A Daily Spiritual Seed
- resources for prayer and spiritual growth
- blogcast from http://dailyspiritualseed.blogspot.com (comments option open)
Annual Appeal Week
The
Internet Ministry of Heartland Center for Spirituality was a pioneer in
facilitating spiritual direction via the Internet. I checked my records
this morning and see that we received our first applicant in October
2000. Since then, we have had another 253 apply, some of them from
countries where no such support is available. To meet this need, team
members at Heartland Center (self included) have made themselves
available, and we also opened it up to other spiritual directors, who
are listed in our directory for a small advertising fee. To date, we
have had 46 other such spiritual directors advertise their services, and
we have helped to connect our spiritual direction applicants with the
ones they requested.When we began offering spiritual direction via the Internet, hardly anyone else was doing so. Now, most spiritual directors have their own web sites, and Spiritual Directors International (SDI) makes it easy to find available directors in one's area or elsewhere. In fact, I may have prodded SDI in that direction with a 2002 article I published in its professional magazine, "Presence," on "Using the Internet for Spiritual Direction." Whatever the case, it was inevitable that they would eventually use the Internet to help people connect.
Currently, I meet regularly with 7 people who applied for spiritual direction through shalomplace.com. Increasingly, we use Skype video as the medium of interaction as more and more people have broadband connectivity, and Skype has improved considerably during the past few years. A video session is the next best thing to sitting in the room face-to-face, in my experience, but audio conferences such as by phone are also very good. These relationships have grown and deepened through the years; providing spiritual guidance via the Internet works.
In the future, I hope to expand our spiritual guidance options to include coaching as well. Coaching differs from spiritual direction in that it is more "directive" in its manner of supporting others. I think many could benefit from this approach. Stay tuned.
To find out more about our ministry of spiritual guidance via the Internet, visit the link below:
- http://shalomplace.com/direction
Thank you for supporting our ministry!
Phil St. Romain
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Donation and voluntary subscription options (including secure online credit card and check payment)
http://heartlandspirituality.org/support.html
Book, eBook and/or audio resource purchases.
http://shalomplace.com/products.html and
http://shalomplace.com/psrbks.html
Message of the Day
Most of us believe in order to feel secure, in order to make our individual lives seem valuable and meaningful. Belief has thus become an attempt to hang on to life, to grasp and keep it for one’s own. But you cannot understand life and its mysteries as long as you try to grasp it. Indeed, you cannot grasp it, just as you cannot walk off with a river in a bucket. . . To have running water you must let go of it and run. The same is true of life and of God.
- Flannery O’Connor, “The Habit of Being”
(What do you need to let go of into order to move more freely in the Spirit?)
Readings of the Day
- http://www.usccb.org/calendar/index.cfm?showLit=1&action=month
WIS 13:1-9; PS 19:2-3, 4-5AB; LK 17:26-37
R. (2a) The heavens proclaim the glory of God.The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.
Day pours out the word to day,
and night to night imparts knowledge.
Not a word nor a discourse
whose voice is not heard;
Through all the earth their voice resounds,
and to the ends of the world, their message.
Reflection on the Scriptures
- http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html
Love God and love others—that is the gospel message. One of the hardest battles we face is looking outside of ourselves for the benefit of others. Am I comfortable? Am I happy? What do I need right now? What do I need tomorrow? These are questions we ask ourselves every day as our world urges us to put our happiness first. Even the Snickers candy bar commercials tell us “we deserve a break” and that treating ourselves should be the priority. But what about others? What about dying to our flesh and loving our brothers and sisters?
That is the mission we are all called to. We are not just encouraged to follow it; we are commanded to follow it. We have to understand and accept that loving others is generally inconvenient. It means we don’t get our way, we don’t get to be comfortable, and we have to fight our natural inclinations to judge people or to “get along” with people who aren’t like us.
Today’s gospel message from Luke 17 reminds us “Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses it will save it.” If we live our lives trying to find happiness by meeting our own needs, we will come up short. If, however, we follow Jesus’ example and live to meet the needs of others, we will find life. We will experience true joy and happiness by loving people.
- by Catie O'Malley
Spiritual Reading
Selected Quotes from St. John of the Cross on the Journey of the Soul to God by Contemplation - from Dark Night of the Soul
- http://www.amazon.com/dp/160459263X/?tag=christianspiritu
Bk.
2, Ch. 11. The fire begins to take hold of the soul in this night of
painful contemplation. The understanding is in darkness. #2. The spirit feels itself to be deeply and passionately in love.
#5. The touch of this love and Divine fire dries up the spirit and enkindles its desires, so much so that it turns upon itself a thousand times and desires God in a thousand ways.
#7. In the midst of thes dark and loving afflictions the soul feels within itself a certain companionship and strength, which bears it company and so greatly strengthens it that, if this burden of grevious darkness be taken away, it often feels itself to be alone, empty and weak.
- compiled by James and Tyra Arraj
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Amazon Gift Cards: Good for any occasion.
- http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00067L6TQ/?tag=christianspiritu
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Please support this ministry with a tax-deductible donation.
- http://heartlandspirituality.org/support.html
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