Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light for my path. (Psalm 119)
Mark 6:30-34 As the mother of four, grandmother of 11, a single householder and the center coordinator of an active arts and culture charity, I realize that my primary assignment, as it was for the disciples of Jesus, is to proclaim the love and mercy of God – by my actions, using words only when necessary (c.f. St. Francis of Assisi). Just as Jesus’ disciples, excited and fatigued as they were from their mission gathered around him to tell their Teacher all that they had done and taught, so I too need to turn to Christ Jesus, evening by evening, to celebrate the goods of my day’s activities and turn my weariness over to him. So often Jesus invites me to “come away to a deserted place with Him to rest a while” in heart, mind, body and soul. And more often than not, just as the disciples experienced on the Lake of Galilee, such a retreat will be interrupted by people in need of the Good News of the Mercy of God. But the gift of such a retreat is always the revelation of a new miracle of God’s provision. For the disciples in this passage of scripture, the disruption of their quiet time led to the miracle of the feeding of the 5000. For me, I witness smaller, but no less significant, miracles – the joy of a confidential chat with one of my grandchildren; a family meal that is free from ire and rancor and full of good food and family discussion; the timely provision of all that I need both physically and spiritually, brokered by forgiveness and compassion; and the provision of strength and courage and joy to continue my life’s mission day by day. Will I insist on designing my own peace and tranquility, and ‘doing my own thing’, or will I turn to Christ Jesus when I am exhausted from life’s challenges and continue to proclaim God’s mercy with my life? Holy Spirit of Jesus, when I am weary, help me turn to you and do your will. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want .. he restores my soul. (Psalm 23:1-2) You will know that Christ is all you need, when Christ is all you have. Corrie Ten Boom Soli ad gloriam Dei Gospel Mystery of the Day on FaceBook & www.gospelmysteryoftheday.ca
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Holy Spirit of God, help me sow righteousness, reap steadfast love, and break up fallow ground…7/20/2024 Hosea 10:1-12 Being a ‘friend of God’ through all of life’s challenges is not a passive pursuit; it takes deliberate and committed choices and actions that are true to our Father’s will. Just as the Israelites of Hosea’s day had fallen away from exercising their Jewish faith, had pursued foreign gods, and had fallen in love with their own plans, powers, and projects of the world, so it is for us today. As a result of godless and faithless living, news flashes seem to become increasingly bizarre, systems and institutions are being derailed by increasingly complex digitization, and even nature seems to be confronting human hubris. God’s remedy for these times? Like the Israelites in Hosea’s time, and Like Jesus in Roman times, as faithful children of God, we are called to sow righteousness, reap steadfast love, and break up fallow ground. To actively sow righteousness, I need to think through the ethical and moral intent and implications of my words and actions, always considering God’s laws of Truth in Love and Love in Truth (cf John Paul II). Deliberately reaping steadfast love implies that I consciously look for ways to extend God’s mercy to others through all conversations, propositions, circumstances. And ‘breaking up fallow ground’ requires that I have the courage to ‘stir up’ social norms and behavior patterns that are darkening or freezing human hearts, with despondency and despair through my own sacrifices of joy and thanksgiving to the glory of God. Do I understand enough about my heritage as a child of God to actively practice the righteousness and steadfast love of God, and deliberately break up the wastelands of hard heartedness? Holy Spirit of God, help me sow righteousness, reap steadfast love, and break up fallow ground. Those who are wise understand these things; those who are discerning know the,. but transgressors stumble in them. (Hosea 14:9) Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies. St. Mother Teresa of Kalcutta Soli ad gloriam Dei Gospel Mystery of the Day on FaceBook & www.gospelmysteryoftheday.ca 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 Weakness, insults, hardships, persecutions and calamities (traumas) – that about sums up all the things that lure me into self-pity and even despair. Later in this letter to the Corinthians (II Corinthians 11:23-27) Saint Paul listed off all the calamities he had endured – a list that is more than 100 words long in English. This man knew firsthand how challenging the world, the flesh and evil could be; but how much more is St. Paul remembered for his faith than for his traumas, for his churches than for his persecutors, and for his power-full, Grace-filled writings than for his weaknesses! This was because the hardships he endured became for him an opportunity to exercise and develop his faith, hope and love in God. Paul treasured his glory stories of God’s power and regarded the challenges of his life simply as a means to that end. Indeed, his life became so infused with the power and the glory of God that he could proclaim, with or without words, the redeeming Grace of Christ to all. Will I become consumed with meeting life’s challenges with vengeance, worldly securities, and powers of my own design, or will I assume the holy presence of Christ Jesus dwelling in me by Baptism, through the necessity of faithfulness to, and trust in, God’s mercy? Holy Spirit, help me recognize your Grace in and through life’s challenges. We know that all things work together for good to those that love God, who are called according to his purposes… No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loves us. (Romans 8:28 & 38) "You can never learn that Christ is all you need, until Christ is all you have." Corrie Ten Boom Soli ad gloriam Dei Gospel Mystery of the Day on FaceBook & www.gospelmysteryoftheday.ca Mark 4:35-41 Fear (aka worry, anxiety, panic etcetera) makes us do strange things .Often it is fear in one of its many manifestations that interrupts and even ruins the most important relationships in our lives. It was due to fear during a wind storm that the disciples shifted from being a group happy followers of Jesus to a posse of persons yelling over the winds at their Teacher, ”Don’t you care that we are perishing?” –this to the Son of Man who within months would submit to torture and crucifixion for their salvation. Driven by fear, we too can easily lose our cool and think, say and do things that are foolish at best and violent at worst. On the other hand, faith leads men and women to think, say and do things that are wise and courageous. It was through faith that Mother Mary and St. John the Divine remained standing at the foot of the cross when Jesus gave up his life for his friends, that is for the world. It was through faith, the writer of Hebrews reminds us, that God’s plan of redemption for human kind unfolded, and still unfolds, by the choices and actions of faith-full people throughout history. And it was through this same faith that Jesus rebuked the winds and waves on the Sea of Galilee, and then turned to rebuke the fear that had prompted his disciples in the boat to lash out at him rather than faith-fully ask Jesus for what they needed. As a result, the winds and the waves calmed, and fear-full fishermen became faithful Apostles of the Good News of God’s plan for humankind. When I face challenges or storms in life, will I choose to give in to fear, or faith-fully turn to God to ask for what I need? Holy Spirit of Jesus, help me be rooted in faith, not fear. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he brought them out from their distress; he made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed. Then they were glad when it grew calm, and he brought them to their desired haven. (Psalm 107:19 -21) “May Christ dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the holy ones what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” Saint Paul writing to the Ephesians 3:17-19 Soli ad gloriam Dei Gospel Mystery of the Day on FaceBook & www.gospelmysteryoftheday.ca Matthew 5:38-42 In the course of life we are constantly given choice to engage in either the good or the evil that seem to be ever-present around us. When I choose the ‘good’ I resist the evil –whether it presents itself by intent or innuendo, by any one of the seven deadly sins or by innocent deceits, by delicious temptations or by smoldering resentments. The trap is that when a person is the bearer of evil, we tend to ‘shoot the messenger’ and resist the person – and fall headlong into the deadly set of interpersonal sins: judgment, name-calling, revenge, violence, or even ‘murder’, to name but a few. Instead of resisting evil, we are enticed to resist the evil doer, and walk right into the violence and darkness of Satan, becoming just another propagator of evil in this world. Jesus calls us – calls me –to resist evil, but to not resist the evildoer. Instead, of working against the evil-doers ourselves, we are given the choice to do good to them, with the Light, and Life, and Love of the Holy Spirit and so resist the evil that is trying to deflect our intentions away from the goodness of God by wounding or eliminating others. Will I turn away from Jesus to resist the evil doers in my life, or will I keep my focus on Christ Jesus who loved evil-doers so much that he resisted evil with is body spread-eagled and nailed to a cross? Will I engage in evil-resistant Love and resurrection to resist evil, as Jesus calls me to do? Holy Spirit of God, help me resist evil, not evil doers. Blessed are the merciful; they shall receive mercy. (Matthew 5:7) May Christ dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the holy ones what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Saint Paul writing to the Ephesians 3:17-19 Soli ad gloriam Dei 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
March 2024
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