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God's Wonderful Love
Wednesday December 6, 2006
Advent Prayer
All-powerful God, increase our strength of will for doing good that Christ may find an eager welcome at his coming and call us to his side in the kingdom of heave, where he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Then he took the seven loaves and the fish,
gave thanks, broke the loaves,
and gave them to the disciples, who in turn gave them to the crowds.
Matthew 15:36
Reflection:
We read of the miracle of the loaves and fishes in today's reading. We have this same miracle today in every Church that gives us the Eucharist. He has multiplied himself so when we leave his presence we will not go hungry either.
Jesus gave the many, food for the stomach as well as food for the soul. We receive this when we too go and worship our Lord, our stomachs are fed with heavenly food and our souls are given spiritual nourishment to help us live in the way of God. Jesus gaves us something very special and quite unique, a way to be with him always.
For many it is just a piece of bread, but for many others he is a living piece of bread that fills us with love and sustains us in our daily journeys. Where our trials are minimal and not as burdensome. What a wonderful miracle of the loaves and fishes then Jesus had performed for us to witness. He gave us something truly wonderful, himself in the very bread that he broke and gave to his disciples to feed the multitude. It is an act of faith to believe in this great miracle, but an act of love to understand the truth.
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Tuesday December 5, 2006
Advent Prayer
Father, in the wilderness of the Jordan you sent a messenger to prepare people's hearts for the coming of your Son. Help me to hear his words and repent of my sins, so that I may clearly see the way to walk, the truth to speak, and the life to live for Him, our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Not by appearance shall he judge,
nor by hearsay shall he decide.
Isaiah 11:3
Reflection:
We all know the saying don't judge a book by it's cover. Because, what is inside is what matters the most. How many times have we done exactly that, judged by appearance? Many times I'm sure. Now that you have done the judging of appearance and proceeded to get to know the person, your judgment was off wasn't it. The people that we judged were a pleasant surprise in personality. Or come to find out a complete loss.
The same would go for hearsay shouldn't it. Many lives have been ruined because of hearsay. It comes around like gossip, the retelling looses something valuable, the truth. Like when we tell stories of fishing, Such as we caught a huge fish, then stretch out our arms to show how huge, but it was only palm size. Not a good example I'm sure, but we get the idea don't we. That particular one happened to have been a lie, rather than the truth, and in the retelling the fish became gargantuan in size.
So very much hinges upon how we perceive how we see and hear doesn't it. If we all have 20/20 vision and perfect hearing then what is the problem. But many do not have perfect vision or perfect hearing, like the saying goes about selective hearing in some, it happens in their sight too.
So when we look at another human being, do not judge their exterior, it is the whole person that counts. Their heart, soul, mind, the things we do not see about them, but in the eyes of God make them beautiful beyond our scope of sight. Let our eyes see beyond what we perceive as beauty in another to see the heart of each of our neighbors. Love them as you would yourself.
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Monday, December 04, 2006
Monday of the First Week of Advent
Advent Prayer
God of power and mercy, open our hearts in welcome. Remove the things that hinder us from receiving Christ with joy, so that we may share his wisdom and become one with him when he comes in glory, for he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Let us walk in the light of the LORD!Isaiah 2:5
Reflection:
Jesus is our hope and the biggest, brightest light that will ever shine. Any artificial light that we use to lead us out of darkness is dull in comparison.
Think about the many times we have gone in search of something not knowing what it is we are looking for. Today it is no different than when we were young and in search of something that is missing. We look at many things to fill us but never truly finding it.
It's like going shopping for no reason, just to buy things. Often it's things we do not need, but it's filling a void at the time. But no matter how much we buy or use things to fill an emptyness inside us, nothing will fill us but the love of God. How many of us have found the truth to this. How we have gone on a search most of our lives, never feeling complete until we come to God and say please let us be with you in all ways.
He is the light we are searching for, he is what fills the void and the emptyness. We are whole and filled with God's love. Let us fill up with God's love and walk in the light of the Lord. He is our Hope! He is our Light! | | | |
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Sunday December 3, 2006
Brothers and sisters:
May the Lord make you increase and abound in love
for one another and for all,
just as we have for you,
so as to strengthen your hearts,
to be blameless in holiness before our God and Father
at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his holy ones. Amen.
1 Thessalonians 3:12-13
Reflection:
A beautiful blessing we have received today. "May we increase and abound in love for one another and for all." It's a nice start for Advent, to help prepare us for the coming birth of our Lord and Savior. Each year we go through the preparations of our hearts to welcome Jesus. And each year we welcome many others into our lives as well.
We prepare our homes with finery to show the world we are awaiting a special birth at this time of year. We put on our best attitudes and we do things we normally do not do during the rest of the year. We become different, we turn to our neighbors with happiness.
But in this change are we seeking a gift from our neighbors, all because we are nice to them. This should not be what motivates our love for our neighbor in this season of preparedness. It should be genuine joy and happiness, but most especially love for one another.
Love those around you without expecting a package in return. Even if they do not love you back, you have given it with an open heart, one that welcomes our Lord without guile.
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Saturday December 2, 2006
Today's Readings
Reflection:
Today Jesus tells us to be vigilant. It's only right he tells us this. We work so hard in our lives to accomplish material wealth and comfort to the point of exhaustion. How often have we heard stories from people who have told us they have fallen asleep at the wheel, because they were tired on their way home from work?
Or have gotten into an accident because they fell asleep or lost concentration. We go beyond ourselves to gather up what we think is needed, but we fail to be vigilant about our faith in the way we are with our daily living.
Jesus tells us we need to be awake in our faith. What is so hard about that, it's not hard at all, well for me anyway it isn't. In the first reading the last paragraph spoke of something special, it goes like this: "And he said to me, "These words are trustworthy and true, and the Lord, the God of prophetic spirits, sent his angel to show his servants what must happen soon." "Behold, I am coming soon." Blessed is the one who keeps the prophetic message of this book." Is he coming soon? I don't know that, neither does anyone else for that matter. It was the last sentence that spoke loudly. Blessed is the one who keeps the prophetic message of this book. And this whole book is prophetic in nature and many of us have not kept it's message in our lives.
We do keep many other things alive in our lives but this one thing. He will come when we least expect him to come, but will we be prepared. The River of Life is a beautiful crystal clear water that truly does flow from the Throne of God. It's beautiful.
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