Tag Archives: Jesus

Afflicted

James Tissot (1836-1902)
L’hémoroïsse
opaque watercolor over graphite on gray wove paper
between 1886 and 1894
Brooklyn Museum

Rheumatoid arthritis, celiac disease, dyslexia, migraine, alcoholism, glaucoma, depression, anxiety, sleeplessness: affliction is a part of the human condition.

Through no fault of our own, our genes and bodies and minds have been wired for our particular afflictions. And while we may seek mainstream medical solutions and traditional therapies to help us cope, some afflictions don’t go away.

Afflictions do not make us unworthy of God’s love, or “less than” as human persons. We are made in the image of God’s love and goodness—and nothing can change that.

Our most important work is not to figure out why we are afflicted, but to reach out in humility to touch the Lord and ask for compassion and healing in whatever form they may manifest: mental, physical, emotional, or spiritual.

There was a woman afflicted with hemorrhages for twelve years. She had suffered greatly at the hands of many doctors and had spent all that she had. Yet she was not helped but only grew worse. She had heard about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak. She said, “If I but touch his clothes, I shall be cured.” Immediately her flow of blood dried up. She felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction. Mark 5:25-29

Tiny seeds

Mustard Seeds in a Plate at Reganigudem, Visakhapatnam district
By Adityamadhav83 [CC BY-SA 3.0], from Wikimedia Commons

A friend who has cancer maintains a positive, hopeful outlook in the midst of receiving chemo treatments for her bone marrow.

“You always inspire me,” I told her recently as I coped with the anxiety of a job search.

“You just made my day,” she said. Her gracious reply energized me to banish the idol of worry and put my attention on the things of God.

Tiny seeds of appreciation, respect, encouragement, love, and compassion do grow and spread and bear great fruit.

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

Family

Let us be the family of the Lord. Let us love one another. Let us pray for our enemies. Let us help the poor and the homeless, the refugees and immigrants. Let us comfort the lonely and grief-stricken. Let us welcome the rejected and abandoned. Let us show compassion to the suffering. Let us forgive those who have hurt us.

[… Jesus said,] “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.” Mark 3:34b-35

Nourished by Love

JESUS MAFA. Detail of Jesus from the Lord’s Supper, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. [retrieved June 3, 2018]. Original source: Librairie de l’Emmanuel

Jesus offers us a new covenant, one that nourishes our minds, hearts, bodies, and spirits with the very essence of the Lord: Love.

Each of us needs the food and drink of love to be fully alive and human. God’s love empowers us to stand tall, rejoice with the knowledge of our unique place in God’s heart, and be aware of God’s blessings and grace even when life circumstances trouble us.

May I remember to offer God’s love to all those I encounter today.

While they were eating, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, gave it to them, and said, “Take it; this is my body.” Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, and they all drank from it. Mark 14:22-23

In this moment

Unknown Icon Painter, Russian (active 1690-1710 in northern Russia)
The Holy Trinity
egg tempera on wood, between 1690 and 1710

We are in the presence of God. Now.

We are not alone. We have not been abandoned. The Lord is with us always.

Listen to the silence. Feel the fullness. Absorb the peace.

Trust.

[Jesus approached and said to them,] “And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.” Matthew 28:20b

In Love

God’s love has been planted in my heart. May I take time today to sit with Love in the quiet of my heart space. May I let Love prune and shape my life and will. May my own capacity to love grow, flourish, and bear great fruit.

God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him. 1 John 4:16b

Love one another

When Jesus says to love one another, it’s not a suggestion. It’s a command.

To be a faithful follower of Jesus, I must treat all people with respect, kindness, and compassion. We are kin. You and I and all of the human family are beloved children of God.

May I walk with reverence in the presence of my sisters and brothers. May my words and behaviors prove I am a disciple of the Lord.

[Jesus said to his disciples:] “This I command you: love one another.” John 15:17

Compassion fruit

I have had the experience of trying to join a group, but no one welcomed me because I was new to the area, an unknown, someone who might not be a good fit.

With the Lord to nurture me, compassion is the fruit that grows from times of rejection: compassion for the stranger, the newcomer, the misfit, the one who is different, the one—like me—who is a child of God.

When Saul arrived in Jerusalem he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple. Acts 9:26

In need

Camille Pissarro (1830-1903)
Landscape with Flock of Sheep
oil on canvas, 1889 and 1902
Norton Simon Museum

Today I am especially in need of the gentle guidance and tender care of Jesus, the Good Shepherd. I am grateful for his kind attention.

May I be gentle, tender, and kind towards others, too, for they may also be in need of compassion.

Jesus said: “I am the good shepherd. A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. John 10:11

Peace in this moment

The two disciples recounted what had  taken place on the way, and how Jesus was made known to them
in the breaking of bread. Luke 24:35

Jesus has risen from the dead. He breaks bread and eats a bit of fish to prove he is here with us, a tangible, touchable, living presence.

It is in this present, earth-bound moment that he offers us the gift of peace. Today I will accept this moment of peace… and the next…and the next… until I internalize the gift and am able to offer it to others—to all members of our human family, who live and breathe and ache to be touched with God’s peace and compassion.

[Jesus] stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” Luke 24:36