Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for May, 2021

1 John 3: True Children

Posted in Favorite, tagged , , , , , , , on May 31, 2021| Leave a Comment »


God's love language stewardshipMonday, May 31, 2021

1 John 3

True Children

“The greatest sign of God’s love is the gift of his Son (Jn 3, 16) that has made Christians true children of God. This relationship is a present reality and also part of the life to come; true knowledge of God will ultimately be gained, and Christians prepare themselves now by virtuous lives in imitation of the Son . . . Love, even to the point of self-sacrifice, is the point of the commandment [verses 11-18]. The story of Cain and Abel . . . presents the rivalry of two brothers, in a contrast of evil and righteousness, where envy led to murder. For Christians, proof of deliverance is love toward others, after the example of Christ. This includes concrete acts of charity, out of our material gain . . . Living a life of faith in Jesus and of Christian love assures us of abiding in God no matter what our feelings may at times tell us. Our obedience gives us confidence in prayer and trust in God’s judgment. This obedience includes our belief in Christ and love for one another”. (Senior 390-391)

Daniele_Crespi_-_Cain_Killing_Abel_-_WGA5743

Daniele Crespi: Cain Killing Abel

Knowledge of God leading to virtuous lives. Concrete acts of charity from our material gain. A life of faith in Christ. Confidence in prayer and trust in God. We have spent several days with the third chapter of John’s first letter and we might pause today to consider . . . what have we learned? What might we have changed in our relationships?

When someone new joins our work or play community, do they see us as holy? If someone new arrives at our place of worship, do they see us as authentic and genuine? Do they see us as brothers and sisters who support one another rather than envy? Do our actions indicate that we know we have been released from bondage? Do our deeds say that we are grateful for all that we have and that we covet nothing, envy no one? Do others see us supporting one another out of our material gain and spiritual gifts? Do others hope to be one with us as children of the Living God and as building blocks of The Kingdom? Do they see us as true children of God?

Tomorrow, considering Cain and Abel.

Adapted from a reflection first written on July 20, 2010.

Senior, Donald, ed. THE CATHOLIC STUDY BIBLE. New York, Oxford University Press, 1990.390-391. Print.

Images from: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Daniele_Crespi_-_Cain_Killing_Abel_-_WGA5743.jpg and https://everythingiswhatyoumakeit.wordpress.com/2011/03/16/all-you-need-is-heart/book-pages-heart/

 

Read Full Post »

1 John 3:19-24: Confidence Before God

Posted in Comparing Scripture, tagged , , , on May 30, 2021| Leave a Comment »


little and big handsTrinity Sunday, May 30, 2021

1 John 3:19-24

Confidence Before God

Now this is how we shall know that we belong to the truth . . .

Now this is how we shall know that we walk in Christ’s footsteps . . . when we show confidence as we do God’s work.

God is greater than our hearts and knows everything . . .

This is how we know that God guides us . . . when we show confidence in God’s plan.

We have confidence in God . . . and we do what pleases God . . .

This is how we know that we live in God’s plan . . . when we find serenity.

We will believe in the name of God’s son, Jesus Christ . . .

This is how we bring serenity to others . . . when we give all to God.

We will love one another as Jesus asked us . . .

This is how we are able to love our enemies . . . when we rest in God’s Spirit.

Those who keep this commandment of love remain in Christ . . . and Christ in them . . .

This is how we find peace in turmoil . . . when we allow Jesus to make a way for us.

The way we know that Christ remains in us is from the Spirit that he gave us . . .

This is how we know we have confidence before God . . . when we fully and totally and faithfully trust God.

Read Luke 17:5-10 and consider Jesus’ words to us as he describes faith and the attitude of a servant.  For a reflection on this citation, click on the image above or go to: http://frvlad.blogspot.com/2013/10/trust-and-confidence-in-god.html

Using the scripture link above, study several versions of these verses and reflect on how or if or when we have confidence before God.

Read Full Post »

1 John 3:11-18: From the Beginning

Posted in Comparing Scripture, tagged , on May 29, 2021| Leave a Comment »


Let us loveSaturday, May 29, 2021

1 John 3:11-18

From the Beginning

For this is the message you have heard from the beginning: we should love one another . . .

For this is the message we carry into the world: we must love one another, even – or perhaps especially – our enemies.

Do not be amazed, then, if the world hates you . . .

We are not amazed, then, when the world condemns us.

Whoever does not love remains in death . . .

Whoever loves those who hate him remains in life eternally.

The way we came to know love was that he laid down his life for us; so we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers . . .

The way we come to know love is to enact it. The way we come to know hope is to give it.

Children, let us not love in word or speech but in deed and truth . . .

Sisters and brothers, let us not love in what we say but in what we do.

For this is the message you have heard from the beginning: we should love one another . . .

Spend some time today with the four selected versions of this citation in the scripture link above. Choose another version from the drop down menus and ponder what we have heard from the beginning, what we know, and how we enact God’s love in the world.

Image from: http://www.annarborrehab.com/

Read Full Post »

1 John 3:4-10: The Weeds and the Wheat

Posted in Comparing Scripture, Web site included, tagged , , on May 28, 2021| Leave a Comment »


weeds and wheatFriday, May 28, 2014

1 John 3:4-10

The Weeds and the Wheat

Today we hear some difficult words that we must not take too casually or too harshly. Today we are given the opportunity to heal rifts and bridge gaps in our relationships. Today we have the opportunity to turn away from judging one another and to turn toward loving one another . . . even our enemies.

It is of paramount importance to read these verses carefully lest we use them as a club against one another.

The Son of God was revealed to destroy the works of the devil.

It is imperative to enact these words with love lest we convince ourselves too quickly that it is our responsibility to see that no one breaks any rules.

No one who fails to act in righteousness belongs to God.

It is essential for our eternal well-being that we see these words as a license to forgive with deep compassion.

No one who fails to love his brother belongs to God.

It is vital for our own serenity that we allow these words to transform any small-mindedness we might harbor, so that we become passionate in our love for the universal Christ that lives in each of us.

In Jesus’ Parable of the Weeds (Matthew 13:24-30) we realize that each of God’s children is a field of wheat and weeds that God patiently tends as we grow, knowing that the weeds will be sifted from the wheat when the harvest time arrives. Therefore, rather than judge or condemn ourselves or our fellow pilgrims, let us do as John asks and love each of our sisters and brothers into goodness just as Christ loves each and every one of us into goodness.

While thinking of these verses, click on the scripture link above and study the four pre-select versions of this citation. Choose another version and read these words again and reflect on the opportunity to love that John brings to us.

Image from: http://www.christianitytoday.com/edstetzer/2013/october/subversive-kingdom-parable-of-wheat-and-weeds.html?paging=off

Read Full Post »

1 John 3:1-3: See What Love

Posted in Comparing Scripture, tagged , , , on May 27, 2021| Leave a Comment »


Thursday, May 27, 2021

1 John 3:1-3

1 johnSee What Love

See what love the father has bestowed on us that we might be called the children of God.

We need say nothing more about our relationship with God. We are God’s children.

The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know God.

We need write nothing but that God loves each of us dearly. We are God’s children.

Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed.

We need not expend energy worrying or tears crying about what the creator may or may not think of us. We are God’s children.

Everyone who has this hope based on God makes himself pure, as God is pure.

Today, click on the scripture link above and study the four pre-select versions of this citation while thinking of these statements. Choose another version and read these simple yet hope-filled verses again and reflect on the amazing truth John brings to us . . .

See what love the father has bestowed on us that we might be called the children of God.

Image from: http://imgracemadewoman.wordpress.com/2012/11/29/bible-quotes-1-john-3/1-john-1-3-niv-wallpaper/

Read Full Post »

John 14: A Prayer for Days and Nights

Posted in Comparing Scripture, Easter, Prayer, tagged , , , on May 26, 2021| Leave a Comment »


Ary Scheffer: Saint Augustin and Saint MOnica

Ary Scheffer: Saint Augustin and Saint Monica

Wednesday, May 26, 2021

John 14

A Prayer for Our Days and Nights

Perhaps because our circadian clock plays a quiet but powerful role in our lives we are subtly convinced that the universe is a mystery of black and white principles and forces. Perhaps because we see so much duality in others we are convinced that God punishes or saves depending on our behavior. Perhaps because we divide our lives between forces of good and evil, our perceptions between dark and light and our hours between day and night . . . we see God as something or someone we must seek. Perhaps because of all of this . . . we believe that seeking God means leaving what we know to journey toward what we do not.

St. Augustine of Hippo writes: Don’t go looking for any end beside God, in case by looking for an end beside God, you find yourself being consumed, not completed. (Cameron 277)

St. Augustine lived a life of dissipation in an era when the Greek and Judeo-Christian worlds were merging. He eventually changed his way of living and thinking to become an early leader in the Western Christian Church and to merge the worlds of day and night for himself and others.

In Chapter 14 of his Gospel, St. John records Christ’s words at the Last Supper in which we hear the dialog between Jesus and his followers. Spend some time with it today and consider the world of black and white that we have constructed for ourselves. Consider what it is we would do well to change. And as the day comes to a close and begins to merge into night, join those in the Noontime Circle to pray.

Loving God, protect us from consuming ourselves as we fight against a world that struggles to reconcile darkness and light. Teach us to complete ourselves in you so that we might learn to live in a world that has both nights and days.

For those who convince themselves and others that creation divides itself into worlds of evil and good we pray: allow us to understand that God is every thing and every person.

For those who believe that God’s grace and blessing are earned and not given, we pray: allow us to learn that God’s compassion and love are gifts freely given.

For those who tell themselves and others that our task on earth is to find God while we live safely and comfortably without risking ourselves for others, we pray: allow us to see that we are complete in God when we allow ourselves to be consumed for and in God,

For those who understand Jesus’ words: I am the way and the truth and the life: inspire them to help others to see The Way of days and nights.

For those who live Jesus’ words: No one comes to the Father except through me: encourage them to bring the wisdom of a world of days and nights to others.

For those who enact Jesus’ words: If you know me then you will also know the Father: strengthen them as they bring Christ’s love to all who live in a divided world of days and nights. Amen.

Visit the scripture John Chapter 14 link above and read the versions that have been pre-selected. Choose another version and consider how we might live on a world where dark and light co-exist without consuming us, where the coming together of nights and days become a force in our transformation.

St. Augustine’s citation from SERMONS and cited Cameron, Peter John. “Meditation of the Day.” MAGNIFICAT. 18.5 (2014): 277. Print.  

For more information on circadian and biological clocks, visit the NIH (U.S. National Institutes of Health) at: http://www.nigms.nih.gov/Education/Pages/Factsheet_CircadianRhythms.aspx

For more about St. Augustine and the divergent worlds his life helped to merge, visit the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy at: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/augustine/

Image from: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Scheffer_Saint_Augustine_and_Saint_Monica.jpg

Read Full Post »

Psalm 19:2-4: Day and Night

Posted in Comparing Scripture, Easter, tagged , , , , , on May 25, 2021| Leave a Comment »


artworks-000017516576-lw5fu1-cropTuesday, May 25, 2021

Psalm 19:2-4

Day and Night

The heavens proclaim the glory of God

And the firmament shows forth the work of God’s hands.

Day unto day takes up the story

And night unto night makes know the message.

No speech, no word, no voice is heard

Yet their span extends through all the earth,

Their words to the utmost bounds of the world.

This spring we have reflected on the importance of preaching God’s Word with every small and great act in our lives. We have pondered the Lesson of the Fig Tree and the worth of even the smallest of sparrows. We have spent time examining our experience of Christ and we have compared the ideal with the real. Today we arrive at understanding that each day and each night are filled with God’s grace even when we cannot see or feel it. We have arrived at believing that just as the firmament extols God’s goodness . . . so must we. No speech is necessary. No word need be uttered. We have only to spend each waking moment doing God’s work. We have only to put our slumber into God’s trustworthy hands for it is in this way that we enter into God’s eternal goodness.

Is this what the Apostle John has seen and heard? Is this the goodness we seek? Is this the gift we have already been freely given?

Tomorrow, a prayer for our days and nights.

Visit the scripture link above and read the versions of this citation that have been pre-selected. Choose another version and ponder how the firmament speaks without words. 

Image from: https://soundcloud.com/handbook/sunrise

Read Full Post »

1 John 2: Ideal and Real – Part IV

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on May 24, 2021| Leave a Comment »


Monday, May 24, 2021

Sunset-Sunrise-Clouds-Landscapes-Sun-1800x28801 John 2

Ideal and Real – Part IV: The New Commandment

Beloved, I am writing no new commandment to you but an old commandment that you had from the beginning.

We look for new inspiration. We believe that if we had one more resource all would be well. We look to off-load our worries when all we need do is put them in God’s hands.

The old commandment is the word that you have heard. And yet I do write a new commandment to you, which holds true in him and among you, for the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining.

All will be well if we can just get a raise. Everything will be fine if we can just someone to do what we want. We believe we will have no more worries if we can just arrange life as we want it while all the while abundant gifts are given us daily.

Whoever says he is in the light, yet hates his brother, is still in the darkness. Whoever loves his brother remains in the light, and there is nothing in him to cause a fall.

Our work environment would improve if cranky and controlling co-workers would go elsewhere. Family get-togethers would be so much better but for that person with whom we struggle.  Our worship community would be perfect if only the cranky believers would worship somewhere else . . . and all the while Christ walks among us. All the while the Spirit abides and calls us.  All the while we are children of the same creator who asks us to live in peaceful unity.

This is the new commandment the Apostle John relays to us. This is the new commandment Christ brings to us. This is the new commandment that unites the real and ideal.

Tomorrow, uniting day and night in prayer.

Image from: http://www.all-wallpapers.net/wallpaper/sunset-sunrise-clouds-landscapes-sun/

Read Full Post »

1 John 2: Ideal and Real – Part III Hostile Camps

Posted in Favorite, Prayer, tagged , , , on May 23, 2021| Leave a Comment »


Pentecost Sunday, May 23, 2021

1 John 2

holy spirit doveIdeal and Real – Part III: Hostile Camps

The early Christian community struggled to survive the various arguments declaring Jesus more human than divine or more divine than human. “They were the community of true prophecy. But now, the community itself is divided into two hostile camps. And the cause of the division is precisely what should have been the centerpiece of this unity: the proper understanding of the nature and role of Jesus”. (Senior RG 563)

Rather than reprimand us or remind us that we are not in control, John repeats what he has written so often that from the beginning Christ has been and that through eternity Christ will be. Knowing that we struggle with the double mystery of eternity and infinity, Christ remains with us so that we might not panic when trials arrive at our door. Knowing that we struggle with the dichotomy between the visible and invisible, the real and ideal, Christ brings himself to us in the Scripture we hold in our hands, the Word that we can open as frequently as we need in order that we remain connected to this divine-human mystery. Knowing that we are terrified at the thought of being left alone, Christ invites us constantly to come to him joyfully. Today we might read the words of one who lived and still lives beside him.

My children . . . we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous one. He is expiation for our sins, and not for our sins only but for those of the whole world . . . Do not love the things of the world . . . for the world and its enticements are passing away. But whoever does the will of God remains forever . . . Let what you heard from the beginning remain in you . . . And now, children, remain in him . . .

And so we pray . . . Creator Father, Rescuer Christ, Abider Spirit . . . save us from the hostility of the world . . . help us as we struggle with the opposing camps of our lives . . . bring our reality into focus with the ideal which you have dreamt for us . . . and keep us ever close to you in joy. Amen.

Tomorrow – Part IV: The New Commandment

Senior, Donald, ed. THE CATHOLIC STUDY BIBLE. New York, Oxford University Press, 1990.RG 563. Print.  

Adapted from a reflection written on Sunday, January 10, 2010.

Image from: https://www.biblword.net/why-is-pentecost-important/

Read Full Post »

Older Posts »

%d bloggers like this: