Tag Archives: love

Read my heart

Grain of wheat

“Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.” John 12:24

We send messages to others in every moment. Our words, attitudes, gestures, body language, and actions speak our truth in that moment.

God has written the law of love upon our hearts. Compassion, kindness, acceptance, welcoming, encouragement, courtesy, and nonviolence are ways to express what God has written upon our hearts.

Do the messages I send others reflect God’s writing?

But this is the covenant that I will make
with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD.
I will place my law within them and write it upon their hearts;
I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Jeremiah 31:33

Apprenticed to Jesus

Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859-1937) Nicodemus and Jesus on a Rooftop, 1899 oil on canvas Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts via Wikimedia Commons

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

Pushed by the Light

512px-Magi_(1)

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

God within me urges me on and on to find God, to encounter God, to know God. I am pushed by the light within to find the light in all creation, especially in you. In the moment of recognition, the light in me does homage to the light in you, the Light of God, the Love of God.

[The magi] saw the child with Mary his mother.
They prostrated themselves and did him homage. Matthew 2:11

Wake up call

2_candlesJohn 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

Candle_flame[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.

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?

Going home

Joža Uprka, 1860-1941 All Souls' Day oil on canvas, 1897 Prague, National Gallery Joža Uprka [Public domain or Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Joža Uprka, 1860-1941
All Souls’ Day
oil on canvas, 1897
Prague, National Gallery
via Wikimedia Commons

Jesus said to the crowds: “Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and I will not reject anyone who comes to me.” John 6:37

I have been on the giving and receiving end of rejection. Either side is a lonely place, a place of woundedness and deep grief.

Jesus, the Compassion of God, heals all wounds through the grace of his unconditional love for all of God’s human family. By his example I am learning it is the better part to accept than reject. I am learning it is the better part to forgive than resent. I am learning it is the better part to keep my eyes on the Lord than my nose in others’ business. I am learning to find my way home.

 

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.

What belongs to God

Rembrandt (1606-1669)The Good Samaritan, ca.1655-1660 pen and brown ink and white paint on paper Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen

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.