Monday
Today, if you hear God's voice,
harden not your heart
Listen, listen to me,
Pay attention, come to me,
Listen, listen and your soul will live.
Isaiah 55:3
I tell you most solemnly,
whoever listens to my words
and believes in the one who sent me,
has eternal life.
John 5:24
Within each of us lies a power
greater than anything we will ever have to face.
Sometimes it reveals itself as a great force--at other times, as a deep,
unfolding stillness.
For centuries it's been described as a burning fire.
Yet this power never imposes itself. Each heart decides to respond
to its presence--and that decision sets the course for everything that
follows.
Paula A. Darcy
Open you eyes, alert the ears of
your spirit, open your lips and apply your heart
so that in all creatures you may see, hear, praise, love and worship,
glorify and honor your God, lest the whole world rise against you.
The Soul's Journey to God
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Tuesday
In
Jesus, we see the fullness of human possibility.
Jesus, more like us than we ever
really imagined,
reveals to us the wonder of who we are as bearers of the Spirit of God.
Michael Morwood
Jesus is unlike anyone
else, however, in that in him we find a radical and complete openness to
God's self-giving in grace. In this one product of evolutionary
history,
the cosmos accepts God in a definitive and absolute way.
Denis Edwards
Besides
challenging his listeners to consider who they were, Jesus urged them to
consider
who God was. Every story Jesus told revealed something of the
Holy, the reality he called "Father,"
the image that itself is a metaphor for what theologian Karl Rahner
called
" Incomprehensible, Holy Mystery - an ultimate reality beyond any
box we try to put 'God' in."
Radical Amazement
God
had anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power because God was
with him.
Acts 10:37
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Wednesday
Jesus
sets us free to believe that we live in God.
"...the Father has
not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him. As
he spoke
these words, many believed in him. Then Jesus said to those Jews
who believed on him, 'If you continue
in my word, then you are my disciples indeed; And you shall
know the truth, and the truth shall make you free'."
John 8: 27-32
Jesus believed that
many of his contemporaries were beset with wrong ideas about God
and were looking for their experience of God in the wrong
place. He recognized some of the
biggest obstacles to conversion were ingrained ideas and images which
prevented people from
believing that God was close to them and which led them to be fearful of
God.
How are people to recognize that...God is in their midst?
Jesus made clear that there were unmistakable signs: when people act or
see others
in ways that are good, truthful, loving, forgiving, just, and
merciful they should realize that
these are the signs of God's Spirit present and active in human
interactions. Jesus urged people
to see the connection: live in love and you live in God.
Is Jesus God?
Where can I go from
your spirit?
Or where can I flee from your presence?
Psalm 139:7
Jesus' basic conviction
was not only that God is close to us, but also that God loves us.
...God's unconditional love was the foundation of Jesus' spirituality...
if the mystery of
God is closer to me than I am to myself and if we are in some profound
sense one,
then I have nothing to fear.
Jesus Today: A Spirituality of
Radical Freedom
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Thursday
Jesus
reveals to us our true identity
The message of Jesus
shows us that the dignity of the human race is not found in its ability
to control and dominate the Earth, nor is it found in the marvels
of technology.
Rather, our dignity is found in our intimate loving relationships within
and among ourselves
and with the whole community of species.
Jesus in the New
Universe Story
Jesus,
more like us than we ever really imagined, reveals to us the wonder of
who we are as
bearers of the Spirit of God.
Praying a New Story
I am the vine; you
are the branches. For the plain fact is, that apart from me
you can do nothing at all. If you keep my commandments you will live in
my love...
This is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved
you.
John 15
Human
beings are the universe conscious of itself. Human beings are the
ones who have the
heart to feel compassion and the wisdom to do justice. Human
beings alone have heard the call to live
in relationship with the divine, to live in fidelity to the truth and to
live in the service of love.
The life and death of Jesus shows us that we have been given everything
we need to become receptors
of the Light that is life itself. Jesus' call for us to become
light to the world is not an empty
invitation but a potent promise.
Radical Amazement
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Friday
It
is the time when we prepare ourselves and our society to receive
the lord when he comes.
The
reign of God is the presence of God unfolding in our lives and in our
communities
and churches and nations and in social groups calling us to change our
lives and
transform the whole of society.
Cletus Wessels, OP
When a person, of hope and faith starts down the long path of prophetic
action,
it is impossible to turn aside to lesser things. That's why prophets
are so dangerous,
they cry in season and out of season, politely and impolitely, loud and
long.
And they do it because having prayed the vision, they cannot live with
themselves and do otherwise.
Joan Chittister, OSB
The
kingdom of God never comes by watching for it.. You cannot say,
"Look here it is," or
"There it is," for the kingdom of God is inside you.
Luke 17:22 When
we form a Christian community, we come together not because of similar
experiences,
knowledge, problems, color, or sex, but because we have been called
together by the same Lord.
Henri Nouwen
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Saturday
Our
best preparation for tomorrow is the proper use of today.
What
we are talking about… is one seamless experience of moving out of our
self-centeredness
and isolation into union with all that is.
It is a movement from separation to oneness, from
selfishness
to love, from ego to God,
Albert Nolan
Therefore
I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about
your body, what you
will wear. Life is more than food, and the body more than
clothes. Who of you by worrying can add a
single hour to his life?. Since you cannot do this very
little thing, why do you worry about the rest?
And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry
about it.
For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows
that you need them.
But seek God's kingdom, and these things will be given to you as
well.
Luke 12: 22-29
Awareness
of the Divine begins with wonder.
Abraham Heschel
In
the context of the new story we can reflect on our images of God, where
we would expect
to encounter God’s presence, what humankind’s basic relationship
with God might be
and where Jesus fits into this story.
Michael Morwood.
Wisdom
is nothing but a preparation of the soul, a capacity, a secret art of
thinking,
feeling and breathing thoughts of unity at every moment of life.
Herman Hesse
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