The Lord has sent me to bring the good news to the poor,
to proclaim liberty to captives. LK 4:18
1 CORINTHIANS 2:1-5
My Soul's Beloved,
Many of us make the mistake, myself included, that we lack the ability to share the Good News because we do not have the same gifts of speaking as some of the preachers we hear. But what we fail to understand, is that we are not called to imitate anyone or have the same gifts as them all we need is the conviction of what You have done for us and this is what we must share simply and truthfully. Just sharing what You have done in my life, how You have touched it and filled me with hope, and how my faith has grown in leaps and bounds when I see how powerfully You are at work in the lives of those I love as well as my own is enough, the results are up to the Holy Spirit.
St. Paul puts it well - all we need to know and speak of is Christ crucified - the power of God and the wisdom of God. To do this we rely on the Holy Spirit who will give us the words that our hearers need to hear. Nothing depends on us everything depends on God. All we need to do is show up, be available, be accessible, and be willing to be used as God sees fit.
Far from relying on any power of my own, I came among you in great ‘fear and trembling’ and in my speeches and the sermons that I gave, there were none of the arguments that belong to philosophy; only a demonstration of the power of the Spirit. And I did this so that your faith should not depend on human philosophy but on the power of God.
PSALM 118(119):97-102
LUKE 4:16-30
My Soul's Beloved,
PSALM 118(119):97-102
Lord, how I love your law!
Lord, how I love your law!
It is ever in my mind.
Your command makes me wiser than my foes;
for it is mine for ever.
I have more insight than all who teach me
for I ponder your will.
I have more understanding than the old
for I keep your precepts.
I turn my feet from evil paths
to obey your word.
I have not turned from your decrees;
you yourself have taught me.
Lord, how I love your law!
My Soul's Beloved,
We hold on to our pet theories, stroke them, and allow them to shape the way we live, speak, and act. We do not like being challenged rather we want to be coddled and to be stroked and fed lies that tell us that it does not matter what we do as long as we are not hurting anyone. We allow ourselves to be beguiled with half-truths and lies rejecting what is difficult, hard, and calls for change and sacrifice.
Truth is invincible, it is strong, and it is the same yesterday today, and always. Truth does not change over time - Truth is strong, bright, and sure, it is the light high on the hill or placed on a lampstand to illume all who desire to walk in the right path.
Presently we live in a world that promotes boldly and unashamedly outright lies. All that is dark, sterile, and ugly is held up as desirable, and praiseworthy, and to be celebrated and anyone who refuses to do so is vilified, punished, threatened, and silenced.
Grant us this grace O Lord, to stand for the Truth no matter what it costs. Truth is not just a virtue that must be embraced but it must form our life and inform our actions. Truth is Person - Truth is the Word of God we either live by it or we die by our refusal to receive and embrace it. Even if the world threatens to throw us over the cliff, even then we must stand for the Truth boldly for Truth alone sets us free.
‘I tell you solemnly, no prophet is ever accepted in his own country.
‘There were many widows in Israel, I can assure you, in Elijah’s day, when heaven remained shut for three years and six months and a great famine raged throughout the land, but Elijah was not sent to any one of these: he was sent to a widow at Zarephath, a Sidonian town. And in the prophet Elisha’s time there were many lepers in Israel, but none of these was cured, except the Syrian, Naaman.’
When they heard this everyone in the synagogue was enraged. They sprang to their feet and hustled him out of the town; and they took him up to the brow of the hill their town was built on, intending to throw him down the cliff, but he slipped through the crowd and walked away.
‘There were many widows in Israel, I can assure you, in Elijah’s day, when heaven remained shut for three years and six months and a great famine raged throughout the land, but Elijah was not sent to any one of these: he was sent to a widow at Zarephath, a Sidonian town. And in the prophet Elisha’s time there were many lepers in Israel, but none of these was cured, except the Syrian, Naaman.’
When they heard this everyone in the synagogue was enraged. They sprang to their feet and hustled him out of the town; and they took him up to the brow of the hill their town was built on, intending to throw him down the cliff, but he slipped through the crowd and walked away.
No comments:
Post a Comment