How do I read the Gospel? Do I tend to pick and choose and maybe ignore some hard sayings?
We continue to look at the "Gospel of Joy":
It is important to draw out the pastoral consequences of the Council’s teaching, which reflects an ancient conviction of the Church. First, it needs to be said that in preaching the Gospel a fitting sense of proportion has to be maintained. This would be seen in the frequency with which certain themes are brought up and in the emphasis given to them in preaching. For example, if in the course of the liturgical year a parish priest speaks about temperance ten times but only mentions charity or justice two or three times, an imbalance results, and precisely those virtues which ought to be most present in preaching and catechesis are overlooked. The same thing happens when we speak more about law than about grace, more about the Church than about Christ, more about the Pope than about God’s word.
39. Just as the organic unity existing among the virtues means that no one of them can be excluded from the Christian ideal, so no truth may be denied. The integrity of the Gospel message must not be deformed. What is more, each truth is better understood when related to the harmonious totality of the Christian message; in this context all of the truths are important and illumine one another.
Here is one of the prayers I love (copied from the Concord Pastor's blog) but has been a favorite of mine for many years:
O Lord, teach my heart
where and how to seek you,
where and how to find you..
You are my God,
you are my all -
and yet I've never seen you...
You made me and you've remade me,
you've bestowed on me
every good thing I possess -
and still I do not know you
and have yet to do
that for which you made me...
Teach me to seek you, Lord,
for I cannot seek you
unless you teach me
or find you
unless you show yourself to me...
Let me seek you in my desire
and let me desire you in my seeking...
Let me find you by loving you
and let me love you when I find you...
Amen.
- from St. Anselm 1033-1109
A Prayer from Anselm of Canterbury
O my God teach my heart where and how to seek you,
where and how to find you…
You are my God and you are my All and I have never seen you.
You have made me and remade me,You have bestowed on me all the good things I possess,
Still I do not know you…
I have not yet done that for which I was made….
Teach me to seek you…
I cannot seek you unless you teach me
or find you unless you show yourself to me.Let me seek you in my desire, let me desire you in my seeking.
Let me find you by loving you, let me love you when I find you.
- See more at: http://www.ignatianspirituality.com/8361/anselms-prayer/#sthash.RkORgm3N.dpuf
A Prayer from Anselm of Canterbury
O my God teach my heart where and how to seek you,
where and how to find you…
You are my God and you are my All and I have never seen you.
You have made me and remade me,You have bestowed on me all the good things I possess,
Still I do not know you…
I have not yet done that for which I was made….
Teach me to seek you…
I cannot seek you unless you teach me
or find you unless you show yourself to me.Let me seek you in my desire, let me desire you in my seeking.
Let me find you by loving you, let me love you when I find you.
- See more at: http://www.ignatianspirituality.com/8361/anselms-prayer/#sthash.RkORgm3N.dpuf
A Prayer from Anselm of Canterbury
O my God teach my heart where and how to seek you,
where and how to find you…
You are my God and you are my All and I have never seen you.
You have made me and remade me,You have bestowed on me all the good things I possess,
Still I do not know you…
I have not yet done that for which I was made….
Teach me to seek you…
I cannot seek you unless you teach me
or find you unless you show yourself to me.Let me seek you in my desire, let me desire you in my seeking.
Let me find you by loving you, let me love you when I find you.
- See more at: http://www.ignatianspirituality.com/8361/anselms-prayer/#sthash.RkORgm3N.dpuf
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