Lisa Colón DeLay | Spiritual Formation and the Way of the Desert Elders
Resources, Guidance, Products, and Services for personal growth, spiritual formation, and community connection
What is spiritual formation?
The Spiritual Formation Discovery (event) is presented by Imago Christi an international and cross-cultural spiritual formation ministry of Church Resource Ministries (CRM). Imago Christi develops spiritual formation resources and coaches Christian leaders around the world.
If you’re interested in attending the Imago Christi Lancaster PA event, please let me know.
(I’ll be a professorial substitute on Thursday, and I’m really looking forward to it. Below is the prayer from Dr. Laurie Mellinger’s lesson plan for that night. It’s the Benediction Prayer.)
I post it today for your personal reflection. Sometimes we don’t make the time to collect ourselves this way. Here’s a our chance today. Maybe it’s also something you’d like to share with someone else.
Let us receive Your words
and treasure up Your commandments within us;
Make our ears attentive to wisdom
and incline our hearts to understanding;
yes, may we call out for insight
and raise our voices for understanding.
Let us seek it like silver
and search for it as for hidden treasures,
that we may understand the fear of the Lord
and find the knowledge of God.
For You, Lord, give wisdom;
from Your mouth come knowledge and understanding.
(Share your comments and reflections)
How should one read the Bible and study it?
What are spiritual practices, what are they for, and how does the use of the mysteriously named Lectio Divina benefit prayer and meditation on God’s word?
This Sunday, you will learn and experience this helpful prayer exercise for yourself with Lisa, and be better able to understand and utilize the Bible with Ed. You will be better equipped and motivated to grow closer to the Almighty God of the Bible through this engaging event.
If you’d like to find out more, or come, link here to the facebook event page.
Contact Ed, or me to visit your group in the near future. See you soon! :)
As you read these, absorb them. Worship our Maker and Savior today.
(3 versions/translations)
Psalm 37:7
(The Message)
Quiet down before God,
be prayerful before him.
Don’t bother with those who climb the ladder,
who elbow their way to the top.
Psalm 37:7
(Holman Christian Standard Bible)
Be silent before the LORD and wait expectantly for Him;
do not be agitated by one who prospers in his way,
by the man who carries out evil plans.
Psalm 37:7
(Today’s New International Version)
Be still before the LORD
and wait patiently for him;
do not fret when people succeed in their ways,
when they carry out their wicked schemes.
Thoughts or comments?
A friend’s comment spoke volumes to me, so I wanted to devote a post on the idea.
“The key to spiritual growth is otium sanctum, so hard to trust in our world that values efficiency and quick results.” -Doug Jackson (Excerpt of his comment on the previous post.)
On page 85 in his book, Spiritual Direction and Meditation, Thomas Merton explains otium sanctum:
Now the Fathers of the Church well understood the importance of a certain “holy leisure” [or] “otium sanctum.” We cannot give ourselves to spiritual things if we are always swept off our feet by a multitude of external activities. Business is not the supreme virtue, and sanctity is not measured by the amount of work we accomplish. Perfection is found in the purity of our love for God, and there is plenty of time for it to mature.
Otium Sanctum is part of the not doing– It’s the “hard work” of that. The notion is paradoxical certainly, but bluntly revelatory.
How do you “not do” in your life, or for God which brings you to greater maturity?
Do you think God does or does not function with otium sanctum?
If so, how?
Thanks for your participation on this one.
