Category Archives: Christianity

Alone with the Lord

James Tissot (1836-1902) La femme adultère seule avec Jésus, opaque watercolor over graphite on gray wove paper, between 1886 and 1894 Brooklyn Museum

James Tissot (1836-1902)
La femme adultère seule avec Jésus
opaque watercolor over graphite on gray wove paper, between 1886 and 1894
Brooklyn Museum

How vulnerable I will feel to stand alone with Jesus and face the truth of how I have hurt and betrayed others.

How amazed I will feel to know he does not condemn me for my wrongdoings. How I hope I will have the courage to accept responsibility for my actions.

How I pray for the humility to ask for God’s grace to change the way I treat my family, friends, colleagues, strangers, the poor, the elderly, the sick, the needy.

How unburdened I will feel to experience the mercy of the Lord. How I trust I will extend that mercy to others.

Then Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin any more.” John  8:11b

 

Today’s choice

Düsseldorf, Germany. Catholic church St. Lambertus, main portal with bronze door created by Ewald Mataré. Detail: Return of the prodigal son. Photo by Beckstet, 2010

Düsseldorf, Germany. Catholic church St. Lambertus, main portal with bronze door created by Ewald Mataré. Detail: Return of the prodigal son.
Photo by Beckstet, 2010

I may identify with either the prodigal son or his resentful older brother, but in this parable Jesus is calling me to be like the compassionate father.

How ready am I to forgive? To let go of resentment? To welcome the lost? To be a peacemaker? To show compassion to those who are poor, ill, or different from me in culture, ways of thinking, acting, being?

Today I will choose compassion over indifference and acceptance over judgment.

While [the younger son] was still a long way off,
his father caught sight of him, and was filled with compassion. Luke 15:20b

Never too late to bloom

James Tissot (1836-1902) Le vigneron et le figuier opaque watercolor over graphite on gray wove paper, between 1886 and 1894 Brooklyn Museum

James Tissot (1836-1902)
Le vigneron et le figuier
opaque watercolor over graphite on gray wove paper, between 1886 and 1894
Brooklyn Museum

Rooting ourselves in prayer, meditation on God’s Word, and conscious awareness of God’s presence in each moment and in all of creation, we allow God, the Master Gardener, to cultivate our hearts and minds to bear the fruits of peace, joy, forgiveness, compassion, justice, acceptance, and love.

[Jesus told them this parable:] “[The gardener] said to him in reply, ‘Sir, leave it for this year also, and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it; it may bear fruit in the future. If not you can cut it down.’” Luke 13:8-9

 

 

Bedazzled

Икона, Преображение Господне, 15 в. Новгород Icon, Transfiguration of the Lord, 15th c., Novgorod

Икона, Преображение Господне, 15 в. Новгород
Icon, Transfiguration of the Lord, 15th c., Novgorod

Prayer transforms, bedazzles, transfigures, inspires, transfixes, awes. May I climb the mountain of prayer today in the company of Jesus and listen to what he has to say.

Jesus took Peter, John, and James and went up the mountain to pray. While he was praying his face changed in appearance and his clothing became dazzling white. Luke 9:28b-29

In the desert

William Hole (1846-1917) Temptation of Jesus in the desert Watercolor, ca.1900-1908

William Hole (1846-1917)
Temptation of Jesus in the desert
Watercolor, ca.1900-1908

The desert of inner exploration is a lonely place. It tends to be dry and tiring, and it seems endless. At times I come upon an oasis where I am refreshed and renewed to continue the journey. At times I am accosted by demons of self-hatred, greed, and despair. At times I am befriended by a ministering angel who reminds me I am not alone in my loneliness, that God is always with me.

Let me give thanks for the opportunity to be in this empty place where only God’s love can fill me. Let me trust that the Holy Spirit has led me here.

Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert for forty days, to be tempted by the devil. Luke 4:1-2

 

In the boat

01_netsToday I will put my attention boat a little distance from the shore of everyday tasks, obligations, and responsibilities, and invite Jesus to sit down with me. I will ask him to teach me his way and I will listen to his word.

Getting into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, [Jesus] asked him to put out a short distance from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. Luke 5:3

Working on it

1_Cor_13

Enders Island
December 28, 2015

Love is patient, love is kind.
It is not jealous, it is not pompous,
It is not inflated, it is not rude,
it does not seek its own interests,
it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury,
it does not rejoice over wrongdoing
but rejoices with the truth.
It bears all things, believes all things,
hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8a

Glad tidings

James Tissot (1836-1902) Jésus dans la synagogue déroule le livre opaque watercolor over graphite on gray wove paper, between 1886 and 1894 Brooklyn Museum

James Tissot (1836-1902)
Jésus dans la synagogue déroule le livre
opaque watercolor over graphite on gray wove paper, between 1886 and 1894
Brooklyn Museum

We, too, have been anointed by God’s Spirit to bring glad tidings to the poor. We bring food to those who are hungry. We bring compassion to those who are grieving. We bring encouragement to those who have low self-esteem. We bring comfort to those who are ill.

Wherever we go, we bring the gift of ourselves, the glad tidings of our loving presence, our hope in the Lord, our willingness to be guided by the Lord as trusted servants.

[Jesus] stood up to read and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written:
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring glad tidings to the poor. Luke 4:16b-18a

Gifted

Jan Cossiers, 1600-1671 The wedding at Cana: Jesus blesses the water oil on canvase, 1641-1660 Herentals, Saint Waltrude's Church

Jan Cossiers, 1600-1671
The wedding at Cana: Jesus blesses the water
oil on canvas, 1641-1660
Herentals, Saint Waltrude’s Church

You have gifts to offer. Gifts in abundance. Humor. Hospitality. Kindness. Comfort.

A listening ear. A homemade meal. A well-tended garden. A prayer.

Forgiveness. Acceptance. Compassion. Love.

You have so many gifts that bless our world.

There are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit; there are different forms of service but the same Lord; there are different workings but the same God who produces all of them in everyone. To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit. 1 Corinthians 12:4-7

For Lent

Pope-Francis-Living-Lent-With-Mercy

My friend and co-author Father Warren J. Savage has written a collection of beautiful reflections and prayers for the season of Lent.

Available now from Creative Communications.