Yes, it’s finally looking like January.
And Saturday’s artwork:
Category Archives: meditations
Fish or cut bait
![Fisher Men 3 December 2011 By Venkateshpdy (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons](http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AFisher_Men.jpg">via Wikimedia Commons</a>)
Fisher Men
3 December 2011
By Venkateshpdy (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons
Consider the power of a call that changes my heart to feel the fragility, the vulnerability, the desperate need to be loved of the human family.
Consider the power of a call that transforms me into someone who fishes with forgiveness, nonviolence, and compassion as my bait.
And Jesus said to them, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” Mark 1:17
Listen
![Buisson ardent en mosaïque de la coupole 1 de la nef de la basilique Notre-Dame de la Garde à Marseille By Robert Valette (Own work) [GFDL or CC BY-SA 4.0-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0], via Wikimedia Commons](http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Buisson_ardent-coupole1.jpg)
Buisson ardent en mosaïque de la coupole 1 de la nef de la basilique Notre-Dame de la Garde à Marseille
By Robert Valette (Own work) [GFDL or CC BY-SA 4.0-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0], via Wikimedia Commons
Maybe God is always speaking to me. Today I will practice listening more deeply.
Samuel answered, “Speak, for your servant is listening.” 1 Samuel 3:10b
God’s beloved
Jacob de Wit (1695-1754)
Baptism of Christ in the Jordan
chalk and pen, ca.1716
Amsterdam, Amstelkring Museum
via Wikimedia Commons
We are God’s beloved and God is well pleased with us. The whole human family. All of us. In spite of, perhaps because of our human frailty, failures, and weaknesses. God made us human. We are God’s. We are God’s creation, beloved and pleasing to God.
Lord, teach me to see myself and the all of the human family with your eyes and heart.
And a voice came from the heavens, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” Mark 1:11
Pushed by the Light
Basilica of Sant’Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna, Italy: The Three Wise Men (named Balthasar, Melchior, and Gaspar). Detail from: “Mary and Child, surrounded by angels”, mosaic of a Ravennate italian-byzantine workshop, completed within 526 AD by the so-called Master of Sant’Apollinare
By Nina-no (Own work) [CC BY-SA 2.5], via Wikimedia Commons
[The magi] saw the child with Mary his mother.
They prostrated themselves and did him homage. Matthew 2:11
One Holy Family
Rembrandt (1606-1669)
Simeon in the Temple
oil on panel, 1627-1628
Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle
There was also a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived seven years with her husband after her marriage, and then as a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple, but worshiped night and day with fasting and prayer. And coming forward at that very time, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem. Luke 2:36-38
God’s Holy Family encompasses every human person—from infants to the elderly. We are all equally important in the eyes and heart of God. We all have something to offer to others. No matter what our age, we are all called to open our minds, eyes, and hearts to encounter the Lord every day.
Respond to the voices
“A voice cries out in the wilderness”
Israeli wall around the West Bank
[John] said: “I am the voice of one crying out in the desert, ‘make straight the way of the Lord,'” as Isaiah the prophet said.” John 1:23
Jesus does not exist apart from human struggles, human injustice, human atrocities. The voices I hear calling from war-torn countries show me where to find Jesus: right in the middle of it all.
How will I respond to the voices calling to me today? How will I make straight the way of the Lord in the midst of human suffering?
Wake up call
John the Baptist appeared in the desert proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Mark 1:4
The gospel is our every day wake up call: a call to love, to help the poor, to show compassion to all people.
It’s a call to spend time in quiet prayer and meditation, to read holy scripture, to deepen our relationship with Jesus.
The gospel wakes us up to the reality of God’s presence in our world, in our lives, in our being.
Today I will trust the wake up call of the gospel and ask the Lord to bless me with knowledge of his will for me and the power to carry it out.
Watching
[Jesus said,] “What I say to you, I say to all: ‘Watch!'” Mark 13:37
What am I watching for?
For an opportunity to be kind.
For an opportunity to help someone.
For an opportunity to encourage someone.
For an opportunity to feed the hungry.
For an opportunity to choose peace.
For an opportunity to speak out against violence.
For an opportunity to let go of arrogance.
For an opportunity to show respect to others.
For an opportunity to rejoice in another’s success.
For an opportunity to welcome a stranger.
For an opportunity share my gifts and talents.
For an opportunity to love my neighbor as myself.
Love or convenience?
![Jan Luyken (1649-1712) Bowyer Bible, Bolton, England By Phillip Mehurst (Photo by Harry Kossuth) [FAL], via Wikimedia Commons](https://maryannmcsweeny.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/teachings_of_jesus_22_of_40-_works_of_mercy-_taking_in_the_stranger-_jan_luyken_etching-_bowyer_bible.gif?w=300&h=227)
Jan Luyken (1649-1712)
Welcome the Stranger
Bowyer Bible, Bolton, England
By Phillip Mehurst (Photo by Harry Kossuth) [FAL], via Wikimedia Commons
It’s not always convenient to be mindful of others, especially those who need my attention, help, energy, money, talents.
Convenience is not the calling of a follower of Jesus. Love is.
Mary Ann McSweeny 
