Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light for my path. (Psalm 119)
Romans 12:9-16 Sometimes I slide through life forgetting that by divine design love is to be my main ‘operating system’. As a prisoner with a life sentence in Rome, facing the constant threat of torture or execution for his faith, Paul’s pen spewed forth not calls to overthrow the oppression of the Romans, but genuine words of encouragement and testimony to the mercy and love of God. This wordsmith of the first century laid out for the early church, and for us, a blueprint for living into the mercy of God and living out a life of genuine love: hating what is evil, holding fast to what is good, loving with mutual (not controlling!) affection; being ardent in spirit, rejoicing in hope, blessing those who persecute you, associating with the lowly, and so on. Today will I remember that it is genuine love that is the most appropriate, the most healing, way of doing everything? Holy Spirit, let my love be genuine. The Lord God is my strength and my might; he has become my salvation. (Isaiah 12:2) Nothing is far from God. St. Monica
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
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
March 2024
Categories |