Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light for my path. (Psalm 119)
Holy Spirit of Jesus, Give me understanding so that I might know you, the Life of the world…1/8/2022 1 John 5:14-21 A critical choice is continually before me. I can choose to engage this temporal world, focusing on being comfortable, entertained and safe; or I can live into the deep mystery of my heritage as a child of God watching for, and gradually understanding the deep mystery of the Life-force of Christ. On the one hand I can choose to juggle the personalities, plans and possessions of my life’s journey for my own ‘good’ purposes. But when I turn toward Christ as the reason and the pattern for my being, it changes everything. Then personalities, plans and possessions dissipate into thin air as I choose to listen to Jesus’ teachings about faith in God’s mercy, hope in his faithfulness, and love for God and for his beloved people. When Jesus’ life become my playbook, informed by prayer and holy scriptures, then I, like the Master, can become God’s servants in any and all circumstances of today’s society. Will I choose to seek to understand life as defined by the world, or as revealed by Christ Jesus? Holy Spirit of Jesus, give me understanding so that I might know you, the Life of the world. And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know him who is true… (1John 4:20) The discipline of the Christian disciple is not to master anything, but rather to be mastered by the Spirit.. to create the space in which the Spirit of Christ can transform us into his lineage.. Henry Nouwen. The Selfless Way of Christ. Orbis Books, Maryknoll, New York, 2009. pg.70. Soli ad gloriam Gospel Mystery of the Day on FaceBook & www.gospelmysteryoftheday.ca
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1 John 4:11-18 God knows that we need the Holy Spirit of Jesus to be present in our lives, especially in these present times! The Grace of God, in this ‘Age of Christ Jesus’ is that each of us can be carriers of God’s love and so breathe the Holy Spirit of God into every conversation, every space of our journey, as much as we live into the love of God ourselves. As much as I breathe in God’s love for me and allow myself to be inwardly in-formed by the mercy of God, the Spirit of God lives in me. And as much as I interact with others with God’s love, with compassion and forgiveness, without judgment or bitterness, that much I am able to love as God loves, and then his love inwardly affects, heals and transforms others. Will I allow God’s love to so inform and transform my own being that I am able to love other with His love? By your love, Lord Jesus, live in me. God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. (1John 4:15) It is with the smallest brushes that the artist paints the best paintings. St. André Bessette Soli ad gloriam Gospel Mystery of the Day on FaceBook & www.gospelmysteryoftheday.ca 1 John 3:22-4:6 In this day and age, it is even more necessary to be able to find the Truth amidst the deluge of mainstream and social media we are all exposed to day and night, 24/7, 365 days a year. How to find what is true is one challenge we face; what ‘truths’ to accept and act upon is another; and discerning what untruths to actively counteract is yet another great dilemma. It seems we can never be sure what is fake news, fake science, and most of all fake ‘justice’. St John’s first letter to the young Church seems to address our present situation directly: Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see if they are from God; for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God; every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God… the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world… In the end, whether I know everything I need to know to live according to this world’s standards is not important. What I need to know, above and beyond everything else, is the Truth of God’s ways of love, and to respond out of love in and through God’s Truth. How much more life-giving it is to study the Truth of God’s Mercy –Christ Jesus expressed in scripture and through my life’s journey –than it is to be tossed and turned by every fact and figure being juggled by the media. Will I shape my life according to the snarl of half truths broadcast by the media, or will I live a life aligned with the Holy Spirit of Christ Jesus? Holy Spirit, help me discern the Spirit of Truth from the spirit of error. Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you! For darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you and his glory will appear over you. (Isaiah 60:1) Prayer is the oxygen of the soul. St. Pius of Pietrelcina Soli ad gloriam Gospel Mystery of the Day on FaceBook & www.gospelmysteryoftheday.ca Luke 2:1-20 As we apprehensively walk forward into a new part of our Journey, entitled 2022, let us ponder …: Jesus is the reason for the season… Far beyond the age of Modernism, Post Modernism or Neo Liberalism, our world is now in the age of Grace and Truth, brought to earth by Christ Jesus. Born into the world just 2,000 years ago, at the eleventh hour of the 3.3 million years of human cultures that have come and gone in this world, Jesus brought into existence a new understanding of human identity that is still playing out in ‘history’. It is still, in 2022 the season of Grace and Truth; Jesus is still the reason for this season of reprieve from the complete annihilation of humankind on earth. Let us join Mary in her ‘Fiat’ , her ‘Yes’, and her song, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour’. (Luke 1:38, 46-47) Prepare, don’t despair … It seems that nothing these days is predictable, let alone planned! The shifting world economies, ecosystems, and elements of life make going forward dizzying if not depressing. Mary too experienced obtuse uncertainty. In her late teens she was called by God to navigate an unplanned pregnancy, an unplanned trip to Bethlehem in her last week of pregnancy, and an unplanned trip – to Egypt, of all places for a Hebrew family to return to- when her baby was still a nursing infant. What did she do? She walked forward, attuned to the purpose of God and prepared through years of prayer and righteous living, taking the best next step forward. “Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night and went to Egypt and stayed there until the death of Herod. (Matthew 2: 14) Trace the Grace … In her Magnificat of praise when Elisabeth affirmed that she was indeed carrying the Son of God in her womb, Mary recounted some of God’s deeds of Grace. This attitude of gratitude allowed Mother Mary to be one of three women and one disciple still standing at the crucifixion of her son Jesus, ‘God saves’, and living beyond that overwhelming event into the resurrection of the Messiah. Whenever we encounter traumatizing events, let us remember to trace the grace that God has woven into our lives so abundantly, in these days of uncertainty in the world, our communities, and ourselves. “His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation…” (Luke 1:50) Holy Spirit of Jesus, help me, like Mother Mary, ponder all your works and words with my heart, mind and soul, and treasure them. Have a Happy, Healthy and Holy New Year, 2022! Sing to the Lord a new song; Sing to the Lord, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day. (Psalm 96:1) To a world scarred by wounds, exclusions, judgments and violence, God offers his Son, Haven of peace, source of healing and path of reconciliation. To a world that ignores its own history while struggling to imagine a future, God offers his Son, The eternal Word that entered time to reveal the eternal breadth of all our moments. To this efficient and connected world which sill yearns for true encounter and faithful relationship, God offers his Son, The intimate friend who wants only our good. May the children of this world have a beautiful child’s Christmas full of evergreens and snow, gifts and candy. But my deepest wish is that the adults of this world experience an adult Christmas: a time to recognize the depth of things, the fragile beauty of existence and the possibilities that the starry night of Bethlehem opens to us all. Msgr Paul-André Durocher, Gatineau, Dec 2021. Used by permission. Soli ad gloriam Gospel Mystery of the Day on FaceBook & www.gospelmysteryoftheday.ca |
AuthorBeverly Illauq lives in Kemptville, Ontario, where she greets each morning by seeking the Gospel Mystery of the Day - the Word of the Lord for direct and practical application to the specific challenges & joys of the day. Archives
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