease or increase the love between God and a person, between a person and other people. So it seems to me that we can't separate loving rightly from believing rightly from living rightly. If we truly love God with everything we are and if we truly love our neighbor as ourselves, if we really believe this with all of our being, then love and loving will compel us, without giving it even much thought, to act for the greater good.

Please see the quote in my sig for a much better way to express all this.
--
-
May the Holy Spirit dance in our hearts!

Sister Gloriamarie Amalfitano, S/FC
http://knitternun.blogspot.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SanDiegoFiberFolk

Daily Meditations: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/KnitternunMeditation/

LET US BEGIN TO SEE BEYOND race, beyond culture, beyond gender, beyond sexual orientation, beyond religion, beyond, beyond all these externals and see each other as God’s beloved. When we relate to others as God relates to us, our sense of being God’s beloved deepens even more.

From page 25 of The Way of Transforming Discipleship by Trevor Hudson and Stephen D. Bryant. Copyright © 2005 by Upper Room Books.

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Sunday, June 17, 2007

17/05/07 Feast of the Ascension

[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

Keep, O Lord, your household the Church in your steadfast faith and love, that through your grace we may proclaim your truth with boldness, and minister your justice with compassion; for the sake of our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
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Today's Scripture http://www.satucket.com/lectionary/

AM Psalm 93, 96; PM Psalm 34
Ecclus. 46:11-20; Rev. 15:1-8; Matt. 18:1-14
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From Forward Day by Day: http://www.forwardmovement.org/todaysreading.cfm

Galatians 2:11-21. I do not nullify the grace of God; for if justification comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.

There's a man we secretly call "banana man" who visits the nearby nursing home every Monday morning. He brings a large bunch of bananas that he trims with his pocket knife so he can separate the fruit from the main stem and hand his gift to each of the residents. Although many have no appetite, the bananas are treasured and are displayed on the arms of recliners or in walker baskets. He presents his gift in a eucharistic gesture to those who are withdrawn as well as those who are responsive. His familiarity has become part of the trust that comes when one does not justify his actions but gives freely as God himself would give his own unmerited favor.


Paul wrote to the church at Galatia as his Magna Carta to the freedom God gives us. Works alone will not do the trick, he says. God gives through grace and seeks only one thing--our love. That love cannot be earned. Banana man knows his weekly visit is no more and no less than love. He knows about God's grace. "Amazing grace! how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me!"
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Today in the Anglican Cycle of Prayer we pray for the Diocese of Osaka (Japan)
http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acp/index.cfm
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Speaking to the Soul: http://www.episcopalcafe.com/

Right practice

Daily Reading for June 17 • The Third Sunday after Pentecost

I am not suggesting that anyone learn more about world religions in order to subvert them. Sacred truth is a very deep well into which human beings have been lowering leaky buckets for millennia. The more we learn about what other traditions have fetched up, the more we learn about our own. It is helpful, for instance, since Jesus was a Jew, to know that Judaism has no doctrine of original sin, and that salvation is conceived of as life lived in obedience to Torah. Heaven and hell have never been very lively concepts for most Jews, who find the Christian focus on the world to come more than a little irrelevant. The point of human life on earth, as any son or daughter of Torah can tell you, is to assist God in the redeeming of this world now.

It is also helpful to know that most eastern religions have very little to say about God at all. The Buddha taught that theological speculation is about as useful as wondering what kind of arrow has struck you in the chest. You may measure it if you want to. You may develop theories about where it came from, who shot it, and what kind of wood it is made from, but all in all your time would be better spent deciding how you are going to remove it from your body. The focus is not on orthodoxy—right belief—but on orthopraxis—right practice—which strikes me as a refreshing alternative to the heresy trials that have plagued my own denomination in recent years. Sin, in Buddhist teaching, is ignorance about the true nature of reality, and salvation is a matter of removing the arrow, or waking up.

From Speaking of Sin: The Lost Language of Salvation by Barbara Brown Taylor (Cowley Publications, 2000).
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Carmelite.com: Reflections http://www.carmelite.com/spirituality/reflection.php

Well and good if all things change, Lord God, provided we are rooted in you.
St John of the Cross
Sayings of Light and Love, 34.
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Reading from the Desert Christians http://www.cin.org/dsrtftin.html


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

Witnesses of Love

How do we know that we are infinitely loved by God when our immediate surroundings keep telling us that we'd better prove our right to exist?

The knowledge of being loved in an unconditional way, before the world presents us with its conditions, cannot come from books, lectures, television programs, or workshops. This spiritual knowledge comes from people who witness to God's love for us through their words and deeds. These people can be close to us but they can also live far away or may even have lived long ago. Their witness announces the truth of God's love and calls us to act in accordance with it.
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From the Principles of the Third Society of St. Francis:

Day Seventeen - The Second Way of Service - Study

"And this is eternal life: that they may know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent." (John 17:3) True knowledge is knowledge of God. Tertiaries therefore give priority to devotional study of scripture as one of the chief means of attaining that knowledge of God which leads to eternal life.
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Upper Room Daily Reflection http://www.upperroom.org/reflections/

AT YOUR WORD, O Lord, the worlds were created, and by your word new life is given. Open now my ears that I may hear your special word spoken to me today. Amen.

- Rueben P. Job and Norman Shawchuck
A Guide to Prayer for All God’s People

From page 78 of A Guide to Prayer for All God’s People by Rueben P. Job and Norman Shawchuck. Copyright © 1990 by Upper Room Books.
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Richard Rohr's Daily Reflection
http://cacradicalgrace.org/getconnected/getconnected_index.html

"Live In This Moment"

Allow the Lord, by his love and grace, to let you live in this moment. Right now. This moment is as perfect as it can be. And God’s call, the needs of the world, will make itself very apparent. Just respond to the need that presents itself right in front of you, today, tomorrow. I think many parents become very good and holy people because children literally demand love. You can’t legislate the times in which they can make demands on you. They literally pull life and death out of you and call you forth into a now that you would never have chosen or recognized as Christ.

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 believer and the unbeliever

When I hear that Christ was crucified I am filled with amazement at his love for us, but to the unbeliever this shows weakness. When I hear that Christ became a servant I am astonished at his solicitude for us, but to the unbeliever this is a disgrace. When I hear that Christ died I marvel at his power, since he was not conquered by death, but instead put an end to death. The unbeliever, however, sees Christ's death as a sign of helplessness.

The unbeliever regards the resurrection as pure fiction, but I accept the proven facts and venerate God's saving plan. In baptism the unbeliever sees only water, but I perceive not only what meets the eye, but also the purification of the soul by the Holy Spirit. The unbeliever thinks only the body is cleansed, but I believe that the soul also is made pure and holy, and I am reminded of the tomb, the resurrection, our sanctification, justification, redemption, adoption, and inheritance, of the kingdom of heaven and the gift of the Holy Spirit. I judge outward appearances not by what I see but by the eyes of the mind. When the body of Christ is mentioned, the words have one meaning for me, another for the unbeliever.

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

THE UNCRITICAL TEMPER


"Judge not, that ye be not judged." Matthew 7:1

Jesus says regarding judging - Don't. The average Christian is the most penetratingly critical individual. Criticism is a part of the ordinary faculty of man; but in the spiritual domain nothing is accomplished by criticism. The effect of criticism is a dividing up of the powers of the one criticized; the Holy Ghost is the only One in the true position to criticize, He alone is able to show what is wrong without hurting and wounding. It is impossible to enter into communion with God when you are in a critical temper; it makes you hard and vindictive and cruel, and leaves you with the flattering unction that you are a superior person. Jesus says, as a disciple cultivate the uncritical temper. It is not done once and for all. Beware of anything that puts you in the superior person's place.

There is no getting away from the penetration of Jesus. If I see the mote in your eye, it means I have a beam in my own. Every wrong thing that I see in you, God locates in me. Every time I judge, I condemn myself (see Romans 2:17-20). Stop having a measuring rod for other people. There is always one fact more in every man's case about which we know nothing. The first thing God does is to give us a spiritual spring-cleaning; there is no possibility of pride left in a man after that. I have never met the man I could despair of after discerning what lies in me apart from the grace of God.
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Today's reading from the Rule of St. Benedict http://www.osb.org/rb/

Chapter 13: How the Morning Office Is to Be Said on Weekdays

The Morning and Evening Offices
should never be allowed to pass
without the Superior saying the Lord's Prayer
in its place at the end
so that all may hear it,
on account of the thorns of scandal which are apt to spring up.
Thus those who hear it,
being warned by the covenant which they make in that prayer
when they say, "Forgive us as we forgive,"
may cleanse themselves of faults against that covenant.

But at the other Offices
let the last part only of that prayer be said aloud,
so that all may answer, "But deliver us from evil.

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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.

Sunday, June 17, 2007 Fish, Wine, & Oil Tone
2 Martyrs of Persia
Kellia: Deuteronomy 28:1-14 Epistle: Romans 5:1-10
Gospel: St. Matthew 6:22-33

Blessings: Deuteronomy 28:1-14 LXX, especially vss. 1, 2: "And it shall
come to pass, if thou wilt indeed hear the voice of the Lord thy God, to
observe and do all these commands, which I charge thee this day, that
the Lord thy God shall set thee on high above all the nations of the
earth; and all these blessings shall come upon thee, and shall find
thee. If thou wilt indeed hear the voice of the Lord thy God." An
Orthodox Christian will recognize the blessings that Moses promises in
this passage. For what the great Prophet called blessings are the very
things for which we pray: "this city, and for every city and land,
healthful seasons, abundance of the fruits of the earth, peaceful time,
travelers, the sick, the suffering, captives, and deliverance from all
tribulation, wrath, danger and necessity."

God graciously blesses His servants, but He gives all good things
contingent upon our obedience. Thus, He is the sole Source of all
blessings that can be known, received, and enjoyed in the many aspects
of our lives. Hence, regularly, as each year begins, the Church
entreats our all-bountiful Lord and God to "Bless the crown of the new
year by Thy goodness. Bestow Thy good things from above upon all Thy
people, as also health, salvation and good furtherance in all things.
Deliver Thy holy Church, this city and all cities and countrysides from
every evil assault, and vouchsafe unto them peace and tranquility."

In light of these prayers, look carefully through all the words of the
Prophet Moses to see how he states the message repetitively. It is
common in all of Holy Scripture, returning us to the point at which we
began: God's blessings are contingent upon our obedience. Moses repeats
verbatim, in the first two verses quoted above, "if you will hear the
voice of the Lord your God." Then, in the closing verses of the
passage, he ends with the same message: "The Lord thy God [will] make
thee the head, and not the tail...if thou wilt hearken to the voice of
the Lord thy God, in all things that I charge thee...[and] not turn
aside...to the right hand or to the left, to go after other gods to
serve them." (vss. 13,14). And to not allow our remembrance to grow
cold, even in the middle verses Moses reiterates the same warning. We
are established only "if [we] keep the commandments of the Lord [our]
God, and walk in His ways" (vs. 9).

Next, in very colorful language, the Great Prophet speaks of the host of
ways in which we may discern God as the true and only Source of all
blessings. He sets His Church "high above all the nations" (vs. 1).
His blessings "come upon" us and "overtake" us (vs. 2). The Lord is the
Victor Who defeats our enemies (vs. 7). The Lord commands "the blessing
upon" us, as well as directly Himself providing all that we receive (vs.
8). When we are established as His holy People, it is the Lord Who
keeps the promise He swore to us (vs. 9). Who makes us "abound"? The
Lord does (vs. 11). Who opens His good treasure, the heaven, "to give
rain to thy land in season...[and] bless all the works of thy hands"?
The Lord does (vs. 12).

Yes, it is true, the Lord blesses the good and the evil, the just and
the unjust (Mt. 5:45). However, He particularly blesses those who obey
His commandments. Look at all the aspects of life in which He does
this: He blesses the Church to lead nations and peoples (Deut.
28:1,13). He blesses us in urban and rural life (vs. 3). He gives
fertility upon which our lives depend - to our bodies, our soil, our
livestock, the natural world (vss. 3,11), and in our economy (vs. 12).
When enemies assault, He rescues, despite even terrible repression (vs.
7), for the Church remains His Holy People (vs. 9) called by His Name
(vs. 10).

Thou art a merciful God and lovest mankind, and unto Thee we ascribe
glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever,
and unto ages of ages. Amen.

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