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Pastimes : Ask God -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: O'Hara who wrote (31057)	7/17/2000 4:00:21 PM
From: Colleen M	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 39621

ALL CHRISTIANS,URGENT PRAYER REQUEST Our dear friend and brother in Christ Dan-PROLIFE, Has had medical procedures done for a chronic condition he suffers from, and will have to travel at the end of this week I believe, to another city for more treatment. He is very ill and weak and has asked for prayer. Will you agree with me in prayer that the Lord will send healing, ease of pain, and comfort for our dear brother Dan and his family at this time of crisis in the Name of our Dear Lord Jesus Christ, I humbly pray and thank you for Your Love, Joy, and Peace which passes all understanding. Amen

To: O'Hara who wrote (31057)	7/20/2000 2:01:37 AM
From: Thomas C. White	Respond to of 39621

Hello shalom, Thanks for your illuminating post. Sorry not to get back to you sooner on your post. Various things came up. I have always been intrigued by John 11. Christ seems deeply troubled here at times, in the midst of performing His greatest miracle up to this point. "11:38 Jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the grave." I cannot help but think that proximity to the grave and the mourners of his friend had some deeply disturbing effect upon him that extended well beyond the events at hand. I sometimes think that Christ's trouble in spirit here is much broader and deeper in scope. True, Christ will raise Lazarus, but only as a symbolic act. How many other equally tragic scenes will see no resurrection of their friends and loved ones? To Christ, the grave even of his beloved friend symbolizes the inevitable cost of the world's sin. I myself sense an anguish for all humanity underlying the surficial reaction to the mourners and his dealings with Mary and Martha. Too, how could Christ not stand before the grave of His friend and not be troubled by what He must have known was His own impending fate, to soon suffer horribly and to be walled broken and bleeding into just such a place of death, even knowing of His own resurrection? Does His knowledge that being in the state of death will not be permanent make it that much easier to look down into that chasm? I cannot help but wonder at a deep foreboding Christ must have felt even in the midst of performing this miracle. All the moreso because He must have sensed that this miracle would in fact be the act that would be the catalyst for the end of His earthly ministry and would precipitate the time of His greatest trial. The raising of Lazarus is somehow not like the other miracles, it seems to carry a special and somehow personal burden for Him. Just my take on things. PS, to answer your question, it looks like I will leave for Egypt on Saturday. A twenty hour commute.

To: O'Hara who wrote (31057)	8/4/2000 1:24:39 PM
From: O'Hara	Respond to of 39621

†...Appreciating God’s Grace...† WHY do you look for rest when you were born to work? Resign yourself to patience rather than to comfort, to carrying your cross rather than to enjoyment. What man in the world, if he could always have them, would not readily accept consolation and spiritual joy, benefits which excel all earthly delights and pleasures of the body? The latter, indeed, are either vain or base, while spiritual joys, born of virtue and infused by God into pure minds, are alone truly pleasant and noble. Now, since the moment of temptation is always nigh, since false freedom of mind and overconfidence in self are serious obstacles to these visitations from heaven, a man can never enjoy them just as he wishes. God does well in giving the grace of consolation, but man does evil in not returning everything gratefully to God. Thus, the gifts of grace cannot flow in us when we are ungrateful to the Giver, when we do not return them to the Fountainhead. Grace is always given to him who is duly grateful, and what is wont to be given the humble will be taken away from the proud. I do not desire consolation that robs me of contrition, nor do I care for contemplation that leads to pride, for not all that is high is holy, nor is all that is sweet good, nor every desire pure, nor all that is dear to us pleasing to God. I accept willingly the grace whereby I become more humble and contrite, more willing to renounce self. The man who has been taught by the gift of grace, and who learns by the lash of its withdrawal, will never dare to attribute any good to himself, but will rather admit his poverty and emptiness. Give to God what is God’s and ascribe to yourself what is yours. Give Him thanks, then, for His grace, but place upon yourself alone the blame and the punishment your fault deserves. Always take the lowest place and the highest will be given you, for the highest cannot exist apart from the lowest. The saints who are greatest before God are those who consider themselves the least, and the more humble they are within themselves, so much the more glorious they are. Since they do not desire vainglory, they are full of truth and heavenly glory. Being established and strengthened in God, they can by no means be proud. They attribute to God whatever good they have received; they seek no glory from one another but only that which comes from God alone. They desire above all things that He be praised in themselves and in all His saints—this is their constant purpose. Be grateful, therefore, for the least gift and you will be worthy to receive a greater. Consider the least gift as the greatest, the most contemptible as something special. And, if you but look to the dignity of the Giver, no gift will appear too small or worthless. Even though He give punishments and scourges, accept them, because He acts for our welfare in whatever He allows to befall us. He who desires to keep the grace of God ought to be grateful when it is given and patient when it is withdrawn. Let him pray that it return; let him be cautious and humble lest he lose it. Thomas A Kempis, The Imitation of Christ,