Category Archives: Jesus

Growing rich

JESUS MAFA. Parable of the Three Servants, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=48297 [retrieved November 16, 2014].

JESUS MAFA. Parable of the Three Servants, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=48297 [retrieved November 16, 2014].

“…out of fear I went off and buried your talent in the ground.” Matthew 25:25

Today I will not bury myself in busy-ness out of fear of loneliness.

I will not surround myself with the noise of the world out of fear of the silence of God.

I will not let fear, indifference, or fatigue prevent me from growing rich in kindness, compassion, and encouragement, peace, and love.

 

 

Cleaning house

Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553) Jesús expulsa a los fariseos del Templo, 1521

Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553)
Jesús expulsa a los fariseos del Templo, 1521

[Jesus] made a whip out of cords and drove them all out of the temple area. John 2:15

I am a little temple that houses God’s Holy Spirit. In the name of Jesus and through the gift of the Holy Spirit, I have the power to drive out anything from my temple that obstructs and interferes with my ability to love God, myself, and my neighbor.

What shall I drive out today? Fear? Greed? Self-pity? Arrogance? Indifference? Prejudice?

What shall I invite in? Gratitude? Gentleness? Acceptance? Encouragement? Hospitality? Compassion?

Choose Love

Stefy Mante The Shepherd's Love Opera di Pirografia su legno di pioppo, 2010

The Shepherd’s Love, 2010
Opera di Pirografia su legno di pioppo
By StefyMante (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

[Jesus said,]”You shall love the Lord, your God,
with all your heart,
with all your soul,
and with all your mind.
This is the greatest and the first commandment.
The second is like it:
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:37-40

When I am in doubt about how to act, how to speak, how to relate to people, all people, my family, friends, colleagues, strangers, foreigners, people who look different from me, who think differently, who believe differently, let Love be my prompter.

When I am in doubt about who I am and what I am doing here, let Love open my heart to the Truth that I am the beloved of God, that you are the beloved of God, that we are the reflection of God’s love to each other and to the whole world.

When I hover between the choice to love or not to love, let Love remind me I was made in love and for love. I am entwined with the One who loved me into being.

Accepting trust

Speculum Humanae Salvationis, Westfalen oder Köln, um 1360

Speculum Humanae Salvationis, Westfalen oder Köln, um 1360 Courtesy Wikimedia Commons

Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people: “Hear another parable…
Finally, [the landowner] sent his son to them, thinking, ‘They will respect my son.'” Matthew 21:37

What kind of God keeps on sending gifts into our lives?

A God who expects us to accept the gift of love and love others. A God who expects us to accept the gift of forgiveness and forgive others. A God who expects us to accept the gift of compassion and give comfort to those who are suffering. A God who expects us to accept the gift of nonviolence and find peaceful solutions to conflict.

A God who trusts us.

The mind and heart of Jesus Christ

Rembrandt (1606-1669) Le lavement des pieds between 1640 and 1649 Rijksmuseum Amsterdam

Rembrandt (1606-1669)
Le lavement des pieds, between 1640 and 1649
Rijksmuseum Amsterdam

Have in you the same attitude that is also in
Christ Jesus, Who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Philippians 2:5-6

I am made in the image and likeness of God. Today I will choose the God-like attitude of love, forgiveness, and compassion in my relationship with myself and others, and I will seek a way to be of service to someone in need.

God so loves our world

Diego Velazquez, 1599-1660 Cristo crucifado oil on canvas El Prado, Madrid

Diego Velázquez, 1599-1660
Cristo crucifado
oil on canvas
El Prado, Madrid

[Jesus answered Nicodemus,] “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.” John 3:16

There is so much to love in our world. There are so many people to love in our world. Just for today, I will make a commitment to love myself and one other person.

In the presence of Love

Rembrandt (1606-1669) Christ and Nicodemus pen and wash, between 1621 and 1669 via Wikimedia Commons

Rembrandt (1606-1669)
Christ and Nicodemus
pen and wash, between 1621 and 1669
via Wikimedia Commons

Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another;
for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. Romans 13:8

[Jesus said to his disciples:] “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” Matthew 18:20

I owe you nothing except to extend to you the love of Jesus—the compassion, forgiveness, and comfort of God. I owe you nothing except to respect you and treat you the way I would like to be treated. I owe you nothing except to accept you just as you are in this moment and show you kindness and courtesy.

If I bring Jesus with me wherever I go, I am with you in Love and we are in the presence of Love.

God Thoughts

22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

Matthew 16:21-27
22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

[Jesus] turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.” Matthew 16:23

When my thoughts flurry and squall, I hope God thinks calmly, without hurry, in an orderly and harmonious fashion.

When my thoughts descend into despair about the heartaches and violence in our world, I hope God thinks healing into the grief and peace into the unrest.

When my thoughts dwell on what’s wrong with me, I hope God thinks I’m loveable and precious and right where I’m supposed to be.

 

Compelled by faith

Br. Martin Erspamer, OSB Jesus and the Canaanite Woman

Br. Martin Erspamer, OSB
Jesus and the Canaanite Woman

Then Jesus said to her in reply, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And the woman’s daughter was healed from that hour. Matthew 15:28

Faith is certainty in the goodness of God, in the truth of God’s vision of love, compassion, and healing, and in our position as beloved, precious children of God.

The persistent, unshakeable faith of the Canaanite woman is unanswerable except by Jesus being God, showing God, acting as God in that moment to heal her beloved, precious daughter in love and compassion.

 

 

 

Inseparable

The Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes Basilica di Sant' Apollinare Nuovo Ravenna ITALY 6th century

The Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes
Basilica di Sant’ Apollinare Nuovo
Ravenna ITALY
6th century

When it was evening, the disciples approached [Jesus] and said, “This is a deserted place and it is already late; dismiss the crowds so that they can go to the villages and buy food for themselves.” Matthew 14:15

Nothing can separate me from the love of God except my own refusal to love my neighbor as myself. Immigrants, refugees, the homeless, the ill, the elderly, those who don’t look like me or act like me or speak like me—we are all God’s precious children, worthy of love and respect and the best life has to offer.

Dismissing others is not the way of Jesus.