Life in the Spirit: I

[PolskiKrol]

I thought it might be nice to have a thread where we can voice arbitrary spiritual stuff that we're thinking about or hearing throughout the week which we probably wouldn't make a new post about on our own.

Here's my two cents, has to do with the title of this thread:

We all try to live in the Spirit, and the Spirit is a living, reasoning, sentient being. And so if our contemplations are lived in the Spirit, they will definitly have something to do with the others who live in the Spirit. But it will be of little use to others unless we tell it to others. (Or it won't make sense until we hear the rest of what the Spirit has to tell us from another person)

Been thinking about starting a thread like this all week.

 

[Epiphanygirl]

I thought it might be nice to have a thread where we can voice arbitrary spiritual stuff that we're thinking about or hearing throughout the week which we probably wouldn't make a new post about on our own.

Here's my two cents, has to do with the title of this thread:

We all try to live in the Spirit, and the Spirit is a living, reasoning, sentient being. And so if our contemplations are lived in the Spirit, they will definitly have something to do with the others who live in the Spirit. But it will be of little use to others unless we tell it to others. (Or it won't make sense until we hear the rest of what the Spirit has to tell us from another person)

Been thinking about starting a thread like this all week.

I've seen the spirit working through many people in this forum....It's a beautiful thing!
I'm so very happy I came across this forum, I've learned and received much from my brothers and sisters here.
In the past year that I've posted here, I can't tell you how blown away I've been by seeing others, as well as myself, grow in our faith, share our joys, our sorrows, and our pain...all the while using our faith to see us through and to help eachother along....
Shucks I feel like hugging the board now I love you guys.....PolskiKrol.... see...it works!!!

 

[SmileBugMG]

"Pray always"= Life in the Spirit.

 

[PolskiKrol]

Someone read from Thomas a Kempis' Imitation of Christ tonight, about death.

Death will come to you suddenly, so go to bed and do not expect the morning. And in the morning, don't expect to get to bed. Or something like that. Then another woman told of how her husband died in the middle of the night, and it seemed so wiered cause they had plans and were in the middle of doing things.

So I guess thats what the spirit was telling us tonight.

 

[SmileBugMG]

Tonight at Bible study we were talking about having a broken spirit. Even though God required animal sacrifices from the Israelites, what he really wants from us is a broken spirit. (One of the Psalms, I didn't write it down. )

What is a broken spirit? Well Christine made this awesome analogy: When she was little, her cat had lots of kittens and she would play with them constantly. When they gave away the kittens, their new owners always remarked how friendly they were. Her mom would joke "It's because you broke their spirit, Christine!" The kittens knew it was useless to try to escape, because they were going to be petted and played with no matter what. So too with us. The sooner we learn the lesson of Psalm 139 (Where can I hide from your love?) the better for us. Neither life, nor death, nor powers, or principalities, things past, present, or future can separate us from the love of God.

Or in the military, soldiers go through bootcamp to learn obedience, to have their spirits broken in a harsher way. God also lets us have a broken spirit through suffering. I think we need the suffering aspect too as well as the unconditional love in order to have a truly broken spirit. We need to realize that not only are we unable to escape God, we can do nothing without Him. He's not just an unavoidable inconvenience, like that annoying and hygenically challenged kid that had a crush on you all through junior high.

"God, I need you. I can do nothing without you." This is a broken spirit.

This is a hodgepodge of thoughts that came up tonight, semi-organized. Any other thoughts, please share.

 

[PolskiKrol]

like that annoying and hygenically challenged kid that had a crush on you all through junior high.

Gee honey, thats no way to talk about me!

It seems your bible study was very Szeda-esque, randomly relating something like animal sacrifices with the death of the ego.

 

[SmileBugMG]

Gee honey, thats no way to talk about me!

It seems your bible study was very Szeda-esque, randomly relating something like animal sacrifices with the death of the ego.

I wasn't talking about you... in fact I wasn't talking about anyone in particular. Just a stereotypical smelly preadolescent.

Yay for Fr. Szeda!

And we're hijacking the thread here. Sorry folks.

 

[HisKid1973]

"Pray always"= Life in the Spirit.

I have to agree with my young sis here. When we come to Christ and submit to His Lordship in our life we have choices to make..In order for Christ to live in us and fruit to blossem our flesh has to die..The best way to accomplish this is to walk in the Spirit and doing this keeps us from givings into fleshly desires.. i practice what is called the presence of Christ.. That is being aware that Jesus see's what I see and hear's what I say and hear..this keeps me on track..I lioken it to logging in in the spirit when i am concious and continually being aware of people brought to my mind for prayer and things that please the lord like maintaining a good thought life and attitude..Sorry for the long answer..This is an exciting topic for me ..in Christ..Kim

 

[SmileBugMG]

i practice what is called the presence of Christ.. That is being aware that Jesus see's what I see and hear's what I say and hear..this keeps me on track..I lioken it to logging in in the spirit when i am concious and continually being aware of people brought to my mind for prayer and things that please the lord like maintaining a good thought life and attitude...

Sounds wonderful Kim! How do you make yourself aware of the presence of Christ? I try & start out the day remembering that He's always with me, but by about 10:00 I forget.

Hmm... maybe if I remembered to pray always... maybe I could do the Liturgy of the Hours for Lent.

 

[PolskiKrol]

Without true kenotic meditation we can never be anything more than the recapitulation of our environment.

 

[SmileBugMG]

Without true kenotic meditation we can never be anything more than the recapitulation of our environment.

Care to elaborate? With words I can understand?

 

[HisKid1973]

Sounds wonderful Kim! How do you make yourself aware of the presence of Christ? I try & start out the day remembering that He's always with me, but by about 10:00 I forget. quote] Hi Sis ..I hide His word in my heart so I might not sin against...It's not somehing you get overnight but aquire. Letting the sacred scriptures come alive in your heart, meditating of what He taught and applying it into your life..You just sorta KNOW what is pleasing to Christ, you sense the Holy Spirit promppting you about people, situations and attitudes of your heart and respond to the Holy Spirit's leading accordingly..It's hard just to explain it exactly in words..I just have had from incredible experiences with the Lord and it stregthens me more... Like sensing the urging to pray for for someone then find out their going thru something..Just pray, ask the Lord to make you more like Him.. Our flesh don't give in very easy and when we pray that we want to be more like Him figure He will teach your somethings that might hurt....As for living day to day, sure, your mind will wonder, but the Holy Spirit resides in the spirit in the background and will prompt you about situations and attitudes ect.. The key is to listen and respond accordingly..many blessings to you in your walk with Jesus...pax..kim
PS. I never got in to repeating written prayers although sometimes we pray the Lord's prayer together at church. Not to degrade then but I think He likes to hear prayer from your heart, ie . what you are feeling..like come unto me all you that are heavy laden..We all carrying different burdens...

 

[PolskiKrol]

Care to elaborate? With words I can understand?

whoops, I forgot about this thread.

Erm yea, "kenosis" is what fr szeda is always talking about, refering to the kenotic hymn
[BIBLE]
Philippians 2:5-11

2:5 Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,
2:6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited,
2:7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form,
2:8 he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death-- even death on a cross.
2:9 Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name,
2:10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
2:11 and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. [/BIBLE]

Basically if we are to follow in Jesus' example, we must empty ourselves, and "let go, and let God". Hence the Nazarite vow

 

[SmileBugMG]

ummmmmmmm.... yeah you still don't make sense

 

[PolskiKrol]

Its all about letting go, hun. Only when we let go of our established view of the world can we grasp God's. (Mark 1:15) Metanoia! For the kingdom of God is within your grasp!

 

[PolskiKrol]

ummmmmmmm.... yeah you still don't make sense

I wrote a persuasive essay for class just on the subject:

The Redolence of Sanctity
Imagine, for a moment, a sponge which has been submersed into the depths of the ocean. No matter what shape it is, no matter what size it is, no matter how strong or brittle it is, it will inevitably be infused with the environment that surrounds it. Human minds, unfortunately, prove to be no less osmotic than sponges. When immersed in the depths of our society, no matter how strong or unique, human minds will inevitably be infused with the environment which surrounds it. But sponges can be wrung, and so can the human mind.
As soon as a human being enters this world, his mind is a dry sponge and immediately begins to soak up the world. Soon everything he does and thinks and reasons can only be expressed in the terms of his limited experience. But Paul’s letter to the Corinthians expresses that humans have a deeper longing then just the world, saying “What we see here [on this earth] is like a dim image in a mirror…” But humans have a peculiar tendency to venerate symbols over that which the symbol is meant to represent. This was the case of the Medici Horse, which is now more famous and well known than its contractor, Grand Duke Cosimo I de’ Medici, whose strength of character it was meant to represent.
For the human mind to realize its full potential, it must wring itself of the world, which is nothing more than an icon to point towards its Creator. Paul wrote another letter to the Philippians which highlights this, “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death-- even death on a cross.” This passage is commonly referred to as the “Kenotic Hymn,” from the Greek word “kenosis,” meaning an emptying of self. The human mind must first empty itself of the world before it can experience He Who is beyond the world. And the human mind does this through kenotic meditation.
Without a true kenosis, the human mind can be nothing more than the capitulation of the people and events which have surrounded it since the moment of its conception. Without kenotic meditation, we will either be blindly conforming to or rebelling against the world our parents have created for us. Only through kenotic meditation can abstract ideas can become concrete realities. Only through kenotic meditation can we supersede creation and approach the Creator. Only through kenotic meditation can the mind rid itself of the multiplicity of creation and behold the simplicity of its Creator.
It is because of the lack of true kenotic meditation that the world has seen so much confusion. An increasingly intellectual society tries to approach God through pompous, existential vagaries rather than humble acquiescence to the simple omnipotent transubstantiation which is the true Body and Blood of Christ. It is foolish to believe that we can approach the only thing that is not created by means of creation. In fact, it is arrogant to believe we can approach God on our own at all, for the same reasons that it is arrogant to assume a man can grow his own beard. The beard is going to grow whether he wants it to or not; it is only his choice not to shave. God is going to love us, whether we want Him to or not; it is only our choice not to let attachment to the world get in His way.
The Baltimore Catechism tells us that, “Prayer is necessary for salvation,” for as redemption is what Christ achieved for us once and for all, on the Cross, salvation is the daily act of accepting his redemption, since “Love is not forceful.” (1 Corinthians 13) I have spoken previously as if prayer and kenotic meditation were two different things, but now I tell you one necessitates the other. Any prayer we utter, no matter how great, if said through our own worldly perspective, has the effluvium of sin. But any prayer said in a spirit of kenosis, allowing God to speak through us, has the redolence of sanctity. Likewise, any attempt at kenosis, without a prayerful attitude, is destined to destroy our humanity. But a prayerful attempt at kenosis is destined to redeem our humanity. And so I tell you, that unless you allow your worldly self to die, you will have no life in you. But if, through prayerful kenotic meditation, you crucify your worldly self, you will attain everlasting life.

 

[PolskiKrol]

"You see now how all the things of this world appear remote and hazy to you; how everything wearies and bores you; everything else that is not I, your Mother, who wants you whole and entire at every moment with her."
~The Blessed Mother to Father Gobbi, July 9, 1973

 

[Ave Maria]

Don't you have to wait until Confirmation to receive the Holy Spirit?

 

[SmileBugMG]

Don't you have to wait until Confirmation to receive the Holy Spirit?

No, we receive the Holy Spirit at Baptism as well. But Confirmation is different... we receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit then. Why this is I'm not exactly sure. I didn't care about it too much back when I was getting confirmed myself. I was more concerned about picking a name. Does someone else have a better explanation?

 

[PolskiKrol]

The idea is that we are more mature and have more responsibilities and are able to put the gifts to better use after confirmation rather than baptism.