Quotes and Readings of the Day

1 Peter 2:1-10

Rid yourselves, therefore, of all malice, and all guile, insincerity, envy, and all slander. Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation—if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.

Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God's sight, and like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For it stands in scripture:

“See, I am laying in Zion a stone,
a cornerstone chosen and precious;
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”

To you then who believe, he is precious; but for those who do not believe,
“The stone that the builders rejected
has become the very head of the corner,”
and
“A stone that makes them stumble,
and a rock that makes them fall.”
They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

Once you were not a people,
but now you are God's people;
once you had not received mercy,
but now you have received mercy.




Note: Today's Gospel reading is Matthew 19:23-30. Find a Bible translation.

From the New Revised Standard Version. Reprinted with permission from HarperBibles.

TAGS: Bible, Bible Reading, Christian, 1 Peter

Genesis 30:14-30:27

Once, at the time of the wheat harvest, Reuben came upon some mandrakes in the field and brought them to his mother Leah. Rachel said to Leah, "Please give me some of your son's mandrakes." But she said to her, "Was it not enough for you to take away my husband, that you would also take my son's mandrakes?" Rachel replied, "I promise, he shall lie with you tonight, in return for your son's mandrakes." When Jacob came home from the field in the evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, "You are to sleep with me, for I have hired you with my son's mandrakes." And he lay with her that night. God heeded Leah, and she conceived and bore him a fifth son. And Leah said, "God has given me my reward for having given my maid to my husband." So she named him Issachar. When Leah conceived again and bore Jacob a sixth son, Leah said, "God has given me a choice gift; this time my husband will exalt me, for I have borne him six sons." So she named him Zebulun. Last, she bore him a daughter, and named her Dinah. Now God remembered Rachel; God heeded her and opened her womb. She conceived and bore a son, and said, "God has taken away my disgrace." So she named him Joseph, which is to say, "May the Lord add another son for me."

After Rachel had borne Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, "Give me leave to go back to my own homeland. Give me my wives and my children, for whom I have served you, that I may go; for well you know what services I have rendered you." But Laban said to him, "If you will indulge me, I have learned by divination that the Lord has blessed me on your account."

From Parshat VaYetze. From THE TANAKH: The New JPS Translation According to the Traditional Hebrew Text. Copyright 1985 by the Jewish Publication Society. Used by permission.

TAGS: Torah, Torah Reading, Judaism, Genesis

For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things were created by him, and for him.

Colossians 1:16

From "Angels Around Us." Compiled by Karen Maguire. Reprinted by arrangement with Andrews McMeel Publishing.

TAGS: Angel, Angel Quote, Angels, Inspiration

“Let alone seven years, monks, whoever practices on the Four Establishments of Mindfulness for six, five, four, three, two years, one year, or one month, can also expect one of two fruits-either the highest understanding in this very life or can attain the fruit of no-return. “Let alone a month, monks, whoever practices the Four Establishments of Mindfulness one week can also expect one of two fruits-either the highest understanding in this very life or the fruit of no-return.”

Adapted from Satipatthana-sutta, translated by Thich Nhat Hanh and Annabel Laity

From "Teachings of the Buddha," edited by Jack Kornfield, 1993. Reprinted by arrangement with Shambhala Publications, Boston, www.shambhala.com.

TAGS: Buddhism, Buddhist Quote

God is in my head, but the devil is in my pants.

-Jonathan Winters

TAGS: Entertainment, Entertainment Quote, Celebrities, Celebrity Spirituality

Joy is the true gift of Christmas, not the expensive gifts that call for time and money....Let us pray that this presence of the liberating joy of God shines forth in our lives.

Pope Benedict XVI

TAGS: Bible, Christian Quote, Christianity

Be diligent in turning off all lights when you leave a room to save energy.

TAGS: Eco Tips, Environment

The first and most important step toward success is the feeling that we can succeed.

-Nelson Boswell

TAGS: Inspiration, Inspiration Quote

I hold the precepts of Jesus as delivered by Himself, to be the most pure, benevolent and sublime which have ever been preached to man…

Thomas Jefferson

TAGS: Evangelical, Evangelical Quote, Christianity

People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing.

Dale Carnegie

TAGS: Health, Health Quote, Emotional Health Quote

The rituals and the sacrifices described In the Vedas deal with lower knowledge. The sages ignored these rituals And went in search of higher knowledge. ... Such rituals are unsafe rafts for crossing The sea of samsara, of birth and death. Doomed to shipwreck are those who try to cross The sea of samsara on these poor rafts. Ignorant of their own ignorance, yet wise In their own esteem, these deluded men Proud of their vain learning go round and round Like the blind led by the blind.

Mundaka Upanishad

Excerpted from The Upanishads, translated by Eknath Easwaran, copyright 1987. Reprinted with permission from Nilgiri Press, www.nilgiri.org. To order the book, please call 1-800-475-2369.

TAGS: Hinduism, Hindu Quote

You see, when weaving a blanket, an Indian woman leaves a flaw in the weaving of that blanket to let the soul out.

Martha Graham

TAGS: Glow, Holistic Living Quote, Spirituality, Holistic Living

One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man.

-Elbert Hubbard

TAGS: Inspiration, Inspiration Quote

"Hard as the world is to explain with the Almighty, it is harder yet without the Holy One."

Moses Montefiore (1784-1855), British official and Jewish communal leader

TAGS: Judaism, Jewish Quote

What is justice? Giving water to trees. What is injustice? To give water to thorns. Justice consists in bestowing bounty in its proper place, not on every root that will absorb water.

Mathnawi [V, 1089-1090]

From "Jewels of Remembrance," by Rumi, selected and translated by Camille and Kabir Helminski, © 1996. By arrangement with Shambhala Publications, Inc., Boston, www.shambhala.com.

TAGS: Rumi, Islam Quote, Islam, Spirituality

Love is always patient and kind.

-I Corinthians 13 4

TAGS: Relationship Quotes, Relationships