distress – The Noontimes

John 14:1-14: Glory, Part III – Fear

John 14:1-14: Glory, Part III – Fear

Wednesday, July 20, 2022

As we explore the mystery of Christ’s power found in humility, emptiness, and service, we continue with words recorded by John, The Beloved Apostle. John leaves this recording for us that we might discover Christ’s presence among us today, Christ’s glory that lives with us still.

Today’s lesson on Glory: There is nothing and no one that we need fear. Christ comes to us in the anxieties of our days and the terrors that come with the night.

In response to our distress, Jesus says: Do not let your hearts be troubled.

Jesus was deeply troubled and testified, “Amen, amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me . . . What you are going to do, do quickly”.

Rather than succumb to our fears, how different it is to open ourselves to them, knowing that God is present in our brokenhearted-ness, our poverty, abandonment, denial and betrayal. Jesus tells us: Where I am going, you will know the way.

When Thomas asks – as do we – We do not know where you are going; how can we know the way? Jesus answers: I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him.

When Philip says – as do we: Show us the Father, and that we will be enough for us.

Jesus replies: Have I been with you for such a long time and still you do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.

When we question how we are to see God, Jesus tells us: Whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father. And whatever you will ask in my name I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the son. If you ask anything of me in my name, I will do it.

We begin to understand the concept of God’s glory that arrives with the washing of our tired feet. We begin to see God in the disappointments and fears that life brings to us. We begin to comprehend that glory comes quietly when we do not expect it, when we are troubled and laden with worry and dread. This is the glory that Jesus offers us. The glory of a personal relationship with God. The glory of knowing Jesus so well that we call on his name when we make our requests. The glory of the Spirit that resides within.

In today’s Noontime we hear Jesus say to us, his disciples: Do not let your hearts be troubled . . . If you ask anything of me in my name, I will do it.

And so we pray,

Generous and gentle God, lift us out of our fears and worries. Hear our petitions that we offer in your name. Allay our distress, smooth our unease, and transform our terror with your loving kindness. We ask this in your name. Amen.

Write out Jesus’ words on a slip of paper and leave it on our pillow. Tonight as we prepare for bed, let us make Jesus’ words part of our evening prayer.

Click on the image above to read about fear and the memory.

Tomorrow, experiencing God’s glory in the Advocate.

Image from: https://newatlas.com/uppsala-sweden-psychology-study-erasing-fear/24438/

July 20, 2022

abandonment, anxiety, betrayal, distress

Psalm 32: Time of Need

Wednesday, September 15, 2021

Psalm 32

Time of Need

I kept it secret and my frame was wasted.

I groaned all the day long for night and day your hand was heavy upon me.

Indeed my strength was dried up by the summer’s heat.

We do not know but we can imagine that the prophet Jeremiah prayed the psalms from his prison cell or from the bottom of the miry cistern. Chains alone did not stop him from speaking. Scorn and mockery could not hold back the words he knew he must deliver and the actions he knew he must take. If he intoned Psalm 32 it may have been bitterly for he could not put an end to his punishment by acknowledging his sin or by recanting an evil act; or it may have been joyfully for he also knew that God was his only place of safety. Jeremiah, the innocent, bemoaned his reality as he suffered at the hands of corrupt and unjust leaders; but Jeremiah, the prophet, understood the message of hope in this prayer.

So let every good man pray to you in the time of need.

The floods of water may reach high but him they shall not reach.

You are my hiding place, O Lord; you save me from distress.

You surround me with cries of deliverance.

In our moment of stress, God replies through the voice of the psalmist.

I will instruct you and show you the way you should walk, give you counsel and watch over you.

Do not be senseless like horses or mules; with bit and bridle their temper is curbed, else they will not come to you.

In our time of need, God speaks to us today.

Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but love surrounds those who trust in the Lord.

Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you just; exult all you upright of heart.

When the weight of the world is too much to balance, let us give our burden of despair to God, and be glad in the hope, and grace and love of the Lord.

Visit the Overwhelmed By Grace post on this blog by entering the words in the search bar.

Image from: http://loopyloo305.com/2012/12/16/psalm-32/

September 15, 2021

deliverance, despair, distress, God’s love, grace, hope, innocent victims, Jeremiah, love, unjust leaders

Philippians 4:10-14: Strength for Everything

Saturday, January 4, 2020

Philippians 4:10-14: Strength for Everything

From the CATHOLIC STUDY BIBLE footnotes: “Paul . . . here thanks the Philippians for their gift of money sent through Epaphroditus. Paul’s own policy was to be self-sufficient as a missionary, supporting himself by his own labor. In spite of this reliance on self and on God to provide, Paul accepted gifts from the Philippians . . . as he does here now, in prison”. (cf. Senior 317)

Paul sets out in his missionary zeal to earn his own wages as he travels through the Roman Empire telling the Good News to all. He suffers great deprivation and knows great bounty. Where he had once thought only to support himself, he now – in his prison cell – fully realizes the secret to a life lived well: Not only do we depend on God the Creator, the Omnipotent, the Omniscient and All Knowing but we also depend on God present to us in and through others. God of little surprises and sudden kindnesses. God ever-present in the faithful who remain as remnant. God providing power in our distress. This is where we find strength for everything.

I rejoice greatly in the Lord that now at last you revived your concern for me. Help us, Oh God of surprises, to be faithful to those with whom you have linked us.

You were, of course, concerned for me but lacked an opportunity. Guide us, Oh God of small wonders and powerful miracles, to be watchful for any opportunity to do your work.

I have learned, in whatever situation I find myself, to be self-sufficient. Remind us, Oh God who comes to us in the small Bethlehem Babe, that you came to humanity as a vulnerable child.

I know how to live in humble circumstances; I know also how to live in abundance. Show us, Oh God who was born in a stable, that the material goods we seek are dust in our hands.

In every circumstance and in all things I have learned the secret of being well fed and of going hungry, of living in abundance and of being in need. Call us, Oh God who dwells in each of us, to fully know and express the great secret you teach us through tribulation and joy.

I have strength for everything through him who empowers me. Tell us once again, Oh God who never falters, that our limitations become power when we live in you.

It was kind of you to share in my distress. Confirm for us, Oh God who never abandons the sheep of his kingdom, that you bring us liberation even in our deepest suffering.

And so we pray . . . Oh God of our dreaming and our waking, help us to balance the good and the bad, the sorrow and the joy, the pain and the elation. Abide in us all days and all nights, through our comings and goings, during our encampments and our wanderings, as we experience need and revel in plenty. Show us how to traverse the hills and valleys, how to endure the deserts and the wastelands, how to undergo deprivation and how to delight in bounty. Remind us to rejoice greatly in you always for you are never far, you are forever constant, and you are eternally present to us . . . even though we see you but darkly. We rely on you to bring us strength for everything both in our distress and in our gladness. We ask all of this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

A re-post from December 30, 2012.

Senior, Donald, ed. THE CATHOLIC STUDY BIBLE. New York, Oxford University Press, 1990.317. Print.

To reflect a bit more on Chapter 4 of Philippians, enter the words Cause for Joy into the blog search bar and explore.

To hear a sermon on Model Servants, go to http://www.gty.org/resources/sermons/50-26/Model-Spiritual-Servants-Part-3-Epaphroditus

To spend time reflecting on how Timothy and Epaphroditus are Models of Faith, click on the image above or go to: http://biblicaljoy.wordpress.com/2010/10/29/week-29-timothy-and-epaphroditus/

January 4, 2020

distress, Epaphroditus, joy, Timothy, tribulation

Nehemiah 1: A Vocation for Building

Nehemiah 1: A Vocation for Building

Friday, September 13, 2019

imagesCAPMAM6C — *Jerusalem: Stones at the Temple South Wall*

We have visited with this book several times during our Noontime reflections and we know that it, along with the book of Ezra, describes the restoration time of the Jewish nation. We know that Nehemiah was the administrator who is credited with the rebuilding of the temple and walls while his friend Ezra, the priest, rebuilt the religious traditions of the Jewish people. Together these men led their community to recovery through work, prayer and a close connection with their God.

The survivors of the captivity there in the province are in great distress and under reproach.

We constantly bump into people who are in great distress and under reproach. There are times when we ourselves are the victim of abuse of one kind or another, times when we too, suffer greatly in that we are separated from some one, some thing or some tradition which used to comfort us and bring us peace. When we find ourselves in exile . . . and we yearn for reconciliation . . . the best remedy for this affliction is to do as Nehemiah did: I prayed: O Lord, God of heaven, great and awesome God, you who preserve your covenant of mercy towards those who love you and keep your commandments, may your ear be attentive, may your eyes be open, to heed the prayer which I, your servant, now offer in your presence day and night for your servants the Israelites, confessing the sins which we of Israel have committed against you, I and my father’s house included.

This was Nehemiah’s vocation, that he call together a buffeted and distracted people to bring them home to Yahweh where they might be healed and restored. It is our vocation as well, for as Christians we too are called to help in the gathering, fishing and harvesting work of God’s kingdom. To this we are called. For this we are made. Let us pray with Nehemiah . . .

O Lord, may your ear be attentive to my prayer and that of your willing servants who revere your name. Grant success to your servant this day . . . and all days.

Our vocation is to build and rebuild, to restore, to bring unity out of chaos, to bring light into the darkness, to bring hope to the desperate. And we are never alone in this work. We are constantly accompanied by the one who is the light, the hope, the joy of the world. We ask this in Jesus’, name. Amen.

Written on September 12, 2008 and posted today as a Favorite.

For more on Nehemiah and Ezra and the re-building of Jerusalem, go to: http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/people-cultures-in-the-bible/people-in-the-bible/nehemiah%E2%80%93the-man-behind-the-wall/

September 13, 2019

distress, hope, joy, light, re-building, restoration, suffering, vocation of prayer

Tag: distress

John 14:1-14: Glory, Part III – Fear

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Psalm 32: Time of Need

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Philippians 4:10-14: Strength for Everything

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Nehemiah 1: A Vocation for Building

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