Jesus then said to the Twelve, “Do you also want to leave?” Simon Peter answered him, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” John 6: 67-68
I’ve heard “love thy neighbor as thyself” and “forgive seventy times seven times” and “Peace be with you”—words of eternal life spoken by Jesus.
How can I turn away without betraying my birthright as a child of God made in the image and likeness of God’s love?
James Tissot (1836-1902)
La multiplicité des pains, between 1886 and 1894
opaque watercolor over graphite on gray wove paper
Brooklyn Museum
The Word of God teaches me to be bread for those who are hungry for kindness, encouragement, compassion, and love.
The Word of God teaches me to eat the bread of forgiveness, reconciliation, peace, and nonviolence.
The Word of God teaches me that the Lord is the bread that gives me the nourishment to love my neighbor as myself, welcome strangers, feed the hungry, and visit the sick.
[Jesus said:] “It is written in the prophets: They shall all be taught by God.” John 6:45a
James Tissot, 1836-1902
Il les envoya deux à deux, 1886-1896
Opaque watercolor over graphite on gray wove paper
Brooklyn Museum
I don’t need overstocked cupboards, expensive gadgets, a big salary, or an extensive wardrobe to do the work of the Lord. I just need love, compassion, forgiveness, awareness of others and their needs, and a willingness to serve as I am sent.
[Jesus] instructed [the Twelve] to take nothing for the journey but a walking stick— no food, no sack, no money in their belts. They were, however, to wear sandals but not a second tunic. Mark 6:8-9
Love in a pot
God has planted the seed of unconditional love in each of our hearts. We watch that seed grow and spread and provide shelter as we practice forgiveness instead of resentment, patience instead of irritation, generosity instead self-seeking, awareness and compassion towards those in need instead of indifference to the cries of the poor, lonely, homeless, depressed, heartbroken, elderly, and abandoned.
[Jesus said to the crowds:] “This is how it is with the kingdom of God; it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the land and would sleep and rise night and day and through it all the seed would sprout and grow, he knows not how.” Mark 4:26-27
Capilla de Corpus Christi, Catedral de Burgos
© José Luiz Bernardes Ribeiro via Wikimedia Commons
As a unique, significant member of the Body of Christ, each of us is privileged to share in the unconditional Love that is the New Covenant between God and the human family.
This covenant of Love teaches me to open my eyes, ears, hands, and heart to welcome each of my sisters and brothers in God’s human family; to let go of judgment, resentment, and fear; to give thanks for the grace to learn the way of peace and reconciliation from the Master of Compassion, who is Jesus, who has once and for always healed our brokenness into unity and harmony.
Then [Jesus] took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, and they all drank from it. Mark 14:23
A force of Nature
Wind and fire are forces of nature that command our attention. The Holy Spirit is a force of God’s nature that demands our attention.
The Holy Spirit pushes us, compels us, directs us, and sets us on fire to imitate Jesus. The Holy Spirit fuels our passion for justice, our desire to forgive, our impulse to reach out with compassion, and our commitment to love.
Be swept away by the wind. Feel the heat of the fire. Trust the movement of the Spirit in your life.
And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were. Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:2-4a
![JESUS MAFA. The Ascension, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=48398 [retrieved May 17, 2015].](https://maryannmcsweeny.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/mafa011-medium.jpg?w=195&h=300)
JESUS MAFA. The Ascension, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. [retrieved May 17, 2015].
Looking at Jesus, we see that God seeks to fulfill the law of Love: love of God, self, and neighbor.
We see God by studying the person of Jesus. Through the power of the Holy Spirit in us, we have been given the grace to imitate Jesus and so give others a glimpse of God.
No one has ever seen God. Yet, if we love one another, God remains in us, and his love is brought to perfection in us. 1 John 4:12
Empress Dowager Cixi, 1838-1908
Vines with fruit
ink and water color on silk, first half of 19th c.
Warsaw, National Museum
via Wikimedia Commons
If my heart remains open to and my mind stays focused on Jesus’ teaching to love God, my neighbor, and myself, I can count on being pruned.
Pride, arrogance, selfishness, self-centeredness, shame, low self-esteem, self-pity: these are traits God will prune in order that the fruit I bear in the world ripens into compassion, kindness, acceptance, forgiveness, peace, faith, and love.
[Jesus said to his disciples:] “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower. He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and every one that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit.” John 15:1-2
Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859-1937)
Nicodemus and Jesus on a Rooftop, 1899
oil on canvas
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
via Wikimedia Commons
God so loves us that he trusts us to be his hands, voice, eyes, ears, heart, and compassion in the world.
In order that we learn how to become more like God, he apprentices us to Jesus. Ours is not academic learning; it is experiential learning where we practice by watching and imitating Jesus.
Heal, eat with sinners, speak out against injustice, serve the poor, pray, love your enemies, lay down your life for others.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son…” John 3:16
Rembrandt (1606-1669)
The Good Samaritan, ca.1655-1660
pen and brown ink and white paint on paper
Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen
via Wikimedia Commons
[Jesus] said to them, “Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar
and to God what belongs to God.”
Matthew 22:21
As I move through today, let me repay to God forgiveness. I will make a conscious effort to let go of resentment and hard feelings, and to accept others as they are without wishing them to be different.
Let me repay to God healing. I will make a conscious effort to speak and act respectfully, to offer encouragement to others, and to admit when I am wrong.
Let me repay to God generosity. I will make a conscious effort to help someone in material, physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual need.
Let me repay to God nonviolence. I will make a conscious effort to choose peace over conflict, deep within my being and in all my interactions with others.
Let me repay to God compassion. I will make a conscious effort to offer my prayers and support to those who are suffering from the effects of war and life-threatening illness.
Let me repay to God love. I will make a conscious effort to live without fear, to refuse to be a victim, to reject self-pity, to welcome all people as my sisters and brothers in God, and to bring the hope of God’s vision of unconditional, all-encompassing love wherever I go.
