Tim on June 18th, 2010

Here is the link to Matthew Chapter 22, and a portion of verse 37:
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”
As the father of three boys, I have spent some time coaching my sons and their teammates on the basketball court and the baseball [...]

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Tim on June 15th, 2010

I’ve managed to write a Chapters post each of the last two weeks.  As I try to re-establish my full routine, the next step is to re-establish my weekly post on the Transformation Wheel thread.
I had been discussing Gazing when I left off, and I will get back to that momentarily, but as I reviewed [...]

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Tim on February 17th, 2010

As should be expected, the end of Ilia’s chapter on Desire leads into the next spoke in The Transformation Wheel, which is Gazing.
The connection between the two is the Cross.
Ilia quotes St. Bonaventure from The Perfection of Life:
“Anyone who wishes to keep the flame of ardor alive within oneself should contemplate in one’s heart Christ [...]

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Tim on February 3rd, 2010

Its been a while, but I am back to Ilia’s book (Franciscan Prayer) again, still in the chapter on Desire.
A couple quotes to consider:
“We can say that God is like a beggar of love waiting at the soul’s door without ever daring to force it.  God becomes powerless before human freedom.  He cannot violate it [...]

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Tim on January 6th, 2010

As we walked through an area of hills and valleys, we came upon the ruins of a City sitting atop the very highest hill.  There was a ghost of a path leading up the slope to the ruins.  We turned away from the road and walked up the path.
As we wandered among the ruins my [...]

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Tim on January 4th, 2010

As I continue to work my way through Ilia’s chapter on Desire, this text becomes the next focal point:
“….when Francis heard the gospel passage, “they should not keep gold or silver or money in their belts, nor have a wallet for their journey, nor two tunics, nor shoes, nor staff (Matthew 10:9), he exclaimed “This [...]

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Tim on December 21st, 2009

About two weeks ago, I wrote the post The Well of Desire as an introduction to the Desire spoke of the Transformation Wheel.  Then I read Matthew Chapter 13, and I veered into a discussion on the contextual meaning of the word “everything” in the parable of the pearl.
Today, as I started back into the [...]

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Tim on December 9th, 2009

In The Aroused Heart, I noted that The Jesus Prayer would fit nicely into the concept of gazing as contained in The Transformation Wheel pathway, and I indicated that I would speak to that shortly.
If I did that immediately, however, I would skip the spoke in the wheel concerning Desire, so I’ve decided to address [...]

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Tim on December 4th, 2009

Here is the link for Matthew Chapter 12, a portion of verse 34, and verse 35.
“For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him.”
In [...]

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Tim on December 2nd, 2009

I am finding it difficult to leave the quotation from the last post (The Aroused Heart) behind.
I indicated in The Power to Expel Demons a reluctance to use literal demons as an explanation for my moral failings.  I also stated that I didn’t think a distinction between literal and figurative demons made much difference.  Either [...]

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