Archive for July, 2008

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He is generous even to exhaustion; and what is most wonderful is, that He gives Himself thus entirely, not once only, but every day, if we wish it. Every fresh Communion is a new gift which Jesus Christ makes of Himself.

July 31, 2008

When: Thursday, July 31, 2008 12:00 AM to Friday, August 01, 2008 12:00 AM (GMT-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada).
 
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
 
Words written in red; Words of Jesus
"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net which was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind; when it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into vessels but threw away the bad. So it will be at the close of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous, and throw them into the furnace of fire; there men will weep and gnash their teeth. "Have you understood all this?" They said to him, "Yes." And he said to them, "Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old." And when Jesus had finished these parables, he went away from there,
Matthew 13: 47 – 53 
 
He is generous even to exhaustion; and what is most wonderful is, that He gives Himself thus entirely, not once only, but every day, if we wish it. Every fresh Communion is a new gift which Jesus Christ makes of Himself.
— St. Ignatius of Loyola
 
Abba, Father, Lord God, thankful, humbled and fighting off preoccupation of a busy mind, burdened with the load of my past I come to You today and as always You reach into and touch my heart and soul with wisdom that is faith, hope and love. O that as You spoke to Jeremiah that You would ‘like the clay in the potter’s hand‘ continue to mold me into what You intend; making new all that was broken and removing all that is not of You in Jesus, making one in myself as I seek to be one with You, in Jesus through the Spirit. O Lord God, for the sake of His sorrowful passion and mercy on me and mine, and on the whole world. Continue to bless me and mine indeed, enlarge our territory for You, let Your hand be with us to protect us from evil and from causing pain. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen. 
 
 
Audio books I am listening to and other books or readings I am reading:
The Art of Presence By: Eckhart Tolle In The Art of Presence, Eckhart guides you through seven hours of transformational insights that allow "presence to naturally arise" in you. With his one-of-a-kind instruction, you will learn how to ground yourself in the vibrancy of your "inner body" while simultaneously breaking free from the illusion of separation from the outside world.
The Brain That Changes Itself: Personal Triumphs from the Frontiers of Brain Science (Unabridged) By: Norman Doidge The discovery that our thoughts can change the structure and function of our brains – even into old age – is the most important breakthrough in neuroscience in four centuries.
The Shack Mackenzie Allen Philips’ youngest daughter, Missy, has been abducted during a family vacation and evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. Four years later in the midst of his Great Sadness, Mack receives a suspicious note, apparently from God, inviting him back to that shack for a weekend. Against his better judgment he arrives at the shack on a wintry afternoon and walks back into his darkest nightmare. What he finds there will change Mack’s world forever. In a world where religion seems to grow increasingly irrelevant "The Shack" wrestles with the timeless question, "Where is God in a world so filled with unspeakable pain?" The answers Mack gets will astound you and perhaps transform you as much as it did him. You’ll want everyone you know to read this book!
 
 

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The soul possesses freedom; and though the devil can make suggestions, he does not have the power to compel you against your will.

July 30, 2008

When: Wednesday, July 30, 2008 12:00 AM to Thursday, July 31, 2008 12:00 AM (GMT-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada).
 
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
 
Words written in red; Words of Jesus
"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it. 
Matthew 13: 44 – 46
 
The soul possesses freedom; and though the devil can make suggestions, he does not have the power to compel you against your will.
— St. Cyril of Jerusalem
 
Abba, Father, Lord God, thankful for all Your blessings, humbled by awareness of myself; I come to You today stimulated in thought by the readings from Jeremiah and the Psalms. Both Jeremiah and Psalmist are moved to cry out to You because they felt besieged and afraid, driven to doubt. They cry for healing, they cry for protection, they cry for righteousness, they cry for faith, hope and love! All along they sing praise to You and honor Your steadfast love and promise. So many times when I read the Books from Your Old Testament I wonder and question the literal interpretations, but today the Spirit as helped me see beyond into the heart of man and the heart of men who lived there life’s for You; who like many of us are walking under the sun today, people of faith, people of God, people who just like me can feel besieged and afraid, driven to doubt. So if men of God like Jeremiah and the Psalmist, who from what we are presented lived their life’s for You as their one purpose, to server You and those You directed them to server, experienced these same feelings of besiegement, fear, and doubt; what are we to expect, but to learn how to walk with thoughts of besiegement, fear, and doubt, knowing unlike Jeremiah and the Psalmist that Jesus has come and His Passion as freed us, and He alone through the Spirit which lives in me and is planted in the heart of every person born under the sun, is our companion, our shield, our breast plate, our sword to fight off these feelings and replace them with feelings filled with faith, faith full of hope, and love which if we allow ourselves to feel may just remove any doubt, and without doubt, the fear that stalks us all, for in Jesus we are never alone and can never be besieged by fear, doubt or those we think maybe out to hurt or harm us. O Lord that You would continue to bless me and mine indeed, enlarging out territory and that Your hand would be with each of us, to keep us from evil, and from causing any pain. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.
 
 
 
Audio books I am listening to and other books or readings I am reading:
The Art of Presence By: Eckhart Tolle In The Art of Presence, Eckhart guides you through seven hours of transformational insights that allow "presence to naturally arise" in you. With his one-of-a-kind instruction, you will learn how to ground yourself in the vibrancy of your "inner body" while simultaneously breaking free from the illusion of separation from the outside world.
The Brain That Changes Itself: Personal Triumphs from the Frontiers of Brain Science (Unabridged) By: Norman Doidge The discovery that our thoughts can change the structure and function of our brains – even into old age – is the most important breakthrough in neuroscience in four centuries.
The Shack Mackenzie Allen Philips’ youngest daughter, Missy, has been abducted during a family vacation and evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. Four years later in the midst of his Great Sadness, Mack receives a suspicious note, apparently from God, inviting him back to that shack for a weekend. Against his better judgment he arrives at the shack on a wintry afternoon and walks back into his darkest nightmare. What he finds there will change Mack’s world forever. In a world where religion seems to grow increasingly irrelevant "The Shack" wrestles with the timeless question, "Where is God in a world so filled with unspeakable pain?" The answers Mack gets will astound you and perhaps transform you as much as it did him. You’ll want everyone you know to read this book!
 
 

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It is not in human nature to deceive others for any long time, without in a measure deceiving ourselves also.

July 29, 2008

When: Tuesday, July 29, 2008 12:00 AM to Wednesday, July 30, 2008 12:00 AM (GMT-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada).
 
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Words written in red; Words of Jesus
Now as they went on their way, he entered a village; and a woman named Martha received him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving; and she went to him and said, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me." But the Lord answered her, "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things; one thing is needful. Mary has chosen the good portion, which shall not be taken away from her."
Luke 10: 38 – 42
 
It is not in human nature to deceive others for any long time, without in a measure deceiving ourselves also.
— John Henry Cardinal Newman
 
Abba, Father, Lord God, thankful, humble, my mind is a wonder, while I wrestle to stay conscious in each moment feeling for what Jesus would do and thinking with feeling. While today’s readings from Jeremiah and Psalms remind me of all the questions I have, it is clear that like my forefathers I too tend to be more conscious, more aware of my need to be connected and be present with You when faced with the reality of the toll my sins have on me, in that as I have done and failed to do with and to others, so I have done and failed to do myself. The result is as Cardinal Newman states ‘I have deceived myself’; for sin as we think about it and have been taught it, isn’t just being disobedient to You, and causing pain in others, while only thinking of what I may want first and or above all at that unconscious moment, sin is at its source not my nature and despite what my human form may lead me to think as it has been shaped by my experiences under the sun, and my human nature is not my nature for what is natural and is what is true to my source. Thus that which I do against my nature and contrary to my source, sin, affects me most. I know what I believe, and I believe what I know, my faith is that process of believing and knowing and knowing and believing; this I know and believe that only in and through Jesus can I heal myself; help me Abba Father, in Jesus name complete the healing process and help me move to that next state of consciousness where I am my source and think, talk and walk accordingly in every way, with everything.  In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, I lift up in pray my love ones traveling, in pain and needing comfort. For the sake of His sorrowful passion have mercy on us and on the whole world,  Amen.     
 
 
Audio books I am listening to and other books or readings I am reading:
The Art of Presence By: Eckhart Tolle In The Art of Presence, Eckhart guides you through seven hours of transformational insights that allow "presence to naturally arise" in you. With his one-of-a-kind instruction, you will learn how to ground yourself in the vibrancy of your "inner body" while simultaneously breaking free from the illusion of separation from the outside world.
The Brain That Changes Itself: Personal Triumphs from the Frontiers of Brain Science (Unabridged) By: Norman Doidge The discovery that our thoughts can change the structure and function of our brains – even into old age – is the most important breakthrough in neuroscience in four centuries.
The Shack Mackenzie Allen Philips’ youngest daughter, Missy, has been abducted during a family vacation and evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. Four years later in the midst of his Great Sadness, Mack receives a suspicious note, apparently from God, inviting him back to that shack for a weekend. Against his better judgment he arrives at the shack on a wintry afternoon and walks back into his darkest nightmare. What he finds there will change Mack’s world forever. In a world where religion seems to grow increasingly irrelevant "The Shack" wrestles with the timeless question, "Where is God in a world so filled with unspeakable pain?" The answers Mack gets will astound you and perhaps transform you as much as it did him. You’ll want everyone you know to read this book!
 
 

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As the result of sin, the virtues have become painful to us; we shrink from them because they mean humiliation and suffering.

July 28, 2008

When: Monday, July 28, 2008 12:00 AM to Tuesday, July 29, 2008 12:00 AM (GMT-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada).
 
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
 
Words written in red; Words of Jesus
Another parable he put before them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches." He told them another parable. "The kingdom of heaven is like leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened." All this Jesus said to the crowds in parables; indeed he said nothing to them without a parable. This was to fulfil what was spoken by the prophet: "I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter what has been hidden since the foundation of the world." 
Matthew 13: 31 – 35
 
As the result of sin, the virtues have become painful to us; we shrink from them because they mean humiliation and suffering. "You do not want to be humiliated?" Humiliation is an honor, suffering a joy, because Jesus Christ has placed in them true honor and true joy.
— St. Peter Julian Eymard
 
Abba, Father, Lord God, thankful, humble and seeking I come to You today. Thankful for all Your blessings; humbled at the foot of the Cross; and seeking to walk in You light, reflecting that light within me, as a lantern on a hill. Help not to let the pressures and business under the sun shadow or darken my light. For I know if I can stay conscious with Jesus the Holy Spirit will guide me and You will give me what I need in each moment. O that You would bless me and mine indeed today, enlarging our territory through Jesus in the Spirit, that You hand would bring healing and protection to us, keeping us from the illnesses and evilness under the sun, helping us to be more conscious so as to be aware or our pain body and not to cause pain. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.
 
 
Audio books I am listening to and other books or readings I am reading:
The Art of Presence By: Eckhart Tolle In The Art of Presence, Eckhart guides you through seven hours of transformational insights that allow "presence to naturally arise" in you. With his one-of-a-kind instruction, you will learn how to ground yourself in the vibrancy of your "inner body" while simultaneously breaking free from the illusion of separation from the outside world.
The Brain That Changes Itself: Personal Triumphs from the Frontiers of Brain Science (Unabridged) By: Norman Doidge The discovery that our thoughts can change the structure and function of our brains – even into old age – is the most important breakthrough in neuroscience in four centuries.
The Shack Mackenzie Allen Philips’ youngest daughter, Missy, has been abducted during a family vacation and evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. Four years later in the midst of his Great Sadness, Mack receives a suspicious note, apparently from God, inviting him back to that shack for a weekend. Against his better judgment he arrives at the shack on a wintry afternoon and walks back into his darkest nightmare. What he finds there will change Mack’s world forever. In a world where religion seems to grow increasingly irrelevant "The Shack" wrestles with the timeless question, "Where is God in a world so filled with unspeakable pain?" The answers Mack gets will astound you and perhaps transform you as much as it did him. You’ll want everyone you know to read this book!
 
 

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To rely on our talents is a cause of great loss.

July 27, 2008

When: Sunday, July 27, 2008 12:00 AM to Monday, July 28, 2008 12:00 AM (GMT-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada).
 
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
 
Words written in red; Words of Jesus
"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field." Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it." Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net which was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind; when it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into vessels but threw away the bad. So it will be at the close of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous, and throw them into the furnace of fire; there men will weep and gnash their teeth. "Have you understood all this?" They said to him, "Yes." And he said to them, "Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old."
Matthew 13: 44 – 52
 
To rely on our talents is a cause of great loss. When someone places confidence in his own prudence, knowledge, and intelligence, God, to make him know and see his insufficiency, withdraws from him His help and leaves him to work by himself. This is often why our undertakings miserably fail.
— St Vincent de Paul
 
Abba, Father, Lord God, thankful, humbled and just like a man who by no act or will of his own, but only by Your grace knows of the Kingdom of Heaven which is in each of us and commits to die to every aspect of self that would in any prevent him from getting there. For what Jesus tells us in the parable of today’s reading I know to be His gift to me, and IF I stay aware and conscious in the present, always ready and willing to die to myself to rise with and follow Him. This I know because I feel, this I feel because how else and who else could bless a sinner like me, like You have these past few days. Thank You Abba Father, thank You Lord God. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.
 
 
Audio books I am listening to and other books or readings I am reading:
The Art of Presence By: Eckhart Tolle In The Art of Presence, Eckhart guides you through seven hours of transformational insights that allow "presence to naturally arise" in you. With his one-of-a-kind instruction, you will learn how to ground yourself in the vibrancy of your "inner body" while simultaneously breaking free from the illusion of separation from the outside world.
The Brain That Changes Itself: Personal Triumphs from the Frontiers of Brain Science (Unabridged) By: Norman Doidge The discovery that our thoughts can change the structure and function of our brains – even into old age – is the most important breakthrough in neuroscience in four centuries.
The Shack Mackenzie Allen Philips’ youngest daughter, Missy, has been abducted during a family vacation and evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. Four years later in the midst of his Great Sadness, Mack receives a suspicious note, apparently from God, inviting him back to that shack for a weekend. Against his better judgment he arrives at the shack on a wintry afternoon and walks back into his darkest nightmare. What he finds there will change Mack’s world forever. In a world where religion seems to grow increasingly irrelevant "The Shack" wrestles with the timeless question, "Where is God in a world so filled with unspeakable pain?" The answers Mack gets will astound you and perhaps transform you as much as it did him. You’ll want everyone you know to read this book!
 
 

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We must mortify our tongue. An impure word spoken in jest may prove a scandal to others, and sometimes a word of double meaning, said in a witty way, does more harm than a word openly impure.

July 27, 2008

When: Saturday, July 26, 2008 12:00 AM to Sunday, July 27, 2008 12:00 AM (GMT-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada).
 
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
 
Words written in red; Words of Jesus
But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. Truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.
Matthew 13: 16 – 17  
 
We must mortify our tongue. An impure word spoken in jest may prove a scandal to others, and sometimes a word of double meaning, said in a witty way, does more harm than a word openly impure.
— St Alphonsus Liguori
 
Abba, Father, Lord God, thankful, humble and blessed, how can I not be aware of Your grace and mercy. How could I, one who relied more of self than You not be thankful. How could I, one who put self first not feel blessed. That You would give me these past few days, keep me aware and present. How could I, not be humbled. Thank You Abba, Father, my Lord God! In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.
 
 
Audio books I am listening to and other books or readings I am reading:
The Art of Presence By: Eckhart Tolle In The Art of Presence, Eckhart guides you through seven hours of transformational insights that allow "presence to naturally arise" in you. With his one-of-a-kind instruction, you will learn how to ground yourself in the vibrancy of your "inner body" while simultaneously breaking free from the illusion of separation from the outside world.
The Brain That Changes Itself: Personal Triumphs from the Frontiers of Brain Science (Unabridged) By: Norman Doidge The discovery that our thoughts can change the structure and function of our brains – even into old age – is the most important breakthrough in neuroscience in four centuries.
The Shack Mackenzie Allen Philips’ youngest daughter, Missy, has been abducted during a family vacation and evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. Four years later in the midst of his Great Sadness, Mack receives a suspicious note, apparently from God, inviting him back to that shack for a weekend. Against his better judgment he arrives at the shack on a wintry afternoon and walks back into his darkest nightmare. What he finds there will change Mack’s world forever. In a world where religion seems to grow increasingly irrelevant "The Shack" wrestles with the timeless question, "Where is God in a world so filled with unspeakable pain?" The answers Mack gets will astound you and perhaps transform you as much as it did him. You’ll want everyone you know to read this book!
 
 

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If you should ask me what is the way of God, I would tell you that it is humility. Not that there are no other precepts to give, but if humility does not precede all that we do, our efforts are fruitless.

July 27, 2008

When: Friday, July 25, 2008 12:00 AM to Saturday, July 26, 2008 12:00 AM (GMT-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada).
 
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
 
Words written in red; Words of Jesus
Then the mother of the sons of Zeb’edee came up to him, with her sons, and kneeling before him she asked him for something. And he said to her, "What do you want?" She said to him, "Command that these two sons of mine may sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom." But Jesus answered, "You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?" They said to him, "We are able." He said to them, "You will drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father." And when the ten heard it, they were indignant at the two brothers. But Jesus called them to him and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you; but whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave; even as the Son of man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."
Matthew 20: 20 – 28
 
If you should ask me what is the way of God, I would tell you that it is humility. Not that there are no other precepts to give, but if humility does not precede all that we do, our efforts are fruitless.
— St. Augustine
 
Abba, Father, Lord God, thankful, humbled and grateful I come to You today; thankful for the save travel, the time with my love ones the Spirit who helped me stay present in the moment for the memories, humbled by that reality of fact that I have and am nothing without You aware that it was, has and is my choice, and grateful for the new memories and ever changing ever developing awareness of myself within myself as I seek and try to practice presence – presence with You, practice awareness – awareness of my pain body, practice oneness – oneness in the Spirit, through Jesus, and with You. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.
 
 
Audio books I am listening to and other books or readings I am reading:
The Art of Presence By: Eckhart Tolle In The Art of Presence, Eckhart guides you through seven hours of transformational insights that allow "presence to naturally arise" in you. With his one-of-a-kind instruction, you will learn how to ground yourself in the vibrancy of your "inner body" while simultaneously breaking free from the illusion of separation from the outside world.
The Brain That Changes Itself: Personal Triumphs from the Frontiers of Brain Science (Unabridged) By: Norman Doidge The discovery that our thoughts can change the structure and function of our brains – even into old age – is the most important breakthrough in neuroscience in four centuries.
The Shack Mackenzie Allen Philips’ youngest daughter, Missy, has been abducted during a family vacation and evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. Four years later in the midst of his Great Sadness, Mack receives a suspicious note, apparently from God, inviting him back to that shack for a weekend. Against his better judgment he arrives at the shack on a wintry afternoon and walks back into his darkest nightmare. What he finds there will change Mack’s world forever. In a world where religion seems to grow increasingly irrelevant "The Shack" wrestles with the timeless question, "Where is God in a world so filled with unspeakable pain?" The answers Mack gets will astound you and perhaps transform you as much as it did him. You’ll want everyone you know to read this book!
 
 
 
 

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