Your word is a lamp for my steps
and a light for my path. PS 118:105
2 CORINTHIANS 6:1-10 ©
My Soul's Beloved,
We look at the lives of the Apostles, at St. Paul, at the lives of all the great Saints who considered the world well lost so long as they were possessed by You and they possessed You. But are we willing to empty ourselves so completely that we care nothing for our creature comforts, we are prepared to suffer all kinds of persecution, hardships, calumny, rejection, loss of reputation, imprisonment, the loss of all worldly possessions, all friendships and relationships that hinder our friendship and relationship with You? The truthful answer is no. We are constantly making compromises with the world, the flesh, and the devil. We are not prepared to offer You the kind of self-emptying love that makes it possible to receive the riches of God in You that is poured into the hearts of all who consider this life well lost in order to possess and be possessed by You.
Today we are faced with the stark reminder that this present moment is the favourable time and we are not to neglect the grace of God given so liberally and lavishly to us. You have visited Your people - this is day of salvation, this is the time of Your visitation may we not delay our conversion for it will pass, and it may be too late.
We prove we are God’s servants by our purity, knowledge, patience and kindness; by a spirit of holiness, by a love free from affectation; by the word of truth and by the power of God; by being armed with the weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left, prepared for honour or disgrace, for blame or praise; taken for impostors while we are genuine; obscure yet famous; said to be dying and here are we alive; rumoured to be executed before we are sentenced; thought most miserable and yet we are always rejoicing; taken for paupers though we make others rich, for people having nothing though we have everything.
PSALM 97(98):1-4 ©
My Soul's Beloved,
Let this day O Lord be the day when we sing exultantly for we are saved. And while we rejoice and are glad let us not forget our brothers and sisters who have not yet come to know You, to love You, and to acknowledge that You are the only Way by which all may enter the Kingdom of God.
Love incarnate made it possible for us to regain what our first parents so wantonly squandered. May every breath we breathe give You praise and may our lives be a testament to the wonders that You have done for us and how Love saved us.
MATTHEW 5:38-42 ©
My Soul's Beloved,
When Your disciples heard You teach the Way of the Lord they were wonderstruck, no one not even their most gifted teachers of the Law spoke as You did. You invited everyone who desired to follow You to radical discipleship. In a world where the culture exhorts us to look out for ourselves and to stomp on and elbow out of the way anyone who hinders us from grabbing and holding on to whatever we can whether we need it or not, You show us another way, the way of total renunciation of the flesh. It is only through disciplining our flesh, our thoughts, and our desires that we can gain mastery over ourselves.
Jesus said to his disciples: ‘You have learnt how it was said: Eye for eye and tooth for tooth. But I say this to you: offer the wicked man no resistance. On the contrary, if anyone hits you on the right cheek, offer him the other as well; if a man takes you to law and would have your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone orders you to go one mile, go two miles with him. Give to anyone who asks, and if anyone wants to borrow, do not turn away.’
True strength comes from a place of confidence that if You are for us nothing and no one can stand against it. Love has the power to disarm and conquer. You did not say it was easy but it was necessary if the Kingdom of God is to come among us.
No comments:
Post a Comment