Daily Meditation - Monday 5May 2008 - 7th Week Easter - WHEN FEELINGS AND FAITH ARE NOT IN ACCORD

[BarbaraTherese]

Readings:
Acts 19:1-8
Psalm 68:2-7
John 16:29-33

Meditation
HERE

In the first century, the teaching of the church hadn’t been completely developed yet, so the gospel tended to get out in bits and pieces.

• It was not uncommon, for example,
• for Paul to come upon a group of believers who had heard only a portion of the good news.
• That was the case with these disciples in Ephesus.
• They had received John’s baptism,
• but they had not yet heard about the baptism of Jesus Christ.

John the Baptist preached repentance.

• His baptism was about getting rid of sin in order to make way for the new life of Christ.
• Jesus’ baptism, however, offers forgiveness of sins through his death, and a whole new life through his resurrection.

*** Imagine***:

• At baptism we are actually raised up to be with Jesus and filled with his Holy Spirit.
• This Spirit within us has the potential to impart godly wisdom, comfort, and healing to us.
• But beyond even these wondrous gifts,
• baptism makes us children of God and opens up for us an intimate, personal relationship with Jesus himself.

This sounds so good, but don’t we all have times when we ***feel ***more like the disciples in Ephesus?
Though we are baptized,

• it can seem as if we’ve received only a portion of what Jesus has actually promised.
• For example, when we are under physical, emotional, or financial distress,
• we may not sense the peace and joy we know we should have as his followers.
• Or even when things are going well for us,
• we may grow complacent and fall back on our own resources
• rather than resting in Jesus’ presence and power.

The remedy is simple.

• We have only to ask the Holy Spirit to come to our aid.
• With his help, we can take full advantage of everything that was poured into us at our baptism.
• Each of us has received the spiritual equivalent of millions of dollars—
• so let’s not spend only a dollar or two at a time!
• Let’s ask him for a double portion of love, joy, and courage,
• so that we can bring the love of Christ to everyone we meet.

“Jesus, thank you for giving me new life in baptism. Please help me to experience it more fully!
Lord, I want to know the power
of your resurrection.
Come, Holy Spirit,
and fill me with your love and strength.
I want to be a light to this world!”

 

[bwhite06517]

Are you ready to be an apologist?

From today’s reading we have this:

He entered the synagogue, and for three months debated boldly
with persuasive arguments about the Kingdom of God.

Are you called to be an evangelist or an apologist? Are you ready to debate boldly with persuasive arguments about the Kingdom of God? One of the main aspects of Catholic Answers (and Catholics Answers Forum) is to enable us to be able to defend our faith boldly?

Heavenly Father, equip us to be able to boldly proclaim your truths and to persuade others about your Kingdom and your Church. Amen

 

[BarbaraTherese]

Are you ready to be an apologist?

From today’s reading we have this:

Are you called to be an evangelist or an apologist? Are you ready to debate boldly with persuasive arguments about the Kingdom of God? One of the main aspects of Catholic Answers (and Catholics Answers Forum) is to enable us to be able to defend our faith boldly?

Heavenly Father, equip us to be able to boldly proclaim your truths and to persuade others about your Kingdom and your Church. Amen

…Good point! While I am not called to be any sort of an apologist, since most often the arguments in our apologetics forum can give me a headache they can become so involved and I am still unable to discern what the actual answer may be…and simply because I am not gifted in that area…we should know our Faith and how to present/defend our Faith.
1 Peter 3

15 But sanctify the Lord Christ in your hearts, being ready always to satisfy every one that asketh you a reason of that hope which is in you.

Be the above as it may, I have posted into Apologetics a question asking a straight answer and due to my own limitations, and got one!!!

Thanks again, BW, for you contributions to these Daily Meditation threads.

Blessings…Barb

 

[brigid12]

Hi Barb…when you talk about asking Him for a double portion of Love, Joy and Courage it made me think of St. Therese talking about choosing the gifts in the basket when she was little and saying that she chose all.

 

[BarbaraTherese]

Hi Barb…when you talk about asking Him for a double portion of Love, Joy and Courage it made me think of St. Therese talking about choosing the gifts in the basket when she was little and saying that she chose all.

Hi Brigid …Actually, Brigid, the meditations are not mine, rather taken daily from “Word Among Us” website.

St. Therese is a little joy and charmer, huh?..she was a very human saint or at least she outlines in her biography where she started and as very human and how she grew over the years and really it was a quite short span of time. I think she was only a Carmelite for eight years before she died. For example, as a child she chose everything simply because everything looked good to her and she could not make a choice…later in her life in Carmel that often quite childish universal quality in children was Grace-sublimated into a mature choosing of everything about her very ordinary life and duties as a Carmelite and in a quite hidden way and in an extra ordinary manner, making a great saint of her. Grace indeed builds on nature.
There are so many lovely little anecdotes in her autobiography, like after she was asked to write her life story while she was very ill and in fact dying… in obedience to her duty of poverty, she wrote her story on scraps of paper which she found around the place, which had to be collated after her death to make sense of things. And when she first spat blood which was when the light in her cell was out, rather than investigate right then - she waited until morning and mortified her curiosity as to whether it was blood or not. It was blood. And absolutelyendless in any day are the very little ways we can practise acts of mortification.

She is truly the saint who made a great virtue of necessity too - for example sometimes she would fall asleep during the thanksgiving after communion and rather than worry and bother her soul, she reasoned that little children fell asleep in their Father’s arms and so rested easy about falling asleep during thanksgiving telling herself she was falling asleep in the arms of The Father. The great lesson in this is that it is not all about me, but rather about The Lord and His Great Goodness and Compassionate Understanding and His Loving Mercy…St. Therese insighted this and lived it. If one looks a little further, it is not difficult to make virtues of the necessities in life.
St. Therese also insighted that one’s vocation in life can make a saint of one (any vocation -else The Lord would not call one to it!). This was her philosophy and she followed it and indeed it did make a saint of her…and the astounding matter is that it was all hidden as her fellow nuns (even her own biological sisters also nuns in her monastery)…for in her dying and subsequent death all the nuns thought that she was a good nun but nothing special…until they began to read and collate those scraps of paper and discovered what an extra ordinary spiritual life she lived out and in a very hidden and humble manner…else they would have noticed something!

Thank you for contributing to these meditations and sharing your thoughts, I am hoping others will pick up on this and contribute their own thoughts and sharing.

Sometimes I have heard people comment that they do not like St. Therese because of her style of expression, which very much reflected her own times and environment. But I think probably the wood is missed by gazing at trees …in other words, there is much wonderful stuff and great sound theology behind St. Therese’s style of expression, which is why she has been declared a Doctor of The Church.

Blessings and my regards…Barb

 

[brigid12]

Hi Brigid …Actually, Brigid, the meditations are not mine, rather taken daily from “Word Among Us” website.

St. Therese is a little joy and charmer, huh?..she was a very human saint or at least she outlines in her biography where she started and as very human and how she grew over the years and really it was a quite short span of time. I think she was only a Carmelite for eight years before she died. For example, as a child she chose everything simply because everything looked good to her and she could not make a choice…later in her life in Carmel that often quite childish universal quality in children was Grace-sublimated into a mature choosing of everything about her very ordinary life and duties as a Carmelite and in a quite hidden way and in an extra ordinary manner, making a great saint of her. Grace indeed builds on nature.
There are so many lovely little anecdotes in her autobiography, like after she was asked to write her life story while she was very ill and in fact dying… in obedience to her duty of poverty, she wrote her story on scraps of paper which she found around the place, which had to be collated after her death to make sense of things. And when she first spat blood which was when the light in her cell was out, rather than investigate right then - she waited until morning and mortified her curiosity as to whether it was blood or not. It was blood. And absolutelyendless in any day are the very little ways we can practise acts of mortification.

She is truly the saint who made a great virtue of necessity too - for example sometimes she would fall asleep during the thanksgiving after communion and rather than worry and bother her soul, she reasoned that little children fell asleep in their Father’s arms and so rested easy about falling asleep during thanksgiving telling herself she was falling asleep in the arms of The Father. The great lesson in this is that it is not all about me, but rather about The Lord and His Great Goodness and Compassionate Understanding and His Loving Mercy…St. Therese insighted this and lived it. If one looks a little further, it is not difficult to make virtues of the necessities in life.
St. Therese also insighted that one’s vocation in life can make a saint of one (any vocation -else The Lord would not call one to it!). This was her philosophy and she followed it and indeed it did make a saint of her…and the astounding matter is that it was all hidden as her fellow nuns (even her own biological sisters also nuns in her monastery)…for in her dying and subsequent death all the nuns thought that she was a good nun but nothing special…until they began to read and collate those scraps of paper and discovered what an extra ordinary spiritual life she lived out and in a very hidden and humble manner…else they would have noticed something!

Thank you for contributing to these meditations and sharing your thoughts, I am hoping others will pick up on this and contribute their own thoughts and sharing.

Sometimes I have heard people comment that they do not like St. Therese because of her style of expression, which very much reflected her own times and environment. But I think probably the wood is missed by gazing at trees …in other words, there is much wonderful stuff and great sound theology behind St. Therese’s style of expression, which is why she has been declared a Doctor of The Church.

Blessings and my regards…Barb

:yup:

 

[BarbaraTherese]

:yup:

… …
Deo Gratius