Tag: Galatians 5:22-23

• James 5:7-11: Patience – Part I

  
  

  James 5:7-11: Patience – Part I

  Thursday, October 27, 2022

  We grind our teeth, we set our jaw, we bull our way through, we suffer in silence.  These are often the techniques we use when we attempt to live patiently; yet these are not what James means when he asks that we exercise patience.  He refers to God’s servant Job and we may have spent time reading this story and still not have found the humility and gentleness necessary for true patience.

  To bear wrongs patiently is an act of spiritual mercy. (CCC 2447).

  Love is patient. (1 Corinthians 13:4)

  Humility, patience, and gentleness accompany one another when brothers and sisters live in Christ.(Ephesians 4:2)

  Patience is one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit.  (Galatians 5:22-23)

  Jesus teaches us about patience in his Sermon on the Mount when he says that the Father will give to him or her who prays in the following way whatever he or she needs: Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.  (Matthew 7:7-8)

  Tomorrow, patience as lived by Jesus. 

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  CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. 2nd ed. Vatican: Libreria Editice Vaticana.  Print.

  A Favorite from January 9, 2010.

  Images from: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/252272016597913747/ and https://unsplash.com/s/photos/book-heart

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  October 27, 2022

  1 Corinthians 13:4, Ephesians 4:2, Galatians 5:22-23, Matthew 7:7-8

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• Psalm 85: Divine Activity

  
  

  Wednesday, February 5, 2020

  Psalm 85: Divine Activity

  Love and truth will meet; justice and peace will kiss.

  

  As many times as I have read the Psalms, I do not know how I have missed this beautiful verse.  Notes tell us that in this hymn the psalmist describes divine activity in pairs of virtues.  In this Prayer for Divine Favor we experience the national longing of a people to be reunited with their God.  Much like a spurned lover longing for his love, these words evoke an aching for the ideal, a place where truth, love, peace and justice might meet.  This place is that very special dwelling which we all seek.  This place exists in the now and in the here.  We have only to create it for ourselves and for all.

  How do we do this?  The psalmist tells us:

  I will listen for God’s response.

  The Lord will set us on the way God treads. 

  This cannot be more simple . . . nor can it be more difficult.  The roadmap is clear; we must follow.  The problem is that usually our willfulness, our recalcitrance, our stiff necks and hard hearts must be open to the new writing which our God wishes to inscribe on our hearts.  We hear the words of the New Covenant but we are reluctant to take them in out of fear, lack of fidelity or courage, envy, pride, desire to manipulate and control our environment . . . any number of stumbling blocks to true union with God.

  What leads us to this place?  What are the stepping stones?  Where do we find the wisdom and the stamina to reach this interior dwelling that brings us to God’s Holy City?

  We allow the gifts of the Holy Spirit to open us, to enliven us, to empower us so that we might cast off the bonds that restrain us.  These are the bonds Jesus came to break.  This is the release which the Christ came to obtain, the prophecy he came to fulfill.

  From Galatians 5:22:  In contrast [to immorality, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, rivalry, jealousy, outbursts of fury, acts of selfishness, dissensions, factions, occasion of envy, drinking bouts, orgies, and the like – verses 20 and 21], the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.  Against such there is no law. 

  What does God do all day while we work and play, at night while we rest?  What do the Holy Ones practice?  How does one live in God’s City?  What is Divine Activity?

  Psalm 85 tells us.  It is the place where peace and justice kiss.  It is the perfect meeting place for acts of love and acts of witness to that love.  It cannot be more simple.  It cannot be more challenging.  It cannot be more rewarding.  It cannot be more fulfilling.

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  Written on August 23, 2008 and posted today as a Favorite.

  39.533225 -76.430369

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  February 5, 2020

  Galatians 5:22-23, peace and justice, road map

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• Acts 19:1-5: The Holy Spirit

  
  

  Acts 19:1-5: The Holy Spirit

  Holy Monday, April 15, 2019

  We tend to focus on God the Father and God the Son more often than God the Holy Spirit; yet it is this Spirit which takes up residence within when we prepare ourselves for the reception of God’s love.  I like to think of this Spirit as feminine . . . as nurturing, saving, sustaining, abiding.  I like to think of nestling into the soft feathers of this mother bird who welcomes her brood home.

  As a child, one of my chores was to feed and care for our family’s chickens and I used to love to see the peeps run under the out-spread fullness of the mother hen when they were frightened or cold.  This is how I picture the Spirit: a warm and safe haven for those of us who find the world a bit too frightening.  The mothering bird allows her chicks to face the world . . . she gives them a safe harbor from which they can turn and face the world . . . and return to it for one more day.

  We are taught that the Holy Spirit brings us seven gifts.  They are wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety and fear of the Lord.  We are to take on these gifts as our armor when we dare to move out of the protecting wings of the Holy Spirit and into the world.

  It is our willingness to face fear that ennobles us.

  It is out readiness to examine our motives and actions that enriches us.

  It is our humility before all that God is and does for us that glorifies us.

  It is our love for all – including our enemies – that defines us.

  It is our trust in God that strengthens us.

  It is our hope in goodness that emboldens us.

  It is our Spirit which desires union.  It is our Holy Spirit that calls us into bloom, to then bear fruit in order that we might carry into the world God’s love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Galatians 5:22-23)

  These are God’s gifts to the world . . . and through us, they come to fruition.  Let us bring them boldly, hold them tenderly, carry them wisely, and return them humbly to our God.

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  A re-post from March 1, 2012.

  Image from: http://netsbridalnotes.blogspot.com/2010_04_01_archive.html

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  April 15, 2019

  fruits of the Holy Spirit, Galatians 5:22-23, gifts of the Holy Spirit

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