Living in God

During my time of reflection this morning, I was given the image of ourselves living in God as a fish lives in water!  That was followed by imaging me creating a box. On the left, right, back, front and on inside would be written:

          God walks on my left, protecting me and giving me courage!

          God walks on my right, taking my right hand to strengthen me!

          God walks behind me to catch me when I fall!

          God walks in front of me to show me the way and dissipate any fear of what lies ahead!

          God lives within me, directing me and giving me wisdom to follow His Way!

Yes, just as a fish lives in water, so, too, do we live in God!

Today's first reading, 1 Thes 4: 9-11, assures us of God's choices for us, namely, that we "progress" in the knowledge of God and aspire to "live a tranquil life, to mind our own affairs, and to work with your own hands," and, yes, that we "love one another," as God has taught us to do, dissipating any fear of what lies ahead, knowing that God gives us the Wisdom, one day at a time, to follow God's instructions.  He also gives us each day the strength and courage to abide by God's teachings put forth for us in the Scriptures!

These are my beliefs!  What are yours? And what does God teach you as you reflect upon the Scriptures each day? 

Let Your Light Shine

Today’s Scripture readings, Proverbs 3: 27-34, Psalm 15, and Luke 8: 16-18, all speaks of the awesome beauty of the one who becomes what God intends of us: men and women of character, men and women who radiate the wisdom and the goodness of one’s Creator. In the Gospel, Jesus says, in effect, let you light shine so as to give glory to My Father and yours.  Proverbs spells out some behavioral details of what allows the Light of God to shine forth in us: doing good for another, the good to which another has a right, when it is within our power to do so and not throw the opportunity aside with “I’ll do it tomorrow.” And tomorrow never comes.  Proverbs also speaks to us of not quarreling with another person for no reason, not envying the wicked, not plotting evil against another person but living a humble, obedient life.  

Am I willing to allow the Lord to be my Master and my Teacher? Am I truly willing to be mastered, to be taught by the One who was obedient to His Father unto death? What, in me, blocks the mercy of God from flowing through me? What blocks God’s friendship from taking possession of me, God’s kindness from filling all of my days? What, in the words of the psalm, keeps me from living on God’s holy mountain, where I walk “blamelessly,” do “justice,” and think “the truth” in my heart; in short, putting the lamp on a lampstand so others, too, find their way to the Lord? Have I become my own Lord and Master, defying the Lord’s Ways?

God's Tender Love and Deep Compassion

Today’s readings abound with statements of God’s love, a love that is eternal and is practical. God’s love brought us into existence, put us together in our mother’s womb, taught us to walk and talk, to think and understand, to feel and respond with compassion.  “I fostered [you] like one who raised an infant to his cheeks; …though I stooped to feed [you, you] did not know that I was [your] healer’( Hosea 11: 1, 3-4, 8c-9).  God goes on to say “My heart is overwhelmed, my pity stirred…I will not give vent to my blazing anger” when I see you walk away from Me, the Source of your life. I will not blaze out in anger toward you when I see you worshipping false gods, looking for fullness of life in empty cisterns; mocking Me, beating me, abusing Me, cursing Me,” as you do whenever you do these things to your family members, loved ones, strangers, your neighbour, persons different from you because of race, gender, or culture (cf. Mt. 25: 40). God seems to be reminding us that He is as hidden in the other person as He is in the Sacred Host.   My faith tells me that every human being, all of creation, is a sacrament, a sign of God’s  love for me, of  God’s Presence, of God’s life-giving Spirit, for in God,  “we live and move and have out being” (Acts 17:28). What does your faith tell you?

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the feast of God’s love. The second person of the Blessed Trinity, God the Son, in total obedience to the Father assumed human nature to show us the way back to the Father, that is, the way of obedience to our God.  In total self-giving, Jesus becomes the unblemished Lamb sacrificed to redeem all of humankind and so we pray at every Mass, the Lamb’s Supper, when the heavens open up and the Son of God comes down upon our altars:  “Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.”  Such love! What sacrifices am I willing to make in return for this love?