Tag Archives: meditation

Seeing God

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].

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 forgives, touches, heals, listens, welcomes, serves, and walks with people from all stations in life.

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

How many ways to love

Tissot, Le lavement des pieds

James Tissot, 1836-1902
Le lavement des pieds, between 1886 and 1894
opaque watercolor over graphite on gray wove paper
Brooklyn Museum

Just for today I am going to think of one way to love one other person.

I may smile at a stranger.
I may invite someone to tea.
I may respond with patience to someone who is irritating me.
I may contact someone who is lonely.
I may thank someone for being there for me.

[Jesus said,] “This is my commandment: love one another as I love you.” John 15:12

Pruned

Cixi_Vines_with_fruit

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

 

Fish or cut bait

Fisher Men 3 December 2011 By Venkateshpdy (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Fisher Men
3 December 2011
By Venkateshpdy (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Consider the power of a call that makes me leave my family, home, livelihood.

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

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.