Daily Retreat 10/23/08
2008 Oct 23 Thu: Ordinary Weekday/ John of Capistrano, p
Eph 3: 14-21/ Ps 32(33): 1-2. 4-5. 11-12. 18-19/ Lk 12: 49-53
From today’s readings: “To Him who is able to accomplish far more than all we ask or imagine.... The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.... I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing! ”
3 dimensional prayer
Often, in what we think God can do or in what we allow Him to do in our lives, we effectively consider Him as confined to one or two dimensions of our lives, as if, for instance, He were content to concern Himself with our spiritual welfare, but indifferent to our physical, emotional, social, or intellectual well-being.
To attempt to banish God to a single plane of our lives, though, is to treat Him the same as a pagan god whose sphere of influence was believed to be demarcated by the existence of other gods, each with his own domain and focus. One of Paul’s essential efforts in Ephesians is to enable his readers to appreciate the fullness and completeness of God’s universal sovereignty and goodness, and the implications of that.
As you read through Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, let his lofty words penetrate whatever residue of pagan narrow-mindedness has limited your perception of God and His involvement in your own life, “that you, rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the holy ones what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God!”
Eph 3: 14-21/ Ps 32(33): 1-2. 4-5. 11-12. 18-19/ Lk 12: 49-53
From today’s readings: “To Him who is able to accomplish far more than all we ask or imagine.... The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.... I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing! ”
3 dimensional prayer
Often, in what we think God can do or in what we allow Him to do in our lives, we effectively consider Him as confined to one or two dimensions of our lives, as if, for instance, He were content to concern Himself with our spiritual welfare, but indifferent to our physical, emotional, social, or intellectual well-being.
To attempt to banish God to a single plane of our lives, though, is to treat Him the same as a pagan god whose sphere of influence was believed to be demarcated by the existence of other gods, each with his own domain and focus. One of Paul’s essential efforts in Ephesians is to enable his readers to appreciate the fullness and completeness of God’s universal sovereignty and goodness, and the implications of that.
As you read through Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, let his lofty words penetrate whatever residue of pagan narrow-mindedness has limited your perception of God and His involvement in your own life, “that you, rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the holy ones what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God!”
posted by FrPitstick | 10/19/2008
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