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  A Prayer Diary

12 Steps to Humility

11/24/2019

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    Humility leads us to God. Benedict’s Rule pulls together from ancient sources the twelve steps of humility. “Humility is right thinking—truth—and to be truthful to ourselves and embody that truth is to be in right relationships with others.” (Funk, Mary Margaret, Tools Matter for Practicing the Spiritual Life, NY: Continuum, 2001.)
    I’ve summarized Funk’s 12 steps, and printed them out, because I need an easy reminder to remember them, and, even just to remember that humility exists. 

​Step One: Be aware of thoughts        
Step Two: Surrender our will        
Step Three: Be accountable to another
Step Four: Carry out difficult tasks without weakening or          going away.
Step Five: Manifest thoughts to a wise elder.
Step Six: Practice manual labor.
Step Seven: Consider it a blessing if one has been humiliated
Step Eight: Be content with what is.
Step Nine: Restrain talk and remain silent.
Step Ten: Laugh only when you are in the same camp.
Step Eleven: Speak strait, “as is.”
Step Twelve: Recapitulate the above directives
The fruit of humility is that, through self-forgetfulness, we abide in the presence of God. 
​The fruit of humility is that, through self-forgetfulness, we abide in the presence of God.

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Clarifying my faith

11/22/2019

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PictureAt the Pittsburgh Airport
    The other day I had a chat with a friend of a friend about our Christian faith. I was giving her a ride; our congenial and loving time together was about 20 minutes. I mainly listened.
     A few of the phrases she offered during our conversation helped me understand the wide expanse of beliefs among Christians, and brought me more clarification of my faith. These stood out to me: Jesus is my Lord and Savior; my church is Bible based; John 14:6. No one can come to the Father except through me.
      I never use these phrases, because they don’t describe my faith. But more than that, they are code for what I believe is an exclusive Christianity, one that puts conditions on Jesus’ message of love.
     They limit me to a belief in a confining, judgmental  ‘father-God; a God living more in my mind than in my heart; a God not of mystery or the ineffable, but of dogma and constrictions; a God of the past, not of the present and future; a God of limits, not of what I can hope for or imagine; a God worshiped more through formal liturgy and word, and less through contemplation and silence; a God who must include Jesus as THE Way, rather than someone who is A Way.
      There is so much more I could say about this, but enough words. One more comment, however. I don’t write this as a judgment about this person or her faith, but as a way for me to strengthen, affirm, and clarify mine. 

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Thoughts and prayers

11/6/2019

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www.coffeewithsistervassa.com​    I try to stay away of telling people, “You are in my thoughts and prayers.” Thoughts * and prayers as two different things, and using them in tandem feels like a casual social comment, similar to have a nice day.
     In fact, I think long and hard before telling someone I will pray for them.
Maybe they don’t want to be prayed for; not everyone does. For some, it might be a personal invasion or they might feel I am tampering with their very life, or trying to seek my faith upon them.
    Sometimes, after discernment on my part, I might ask someone if they would like me to pray for them. Asking demonstrates a strong commitment on my part, both to the well-being of the person and to the power of prayer on mine.
     * I find it easy to tell people I am thinking of them. 

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