Chabad and Bombay

Jewish people are our elder brothers and sisters in the faith. God has a covenant with Abraham. God will bless those who bless the jews, and he will curse those who curse the jews.

Gen 12:2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and be thou a blessing.
Gen 12:3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and him that curseth thee will I curse; and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed.'
Gen 12:4 So Abram went, as the LORD had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him; and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran. (JPS)

There exists in this vale of tears, a fine jewish organization called, Chabad, they among other things publish a weekly e-magazine that everyone seeking spiritual growth should read. In Bombay these two representatives of this organization were killed simply because they were jews, no other reason, none whatsoever.



Their names were Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife, Rivka Holtzberg.

Remember them.

Peace

Marquis

(For the poor quality of this post I apologize, for the content, I do not apologize.)

CCC Vocab Words

I have started reading the Catechism of the Catholic Church. This time around I am reading slowly. I am looking up the words I don't understand and writing the definition in the margin.

CCC 37, Abnegation: verb (used with object), -gat⋅ed, -gat⋅ing.
1.
to refuse or deny oneself (some rights, conveniences, etc.); reject; renounce.
2.
to relinquish; give up.

Origin: 1650–60; < L abnegātus denied (ptp. of abnegāre).

CCC 53, Pedagogy: noun, plural -gies.
1.
the function or work of a teacher; teaching.
2.
the art or science of teaching; education; instructional methods.

CCC 55 Solicitude: noun
1.
the state of being solicitous; anxiety or concern.
2.
solicitudes, causes of anxiety or care.
3.
an attitude expressing excessive attentiveness: to show great solicitude about his wife's health.

Origin: 1375–1425; late ME < L sollicitūdō uneasiness of mind, deriv. of sollicitus agitated.

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

It looks as if it will be a slow read, for someone as ignorant and uneducated as I.

Lectio Divina

Here is a simple instruction of Lectio Divina:

The first step is: Lectio - Read a short passage of scripture two or three times out loud.

The second step is: Meditatio - Meditate or ponder on what you read. Meditation is like a cow chewing the cud. She will chew, swallow, and bring it back up later to chew on it some more.

The third step is: Oratio - Praying the scripture back to the Lord. The Bible is filled with God's promises to us. When we pray what He said, He will do it. It is His Word!

The fourth step is: Contemplatio - This is contemplating (not meditation). When you sit on a hillside and look at the reflection of a sunset on a lake you are contemplating. You are just enjoying it. Take time to contemplate on the experience you are having through what you read and learned.

I don't know if this is right or correct; I plan to read more on the subject and attempt to learn the correct and right process.

I do believe Lectio Divina is an essential tool for spiritual growth.

LOTH Vol I

Tomorrow at evening prayer I will start with Volume 1. I look forward to the prayers of Advent and Christmas.

Please pray for all the people who were hurt or killed this weekend in Bombay by the agents of Satan.

CCC 1809

I was reading the Catechism of the Catholic Church and came across this at the tail end of 1809. It has been a favorite passage of mine. I know you all are familiar with it, but for some reason it sings to my heart.

"To live well is nothing other than to love God with all one's heart, with all one's soul and with all one's efforts; from this it comes about that love is kept whole and uncorrupted (through temperance). No misfortune can disturb it (and this is fortitude). It obeys only [God] (and this is justice), and is careful in discerning things, so as not to be surprised by deceit or trickery (and this is prudence). CCC1809"

I hope to add regular reading of the Holy Scriptures and of the CCC, to my daily devotions. I pray that the Good Lord allows me to develop my good intention into a regular habit.

I am home sick with a cold. These versions of the divine mercy chaplet give me comfort.



I also like the chanted version.


Peace

Marquis

What I am reading.

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver, I am reading this for fun. It is one of my wife's and it looks interesting. I have read another book by Barbara Kingsolver called Prodigal Summer, I thought it was decent.

Rosary Mysteries, Meditations, and the Telling of the Beads by Kevin Orlin Johnson, Ph.D. This is an excellent book, everyone who prays the rosary should have a copy of this book. I read it a few years ago and took it down to re-read. I am reading it slowly and looking up all references on the internet.

The Imitation of Christ by Thomas A. Kempis. I have almost read this book, I have had it for years and never had read it. Now I understand why is it the most published or sold book after the Holy Bible. I highly recommend it, but get the copy published by Catholic Book Publishing.

Deep Conversion Deep Prayer by Fr. Thomas Dubay, S.M. This is an excellent book, I have read about half of it, and I think I need to read more books by Fr. Dubay. There is an excellent series of talks he does about St. John of the Cross currently available for download for free at www.ewtn.com

I have downloaded it and put in on my ipod.

Enough for now.

Peace be with you.

Marquis

Saturday Thoughts

Here lately, I have been able to pray Morning and Evening Prayer from the Liturgy of the Hours. It has been a blessing in my life. I have been suspecting that my spiritual life is very shallow. Praying the prayer of the Church is helping me. It is a practice I hope to develop into a daily habit.
A few months ago, I started praying the Rosary on the way to work. I have been praying the Rosary off and on, on the way home from work, this has been helpful to my growth.
I read a blog entry about a personal rule of life. I think this is something I need to pursue. For me it would be a series of daily devotions and spiritual exercises. It will be something I need to work on.
There is a Jewish website, www.chabad.org, that has a weekly online magazine, I would like to reccomend it to everyone. I think it would be valuable for anyone seeking spiritual growth to read. It is refreshing to read another point of view.
If something is different, that does not make it bad or evil, it's just different.

Faith makes all things possible,
Love makes all things easy,
Hope makes all things work.