nov 24 2006
Memorial of Saint Andrew Dung-Lac, priest and martyr, and his companions, martyrs
Psalm: Friday 46
Reading 1Rev 10:8-11 I, John, heard a voice from heaven speak to me. Then the voice spoke to me and said:“Go, take the scroll that lies open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.” So I went up to the angel and told him to give me the small scroll. He said to me, “Take and swallow it. It will turn your stomach sour, but in your mouth it will taste as sweet as honey.” I took the small scroll from the angel’s hand and swallowed it. In my mouth it was like sweet honey, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour. Then someone said to me, “You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings.”
119:14, 24, 72, 103, 111, 131R. (103a) How sweet to my taste is your promise!
In the way of your decrees I rejoice, as much as in all riches.
R. How sweet to my taste is your promise!
Yes, your decrees are my delight;they are my counselors.
R. How sweet to my taste is your promise!The law of your mouth is to me more preciousthan thousands of gold and silver pieces.
R. How sweet to my taste is your promise!How sweet to my palate are your promises,sweeter than honey to my mouth!
R. How sweet to my taste is your promise!Your decrees are my inheritance forever;the joy of my heart they are.
R. How sweet to my taste is your promise!I gasp with open mouthin my yearning for your commands.
R. How sweet to my taste is your promise!
Lk 19:45-48 Jesus entered the temple area and proceeded to drive out those who were selling things, saying to them,“It is written, My house shall be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves.”And every day he was teaching in the temple area. The chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people, meanwhile, were seeking to put him to death, but they could find no way to accomplish their purpose because all the people were hanging on his words.
The temple was being disrespected by turning it into a marketplace. The sprirtual presence is not something to be equated with any material goods and in fact in my opinion sprirtual goods can be a barrier to true discipleship. Have I left the material possessions of the world in my current life as a Benedictine Sister? Not completely and by nonWestern standards not very much has been given up. By current American standards I have given up many of the modern electronic personal devices such as Bluetooth and tiny earphones, IPods, newer cameras, new clothing fashions, TV shows, I have one closet of clothes and 3 drawers of clothes total. I have perhaps too many books 3 almost 4 bookcases worth in my home and my work office combined. I think in some ways that I have become too worldly but it is difficult to know at what point something becomes more than a tool or instrument and turns into a possession that is a distraction from simplicity in spiritual life. I have one room that I live in that is about 8 ft by 12 ft which is packed with things. Somehow as soon as I give up a possession something replaces it. There are an enormous amount of papers that have a way of increasing that even though so much can be done on computers, these papers seem to need to be saved for periods of time and filed. I think it is very true that we do not possess our possessions but they possess us taking the time of our life in aquiring, maintaining, moving and disposing them.
Psalm: Friday 46
Reading 1Rev 10:8-11 I, John, heard a voice from heaven speak to me. Then the voice spoke to me and said:“Go, take the scroll that lies open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.” So I went up to the angel and told him to give me the small scroll. He said to me, “Take and swallow it. It will turn your stomach sour, but in your mouth it will taste as sweet as honey.” I took the small scroll from the angel’s hand and swallowed it. In my mouth it was like sweet honey, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour. Then someone said to me, “You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings.”
119:14, 24, 72, 103, 111, 131R. (103a) How sweet to my taste is your promise!
In the way of your decrees I rejoice, as much as in all riches.
R. How sweet to my taste is your promise!
Yes, your decrees are my delight;they are my counselors.
R. How sweet to my taste is your promise!The law of your mouth is to me more preciousthan thousands of gold and silver pieces.
R. How sweet to my taste is your promise!How sweet to my palate are your promises,sweeter than honey to my mouth!
R. How sweet to my taste is your promise!Your decrees are my inheritance forever;the joy of my heart they are.
R. How sweet to my taste is your promise!I gasp with open mouthin my yearning for your commands.
R. How sweet to my taste is your promise!
Lk 19:45-48 Jesus entered the temple area and proceeded to drive out those who were selling things, saying to them,“It is written, My house shall be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves.”And every day he was teaching in the temple area. The chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people, meanwhile, were seeking to put him to death, but they could find no way to accomplish their purpose because all the people were hanging on his words.
The temple was being disrespected by turning it into a marketplace. The sprirtual presence is not something to be equated with any material goods and in fact in my opinion sprirtual goods can be a barrier to true discipleship. Have I left the material possessions of the world in my current life as a Benedictine Sister? Not completely and by nonWestern standards not very much has been given up. By current American standards I have given up many of the modern electronic personal devices such as Bluetooth and tiny earphones, IPods, newer cameras, new clothing fashions, TV shows, I have one closet of clothes and 3 drawers of clothes total. I have perhaps too many books 3 almost 4 bookcases worth in my home and my work office combined. I think in some ways that I have become too worldly but it is difficult to know at what point something becomes more than a tool or instrument and turns into a possession that is a distraction from simplicity in spiritual life. I have one room that I live in that is about 8 ft by 12 ft which is packed with things. Somehow as soon as I give up a possession something replaces it. There are an enormous amount of papers that have a way of increasing that even though so much can be done on computers, these papers seem to need to be saved for periods of time and filed. I think it is very true that we do not possess our possessions but they possess us taking the time of our life in aquiring, maintaining, moving and disposing them.
posted by Joan Morris at 5:27 AM
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