From: your-daily-tripod+noreply@googlegroups.com
Date: Wed, 30 Jun 2010 04:37:27 +0000
Subject: [Your Daily Tripod] Digest for
your-daily-tripod@googlegroups.com - 2 Messages in 2 Topics
To: Digest Recipients <your-daily-tripod+digest@googlegroups.com>
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Today's Topic Summary
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Group: your-daily-tripod@googlegroups.com
Url: http://groups.google.com/group/your-daily-tripod/topics
- What Have You To Do With Us, Son Of God? (June 30) [1 Update]
http://groups.google.com/group/your-daily-tripod/t/ff9afa214e0e6304
- Who Do You Say I Am? [1 Update]
http://groups.google.com/group/your-daily-tripod/t/85d8ebc05d121461
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Topic: What Have You To Do With Us, Son Of God? (June 30)
Url: http://groups.google.com/group/your-daily-tripod/t/ff9afa214e0e6304
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From: "dxfaro@cox.net" <dxfaro@cox.net>
Date: Jun 29 08:17PM -0700
Url: http://groups.google.com/group/your-daily-tripod/msg/d9e9110f7b10e2db
Wednesday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Seek good and not evil, that you may live; Then truly will the LORD,
the God of hosts, be with you as you claim! Hate evil and love good,
and let justice prevail at the gate; Then it may be that the LORD, the
God of hosts, will have pity on the remnant of Joseph. Amos 5:14-15
"Understand this, you who forget God, lest I attack you with no one to
rescue. Those who offer praise as a sacrifice honor me; to the
obedient I will show the salvation of God." Psalm 50:22-23
When he came to the other side, to the territory of the Gadarenes, two
demoniacs who were coming from the tombs met him. They were so savage
that no one could travel by that road. They cried out, "What have you
to do with us, Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the
appointed time?" Matthew 8:28-29
Piety
What have you to do with me, Jesus? What must I do to experience your
saving grace? Despite my forgetfulness and sin, you never turn away
from me like I turn away from you. Restore me to you so that you may
always have a place to dwell with me. Amen.
Study
Why do we do what we do? Why do we do evil and spurn goodness? One
answer revealed in today's readings is because we allow the forces of
evil to have greater influence on us than we allow the forces of good
or of God.
Today's readings also reintroduce us to an interesting word: demoniac
– someone who has been possessed or controlled by a demon. We have
many other forms of insanity that also build off of the root "mania"
or "maniac." The influence of evil not only explains the behavior of
the two men coming out of the tombs at Gadarenes but it also explains
the behavior that the prophet Amos was trying to change more than 700
years earlier.
As the introduction to the Book of Amos in the New American Bible
tells us, Amos was "a prophet of divine judgment, and the sovereignty
of Yahweh in nature and history dominates his thought. But he was no
innovator; his conservatism was in keeping with the whole prophetic
tradition calling the people back to the high moral and religious
demands of Yahweh's revelation. In common with the other prophets,
Amos knew that divine punishment is never completely destructive; it
is part of the hidden plan of God to bring salvation to men." When we
allow the forces of good or of God to prevail, then this compassionate
nature of God will rise above any of our transgressions.
Even when we are possessed by forces that lead us into a life of sin,
God will prevail over these forces. Jesus shows us that today in the
first encounter we study when he releases the two men who were
possessed and drives the evil spirits into the herd of swine.
However, the people react in a curious fashion. When they heard about
the story from witnesses, they rush out of town to meet Jesus. When
the rest of the people have the second encounter with Jesus, they do
not know what to make of this change in the nature of the former
demoniacs. They have come to fear these possessed men.
Instead of welcoming these men back into the community, they reject
Jesus and ask him to leave their town and leave them alone. "When they
saw him they begged him to leave their district." They do not want to
accept the change which Jesus has caused. Rather, they want to go back
to the behaviors to which they had become accustomed. Jesus, the agent
of change, is rejected. Jesus should be getting used to rejection by
this point. Rejection will become great training for the time when his
hour has come.
Action
The core question for all Christianity arises today. "What have you to
do with us, Son of God?" For the demoniacs, when they encounter Jesus,
they find out that Jesus has arrived to free them from the forces of
evil which have gripped their lives. However, the people from the town
never ask the same question.
"What have you to do with us, Son of God?" Are your ready to encounter
Jesus and ask the question? Are you ready for the answer? Are you
ready to live with the way you must when Jesus changes your life? If
not, Jesus might just as well pack up and leave Fairfax or Arlington
or Alexandria or Manassas like he left Gadarenes.
Amos preaches that despite our actions, God is a healing God: Yes,
days are coming, says the LORD, When the plowman shall overtake the
reaper, and the vintager, him who sows the seed; The juice of grapes
shall drip down the mountains, and all the hills shall run with it. I
will bring about the restoration of my people Israel; they shall
rebuild and inhabit their ruined cities, Plant vineyards and drink the
wine, set out gardens and eat the fruits.
What are you willing to do in exchange for this restoration? Will you
accept it like the former demoniacs who become believers or will you
reject it like the people from the town?
"What have you to do with us, Son of God?" Is there any more important
question in all Christianity? First, we have to recognize that Jesus
is the Son of God. But then, we have to accept what this means for our
lives.
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Topic: Who Do You Say I Am?
Url: http://groups.google.com/group/your-daily-tripod/t/85d8ebc05d121461
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From: "dxfaro@cox.net" <dxfaro@cox.net>
Date: Jun 29 02:48AM -0700
Url: http://groups.google.com/group/your-daily-tripod/msg/df353a5abc4c2bc4
http://www.usccb.org/nab/062910b.shtml
June 29 2010
Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles
By Beth DeCristofaro
The Lord stood by me and gave me strength, so that through me the
proclamation might be completed and all the Gentiles might hear it.
And I was rescued from the lion's mouth. (2 Timothy 4:17)
He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter said in
reply, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus said to
him in reply, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and
blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. (Matthew
16:15-17)
Piety
Another morning and I wake with thirst for the goodness I do not
have. I walk out to the pond and all the way God has given us such
beautiful lessons. Oh Lord, I was never a quick scholar but sulked
and hunched over my books past the hour and the bell; grant me, in
your mercy, a little more time. Love for the earth and love for you
are having such a long conversation in my heart. Who knows what will
finally happen or where I will be sent, yet already I have given a
great many things away, expecting to be told to pack nothing, except
the prayer which, with this thirst, I am slowly learning.
("Thirst" by Mary Oliver)
Study
"You are the Christ, the Son of the living God," says Peter. Jesus
revealed that God gave Peter the insight to recognize him. God moved
this man in unlooked for ways and he recognized the living Grace
before him. Later, of course, Peter denied that he knew Jesus,
thereby denying God.
Sometimes I wonder how to recognize God. What should I do or which
path should I choose? How do I know God's desire for me? "God," I
pray, "can you write down what you'd like me to do in this notebook at
the side of my bed?" Sometimes I feel that if I choose the wrong
thing then I will lose out or thwart God's will which would then be a
denial much like Peter's.
I think Peter's example shows me that choosing an unqualified right
way is less important than to be open to God's revealing mercy and
love. God's grace is given and within me, within us. Before we reach
for God, God reaches for us. There are many paths to take and they
can all lead to God if my deepest desire is for God. Peter messed up
pretty badly even after Jesus had recognized and named him but still
became the Rock of God's community on earth. God's mercy, love,
forgiveness and wisdom is revealed in the many chapters of Peter's
life.
Action
Piety, study, action are invaluable tools for me to know God. What is
going on within? Is it my self-will propelling me or through study,
piety and action can I be in touch with God's mercy and movement each
and every day? I don't have to necessarily do it "right". Jesus
just wants me to accept that by saying "yes" to him in the deepest
places of my heart. God will then take me the rest of the way.
When did I deny Christ? Did I turn back with sorrow and remorse and
accept God's mercy? God wants to break the chains that keep us from
God and rescue us from the lion's mouth of our own self-will.
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