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Week of Prayer 9 - The Causes and Consequences of Sin

Posted by Thomas David McMurray on November 12, 2020 at 8:25 PM

Week of Prayer 9 - The Causes and Consequences of Sin

 

• "Who Told You You Were Naked?" - John Jacob Raub

• Inner Tapes

• Catch up on any past articles ;not yet discussed

• Possible Case Studies

• "Amy's Experience"

• "Robert's Experience"

• "Jean's Experience"Catch up on any past articles not yet discussed.

 

Questions to consider as you review the reading.

1, What were the highlights of the material for me?

2. What touched me or gave me new or nuanced insights?

3. What challenged me in this material?

4. What connects or resonates with my experience of the Spiritual Exercises

5. What was relevant to my formation as a prayer companion or spiritual director?

6. What would you like to take to prayer?

 

Categories: RIDL Formation Intern Reflections

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2 Comments

Reply Cat
6:43 AM on December 9, 2020 
My reaction is very much aligned with Carlene’s awaking she so beautifully describes. Breaking free from a false projection onto God of my own need for dualistic thinking allows me to meet my loving God. I suspect that meeting the true God in prayer requires the humility to be open to Him, to ditch my presumptions about who God ought to be and simply be pesent to who my “Beloved” is. How is He calling me? What is He inviting me into? A couple years ago I had a prayer experience that was breathtakingly beautiful. I experienced a deeply illuminating light which I intuitively understood to be God’s love. I felt this light penetrate every part of my body from head to toe — to the point that I was aware that every cell in my body was illuminated. A clear thought surfaced: this love is so encompassing, so utterly intimate and powerful there was no room for my sin. I searched my body for the “dark spots” where I was holding back in sin. The love light completely drenched me in unifying love— nothing held back. Next, I became aware of a clear image of earth far below us and the thought came to me: this expansive love light is so beyond that dwarfing all those concerns, trials, accomplishments, joys. This is the Good. This is Love. I’m so thankful for this week, for Fr. Tom’s profound presentation, for the deep resonances that have allowed me to begin to attach words to my experience of God to revisit and better savor this joy. A joy that I hope to be able to share with and recognize in others.
Reply Carlene
8:42 PM on December 6, 2020 
What a gift this week is! It started with Fr. Tom’s synopsis of Who Told You You Were Naked. The idea of God not recognizing sin was completely new to me. I have always had the image of a loving God in my mind, but I realized that the loving God I had imagined was also a judging God. I often thought of my own final judgement and had this notion that God would be looking down at me with a list in His hands of all the wrongs I had done in my life. I feel like this week’s readings have shattered that image. It feels like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders! I am the one holding the list, not God. I am the one keeping score, not God. It is time for me to push this aside and move closer to God – open and free! God knows me better than I know myself. He knows the causes of my sin, the pain that has caused me to sin. He sees a clean, loveable person that he simply adores! It can be hard for me to see that in myself, and, in turn, hard for me to see that in others at times. The case studies helped me to understand that through my own misconceptions I am putting up walls, hiding, striving to achieve something that is not necessary or possible to achieve. There is a sense of relief and contentment in my heart tonight. I am ok as I am. I am made in the image of God. I am human, imperfect, broken – but I am LOVED!

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