Tag Archives: scripture

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

 

Open minded

Andrey Mironov oil on cnavas, 2010(Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Andrey Mironov
Peace be with you! (Christ appearing to the apostles)
oil on canavas, 2010
[CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

 Unchanging yet dynamic, the Scriptures call me to listen with my mind, heart, and soul to what they are saying today.

Today I will open my mind to hear the call of God’s word.

Then [Jesus] opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. Luke 24:45

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

Driven

Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoi (1837-1887) Le Christ dans le désert, 1872 Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoi [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoi (1837-1887)
Le Christ dans le désert, 1872
[Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

God’s Holy Spirit points, pushes, drives us where we need to go.

Listen deeply. Be empty of pre-conceived notions. Let go of resistance.

Trust the movement of the Spirit.

The Spirit drove Jesus out into the desert,
and he remained in the desert for forty days,
tempted by Satan. Mark 1:12

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.