Day 157                                4 hrs                      241 to go

More from St. Gregory of Nyssa on what it is to be truly Christian –  “For the purity of Christ and the purity that is manifest in our hearts are identical.  Christ’s purity, however, is the fountainhead; ours has its source in Him and flows out of Him.  Our life is stamped with the beauty of his thought.  The inner and outer man are harmonized in a kind of music.  The mind of Christ is the controlling influence that inspires us to moderation and goodness in our behavior.  Christian perfection consists in this: sharing the titles which express the meaning of Christ’s name, we bring out this meaning in our minds, our prayers and our way of life.”  -  we are meant to be like Christ, to be saints, to be perfect as the Father is perfect – it is so hard, it is such a challenge; but that is what Jesus faced and did; that is what the lives of the saints are all about – again there is this call to sainthood, even for little old Michael

I spent some time thinking about this verse from Colossians – “Let the word of Christ, rich as it is, dwell in you.  In wisdom made perfect, instruct and admonish one another.  Sing gratefully to God from your hearts in psalms, hymns, and inspired songs.” – When I first read this, I pondered the inclusion “rich as it is”.  Paul could have simply wrote Let the word of Christ dwell in you.  When I looked it up in my NAB the verse is written differently – “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, …” – this makes more sense; it may be a call to not just let the word of Jesus rest in our being but let the word of Christ govern all that we think, we say and we do – we, mostly I must allow the word of God to bubble up and spill out of my being and stop being lukewarm – it is a call to holiness!

Last evening we had our bimonthly SCC men’s meeting where we shared our thoughts on Sunday’s gospel and the line, “Who do you think I am?”  Great sharing and incite from the guys – I encourage any of you that read this blog to pray about starting or joining a small church community – share your life, ask for advice, witness to your faith – that was the life of the early Christians and should still be for all of us

My chaplet was for the victims of the Chilean earthquake.