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The power of the Church in this world
“…the interior life of the Church is then one of selfless love so fully exercised that, within its communion, the structure of its ministries coincides exactly with that of interpersonal relationships and the whole is the visible manifestation of a community that so gives itself unselfishly in love and service that it cannot fail to touch the world outside, both…
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Living in the FRESH word of God
Do you have particular passages of Scripture where you read them over and over, or come to them regularly on a reading schedule, and you are reminded of when God spoke to you in that passage? There are a few passages that are radically life-changing for me. They are passages where in that holy moment something radically changed in direction for…
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A continual life of prayer
What is it to “pray without ceasing”? (1 Thess. 5:17) Hans Urs von Balthasar in his book Engagement with God gives us this thought from Origen:
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Why we carefully study the Word in the power of the Spirit
“If we want to receive from the Bible the life ‘with God’ that is portrayed in the Bible, we must be prepared to have our dearest and most fundamental assumptions about ourselves and our associations called into question. We must read humbly and in a constant attitude of repentance. Only in this way can we gain a thorough and practical grasp of…
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The church isn’t some alternative universe
There are times when I deeply treasure being able to slowly walk through a paragraph or even a portion of a paragraph and feast on the beauty of the meaning. My current reading affords me that.
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The freedom found in Christ
“The fact that those freed by the divine action still live in the world does not mean that they belong to the world, as though possessed by the world and incorporated into its structure. They are indeed in themselves finite individuals, but are no longer in slavery for — through the process of dying and rising with Christ — they…
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Remember the poor
A prayer for today captured me in light of the horrifying news the past few days of how we are treating children in this political war over immigration. Here is part of that prayer: Let your way be known upon earth; Your saving health among all nations. Let not the needy, O Lord, be forgotten; Nor the hope of the…
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Our prayers are precious to God
I had to share this passage: “OUR PRAYERS ARE honored beyond anything we imagine here on earth. They break through the time barrier to join the eternal worship. Angels bring them before God with reverence and tenderness. The prayers of the faithful are placed upon the altar. At long last those noiseless cries for justice are about to be answered.…
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The depths of culturalized Christianity
John Fea calls them “court evangelicals.” I want to go a bit further and use the term: “culturalized Christians.” It’s not a good term, but I start there.
