The Gospel can be considered a Manual of Prayer, a letter written by the Holy Spirit to you. But God's Word doesn't live in a book. It comes alive when you pray about It. It is not about getting to know what the 'Historical Jesus' did two thousand years ago, what He said "back then"; Jesus Christ is not 'back then' anymore, He is alive, and is longing to talk to you.Taking the Gospel of the day, the iPray provides a commentary that can be a trigger for an authentic and personal conversation with Jesus. That time of prayer spent with Jesus is like a 'cooking pot' in which you blend the Words and scenes of Jesus' life, found in the Gospel, together with your daily life, your worries, your family and friends, all heated up by the fire of the Holy Spirit.'iPray with the Gospel' is not a ready-made meal you can just throw in the microwave, as if they were some prayers that you read and that's it. It is more like a personal recipe that only you can cook with the help of the Holy Spirit.
The last dogma defined by the Church is the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into heavenly glory. This dogma is the gateway to answer one of the greatest problems that has ever faced the human race. What is the meaning of life? Is death the end of everything? Mary's Assumption tells us that eternal life with God is the final evolution of every man and woman who dies in the friendship of God. At the end of time all will be taken up and transformed, the body and the soul, the corporeal and the spiritual. For all that God created is sacred and loved. Where Mary is, all the elect will be. Whoever contemplates this mystery learns much about God, Christ, Mary, the Church and oneself. The Virgin Mary is one who walked in the darkness of faith and never despaired, one who obeyed and never deserted, one who loved and was never unfaithful. She is an example of the perfect disciple. Mary was Jesus' first and the most perfect disciple of Christ. The Virgin Mary, taken up into heaven after her earthly life, remains for us the symbol of all that we should be, and of all that we will be, if only we are faithful to Christ. She is the woman in the life of Christ and the woman in the life of all who follow him. On earth Mary was the mother of Jesus and his wholehearted companion, his comfort and joy. Now in heaven close to Jesus, she watches over us with a mother's care and intercedes for us. She is our life, our sweetness and our hope. She is our shining example. Where she is, we shall be. God knows we need the woman clothed in glory. The purpose of this book is to contemplate the Virgin Mary in her heavenly glory. The book's reflections go beyond the mystery of the Assumption in itself to contemplate the Mother of God in glory in relation to Christ and the Church. For Mary in glory is close to Christ and the people of God. We hope to penetrate more deeply this twofold mystery. To facilitate this task, the book is divided the study into two parts: The Assumption in the Mystery of Christ, and the Assumption in the Mystery of the Church. The first part follows the model of Chapter eight of the Constitution on the Church of the Second Vatican Council. There as here, Mary is considered first in the mystery of Christ and then in the mystery of the Church. The first part is actually a commentary on the Apostolic Constitution Munificentissimus Deus that defined the dogma of the Assumption. It is here we perceive that the Assumption is not an isolated privilege granted to Mary, but one that is intimately joined with the person and mission of Christ. Her triumphal entrance into glory is part of Christ's victory over sin and death. The second part goes beyond the Constitution and ponders the Immaculate Virgin in heaven in relation to the mystery of the Church. The first consideration is Mary in heaven as the model, image and beginning of the pilgrim Church. This is followed by her relation to the suffering and heavenly Church. The final chapter ponders the texts of the liturgical feast of the Assumption. It is in the liturgy of the feast that we experience God's love for the human family; Mary's inseparable union with Christ her Son and Savior, and the joy that we are called to experience once our pilgrimage of faith is over. For, taken up to heaven we join Mary in the communion of saints in union with Christ our Lord.
God taught me that the most effective way to building our relationship is through committing to spending quality time with Him and allowing Him an opportunity to communicate with me. Journal with Jesus is currently a digital prayer journal designed to help you grow closer to Jesus as He walks with you along your journey through life. It guides you through a simple process of establishing and developing an intimate relationship with Him by scheduling "Moments with Jesus" on a consistent daily basis without causing overwhelm. Inside you'll find a 12 month calendar, weekly sections which include areas to jot down your prayer petitions, prayer requests for others, the ways He's communicating with you in return, tests He may be taking you through, digital stickers to decorate with, notes, even a fasting plan and more. [Certain products may be sent in a separate email.]
Seeking Hidden Treasures is a book relevant for the tumultuous times of today, a journey filled with personal stories, adventures, challenges, and rewards as you collect the treasures and spoils of war. As you read and study God's Word, you will be given insight into God's answers for your daily challenges. You will be given insight into the invisible realm of the kingdom of God and how it affects your daily life. Do you want to go deeper into the mysteries of God? Journey with the author, investigating the Scriptures, discovering the knowledge and wisdom of God, his spiritual technology and the strategy of his ways. As you are pulled into a reality of the presence and proximity of God, you will dwell in a new spiritual dimension of Christ. You will partner with him on a faith-based journey into greater maturity and victory. Following the clues highlighted by color to learn the character of God and his ways, you will find the treasures of wisdom and knowledge that are hidden in the Father and in Christ. As you journey with the author from mountain to mountain, you will war against darkness and deception to discover truth and light. You will be fortified by the Word and strengthened as you put on the armor of God to pull down strongholds of deception in your mind. Your declarations of truth are rewarded with an illumination of light. Then, giving glory to God, there is a space to journal the "riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God" that you have discovered (Colossians 2:2-3).
"Spirituality" has become a buzzword in our contemporary culture as individuals strive for meaning and fulfillment. Its detachment from the church and conventional definitions of religious practice highlights the seeming redundancy of what has come before. "Spirituality" in this light signals a new attempt to find wholeness unencumbered by outmoded doctrines and stale rituals. It is the conviction of this publication that the intuition behind contemporary searches for spiritual reality is a good one. It acknowledges that there must be more to life than what secular media or consumerism might tell us. The joyful message of Perspectives on Prayer and Spirituality is that the spiritual quest is a valid one and worth exploring. There is treasure to be found. However, the surprise is that we must rediscover what we have left behind. In the words of G. K. Chesterton, "it is not that the Christian ideal has been tried and found wanting, rather it has been found difficult and left untried." This book offers us the tools to mine the riches of Christian spirituality and find that elusive treasure. The title, Perspectives on Prayer and Spirituality, alerts us to the fact that life-giving spirituality stems from relationship with a personal God who can be known.
"Explores prayer as a rhetorical art, examining situations, strategies, and performative modes of discourse directed to the divine"--Provided by publisher.
Beverly Jane Phillips grew up in a Christian family, married a minister, and served with him in four separate parishes. She was one of the first women in the Presbyterian Church to earn a master of divinity degree. But even during this amazing life, Beverly had trials and days when she did not feel her Lord by her side. She had days when she felt doubtsometimes even despair. To combat these days of darkness and bring her closer to God, Beverly began a daily prayer journal. For over thirty years, she wrote her morning prayers in spiral notebooks; these became the basis for From Heaven to My Heart, a collection of prayers from an ordinary Christian woman who lived an extraordinary life. Beverlys transparency about her own spiritual journey not only enlightens but also encourages, sharing the message that even the devout encounter moments of difficulty in their faith. Through those difficulties difficulty arise inspiration, insight, wisdomand faith in an everlasting, benevolent creator. Whether you are interested in beginning a journey with God, or seeking encouragement to continue, From Heaven to My Heart will become a valued companion.
Worship is not something that the church does, it is an encounter through which Christians are equipped to bring transformation to the world. This second volume in an important new series on worldwide Anglicanism draws on global contributions and examples to address the subject of liturgical formation: how liturgy forms Christians for participation in God’s work in the world, as well as the formation of Christians for worship and of those who lead worship. Voices from the UK, Africa, the US, Canada, and the Philippines consider key aspects of liturgical formation in this essential new volume: • connecting the liturgy with local contexts • learning about God and ourselves through worship • applying the liturgy to doing justice • developing the role of music in liturgical formation • training those who lead liturgical celebration...and more
"I would like to write a beautiful prayer," writes the young Flannery O'Connor in this deeply spiritual journal, recently discovered among her papers in Georgia. "There is a whole sensible world around me that I should be able to turn to Your praise." Written between 1946 and 1947 while O'Connor was a student far from home at the University of Iowa, A Prayer Journal is a rare portal into the interior life of the great writer. Not only does it map O'Connor's singular relationship with the divine, but it shows how entwined her literary desire was with her yearning for God. "I must write down that I am to be an artist. Not in the sense of aesthetic frippery but in the sense of aesthetic craftsmanship; otherwise I will feel my loneliness continually . . . I do not want to be lonely all my life but people only make us lonelier by reminding us of God. Dear God please help me to be an artist, please let it lead to You." O'Connor could not be more plain about her literary ambition: "Please help me dear God to be a good writer and to get something else accepted," she writes. Yet she struggles with any trace of self-regard: "Don't let me ever think, dear God, that I was anything but the instrument for Your story." As W. A. Sessions, who knew O'Connor, writes in his introduction, it was no coincidence that she began writing the stories that would become her first novel, Wise Blood, during the years when she wrote these singularly imaginative Christian meditations. Including a facsimile of the entire journal in O'Connor's own hand, A Prayer Journal is the record of a brilliant young woman's coming-of-age, a cry from the heart for love, grace, and art.
If you are like most pastors, you earnestly thought you knew what the congregation you are serving was like when you answered God's call to serve them. Something has opened your eyes and now you know that you really don't know. The good news is, you are ready to find out!--from Day One: "I thought I knew . . ."When churches are in crisis, pastoral leadership is under attack, and pastors and church officials struggle to find a way to better understand why things happen or don't happen. Thompson's own pastoral experience led her to look beyond the popular "family systems" model to seek something that helps churches grow strong and pastors to become leaders. She found solutions in George B. Thompson, Jr.'s book, How to Get Along with Your Church: Creating Cultural Capital for Doing Ministry, and was inspired to develop a spiritual guide that strengthens the usefulness and effectiveness of his book.Specifically keyed to How to Get Along with Your Church, this spiritual companion provides 100 days of daily meditation and journaling for pastors who are learning--with a culture model--to lead their churches into a new understanding and rediscovery of their corporate calling.
