Tag: protection

• Matthew 7:13-28: A Prayer in Duality

  
  

  Matthew 7:13-28: A Prayer in Duality

  

  Fourth Sunday of Easter, May 11, 2025

  Given that Jesus asks us to be in the world with him, acting as his witnesses and ministers, but not of this world, we reflect on the evidence of duality that surrounds us. In the last two days, we examined elements of duality we find in the Hispanic culture, and we have opened ourselves to an invitation to share our own examples of duality. As we consider apparent contradictions that color and shape our lives, we meditate on the words of Jesus, Paul and John.

  We see that great love can rise out of great hatred.

  I have given [those you gave me] your word, and the world hated them, because they do not belong to the world — just as I myself do not belong to the world. I don’t ask you to take them out of the world, but to protect them from the Evil One. (John 17:14-15)

  We see that perfection can rise out of imperfection.

  Do not conform yourselves to the standards of this world, but let God transform you inwardly by a complete change of your mind. Then you will be able to know the will of God—what is good and is pleasing to him and is perfect. (Romans 12:2)

  We see that divinity can rise out of humanity.

  Do not love the world or anything that belongs to the world. If you love the world, you do not love the Father. Everything that belongs to the world—what the sinful self desires, what people see and want, and everything in this world that people are so proud of—none of this comes from the Father; it all comes from the world. The world and everything in it that people desire is passing away; but those who do the will of God live forever. (1 John 2:15-17)

  And so we pray.

  

  Divine yet human Jesus, you guide us like an older brother, asking us to be like little children in the hands of the Creator.

  Powerful yet gentle God, you protect us like a devoted, merciful father, guarding your little ones against the cataclysms that haunt a beautiful world.

  Challenging yet heartening Spirit, you remain with your little ones like a loving mother, healing our wounds, nurturing and sustaining our hope.

  Good and gracious God, lead us, protect us, and transform us as we navigate the turbulent waters of a world that presents us with so much destruction together with so much promise.

  Just and merciful God, reconcile us, open us, and teach us how to straddle two worlds, how to be divine and human, just and merciful, honest and loving.

  Giving and receiving God, embolden us, test us, and become one with us as we live in duality, as we remain in your world to build your kingdom with you.

  Amen.

  Fear and trust, doubt and faith, when oceans rise, my soul will rest in Your embrace, for I am Yours and You are mine. We reflect on the duality of our existence as we listen to the song OCEANS (Where Feet May Fail) by Hillsong United at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AuUj7LGQkY&list=PL3deMd8-p5lfosGQXPJvf5soGyrjv_BF0

  Tomorrow, the gift of duality.

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  What does it mean to be in the world but not of it? Visit this site: https://412teens.org/qna/what-does-in-the-world-not-of-the-world-mean.php

  Images from: http://imaginemdei.blogspot.com/2014/08/walking-on-water.html and https://www.pinterest.com/pin/67342956905003354/

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  May 11, 2025

  1 John 2:15-17, fear and trust, guidance, John 17:14-15, Oceans by Hillsong United, protection, Romans 12:2

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• Ezekiel 34: A Prayer to the Shepherd – A Reprise

  
  

  Ezekiel 34: A Prayer to the Shepherd – A Reprise

  Tuesday, January 14, 2025

  

  God is the first and the last of the Good Shepherds, and we are made in this image. Called by the shepherd, we know what we must do.  We who may be tempted to push with side and shoulder, and butt all the weak sheep with . . . horns until they [are] . . . driven out, must instead follow the voice of the Master Shepherd who guides, heals, unites, brings home, restores, and rejoices with the arrival of each straying sheep.  We are called to follow God’s example as we grow in our skills of shepherding. When we help Christ in the guidance of others, we become a guiding light to others. When we rely on the comfort of the Spirit, we find our way along narrow and dangerous pathways, through ponderous obstacles, and into the one true fold.

  And so we pray.

  Oh Master Shepherd,

  Gather us up,

  Gather us in. 

  We wander in barren and hostile lands. 

  We hear your voice,

  We see your face,

  We know your touch.

  Gather us up.

  Gather us in.

  We wander in search of something we have lost.

  We hear your voice,

  We see your face,

  We know your love.

   Gather us up,

  Gather us in.

  We wander seeking your broad shoulders, your strong arms.

   We know your voice,

  We know your face,

  We know your embrace.

   Gather us up,

  Gather us in.

  Amen.

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  To read more about the shepherds of the Tusheti Mountains in the Caucasus Range, click the image or visit: https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2017/10/the-shepherds-of-the-tusheti-mountains/544514/

   

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  January 14, 2025

  Good Shepherd, guidance, protection

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• Ezekiel 34: Shepherds and Wisdom – A Reprise

  
  

  Ezekiel 34: Shepherds and Wisdom – A Reprise

  Saturday, January 11, 2025

  

  Adapted from a reflection written on January 20, 2008, and explored last September. Today we explore again how scripture’s wisdom might help us discern the difference between true and false shepherds. 

  Yesterday we explored the concept of the shepherd in Old Testament scriptures. Today we look at the books of wisdom to see what wisdom they hold for us as we look for a way to discern the difference between true and false shepherds.

  In the Book of Psalms, the Holy Spirit brings us beautiful words of the comforting, guiding, protecting shepherd.

  Psalm 23 describes the divine shepherd.

  Psalm 28 asks Yahweh to be our refuge and protection.

  Psalm 78 describes the relationship we want to have with the good shepherd.

  Psalm 80 asks the shepherd for restoration.

  In the sapiential book of Ecclesiastes, Chapter 12, we hear that the words of wisdom are like the shepherd’s staff.

  Tomorrow, prophets who shepherd us . . .

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  When we compare translations of these verses, we discover the qualities of the good shepherd. In hope we cleave to the shepherd who guides, who calms our fears, who gathers us in.

  For more beautiful images of shepherds and their flocks, click on the image or visit the “Tending the Flock” post on the “Herding on the Web” blog. 

   

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  January 11, 2025

  Ecclesiastes 12, guidance, Holy Spirit, protection, Psalms 23-28-78-80, restoration, shepherd images, wisdom

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• Jeremiah 52: The Inverted Kingdom – Part XIV

  
  

  Jeremiah 52: The Inverted Kingdom – Part XIV

  Tuesday, January 30, 2024

  

  Capture

  Thus was Judah exiled from her land . . .

  On January 15, 588 B.C.E. (Senior 1016) Jerusalem falls and the people of Judah are captured. History tells us that this people later returns to Jerusalem to restore the Temple and the city – and history also tells us all will be lost again. The human way is cyclical with valleys and peaks. It is an inconsistent wandering of the soul in search of what it already has. The Way that Isaiah announces, The Way we might live each day, is the constant journey of singing and rejoicing in the presence of God, a presence that is already with us.

  When the enemy threatens, a highway will be there.

  When capture is imminent, a holy way will be there.

  When all seems lost, no lion will be there.

  When darkness falls, no beast of prey will be there.

  When it appears that there is no hope, there is a journey to make, and on it the redeemed will walk.

  When we know that we have strayed from The Way, all we need do is be open to change, and we will find that . . .

  A highway will be there, called the holy way . . . No lion will be there . . . nor beast of prey . . . It is for those with a journey to make, and on it the redeemed will walk . . . and they will be singing, crowned with everlasting joy . . . they will meet with joy and gladness . . . sorrow and mourning will flee. (Isaiah 35:2-10)

  Let us join hearts and hands and souls to journey together along The Way.

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  Image from: http://jesselatour.blogspot.com/p/the-bible-book-report.html

  Senior, Donald, ed. THE CATHOLIC STUDY BIBLE. New York, Oxford University Press, 1990.1016. Print.   

  Adapted from a reflection written on June 4, 2011.

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  January 30, 2024

  Isaiah 35:2-10-inversion-safety, protection, The Way

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• Jeremiah 52: The Inverted Kingdom – Part XIII

  
  

  Jeremiah 52: The Inverted Kingdom – Part XIII

  Monday, January 29, 2024

  

  Capture

  Thus was Judah exiled from her land . . .

  In this last Chapter of Jeremiah’s prophecy, we see the capture of mind, soul and body that results from enduring neglect and refusal to do what God asks of us. And we understand that we cannot sustain life when we practice this kind of internal death. We may want to renew ourselves with solutions we think palatable and we may believe that we know the best way to bring goodness out of evil, but we are children playing at being grown up when we prefer our ways to God’s.

  Yesterday’s MAGNIFICAT Morning Prayer included a canticle from Isaiah (35:2-4, 8-10):  [The faithful] will see the glory of the Lord, the splendor of our God. Strengthen the hands that are feeble, make firm the knees that are weak, say to those whose hearts are frightened: Be strong, fear not! Here is your God, he comes with vindication; with divine recompense he comes to save you. A highway will be there, called the holy way; no one unclean may pass over it. No lion will be there, nor beast of prey go up to be met on it. It is for those with a journey to make, and on it the redeemed will walk. Those whom the Lord has ransomed will return and enter Zion singing, crowned with everlasting joy; they will meet with joy and gladness, sorrow and mourning will flee.

  We have a simple lesson here about how to live in a world that constantly runs counter to what the Lord asks of us. The people of Judah are vanquished, their leaders captured, their possessions taken. They become disenfranchised from all that identifies them. They are slaves to another culture. This capture is seen as something bleak and stark, a life without promise; but Isaiah reminds them that – as with all things involving the Living God – what appears to be loss is gain, and what seems to be gain is loss. It is precisely when all that we have and know is taken from us that we are given the opportunity to turn to the font of life. When we are and have little or nothing, there is only God.

  Isaiah tells us that in this new life into which we have stepped  there is not darkness but rather light. God will announce God’s self with reversals; and a Way will open up before us that we will only see once we have replaced our pride with humility and our desire to be independent from the Lord with a desire to be one with God. Nothing can threaten us when we walk along this Way for it is holy, and once we throw off the values that the darkness of the world has to offer, we will be holy, too. Our step will be quick, our burden light for we will be carried by God. We will also understand that we have a journey to make, a journey of redemption itself.

  We, the ransomed, travel not toward the very one who has ransomed us but with the Lord. During Advent and the Christmastide we heard Isaiah’s prophecy read out in which the prophet announces The One who is The Way. We have revisited the results of capture and the road beyond that imprisonment. Today we Christ followers know our savior’s name as Jesus. The ancient Judeans could only dream about Christ’s coming. How fortunate are we to travel this highway with him.

  Tomorrow, beyond the highway of capture.

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  Adapted from a reflection written on June 4, 2011.

  Image from: https://library.biblicalarchaeology.org/article/destruction-of-judean-fortress-portrayed-in-dramatic-eighth-century-b-c-pictures/

  Cameron, Peter John. “Prayer for the Morning.” MAGNIFICAT. 4.6 (2011). Print.

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  January 29, 2024

  inversion, Isaiah 32:2-10, protection, safety, The Way

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