Week of Oct. 4 quotes and points on the spiriutal

Sunday October 4-Ps.26 wonders about a difficult issue, when the good suffer. like Job, the psalmist clings to integrity, a wholeness on the road to goodness. Integrity is a good word for spiritual examination. Where is it in your life and where is it lacking?

Monday-"Allow some time this week to ponder your own patterns of overwork and striving.  Reflect on times of forced rest such as illness and ponder your response to the experience." Christine Valters Paintner

Tuesday-The book of James invites us to imagine a different sort of community, a place where we tell honest stories about ourselves and in so doing crack the doors wide open to invite others to do the same. "Are any of you suffering? Are any of you cheerful? Are any of you sick?" Then there is a place for you here around the table of Jesus.

Wednesday-For the times when we were too eager to be better than others, when we are too rushed to care, when we are too tired to bother, when we don't really listen, when we are too quick to act from motives other than love, God forgive us."(Pietermaritzburg Agency for Christian Social Awareness, South Africa)

Thursday-"To be transformed means to let go of our control for a while in the hope that something even greater will be revealed in us. When we open ourselves to transformation, we yield our certainties about the world for a new way of seeing."--- Christine Valters Paintner

Friday-“Our job is to love others without stopping to inquire whether or not they are worthy. That is not our business and, in fact, it is nobody's business. What we are asked to do is to love, and this love itself will render both ourselves and our neighbors worthy.” Thomas Merton (1915-1968)

Saturday-What are the ways you continue to neglect your own creative life? What excuses do you make to yourself? Imagine you were interviewing your True Self. How do you think she/he might respond to your refusal to listen to her cry? How long do you think she will keep trying to get your attention before finally giving up? What are the subtle ways ways she has tried to capture your attention? Did you listen? If not, why? from Abbey of the Arts