Sunday, December 27, 2015

Colossians 3:12-13 (NRSV): Spiritual Growth

Colossians 3:12-13 (NRSV): Spiritual Growth
As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.

When we allow Him, Jesus Christ rules our hearts even in the most trying moments. One challenge of discipleship comes when we are tempted make an uncharitable choice under duress. However, through humility, patience, and compassion for others, we are to think on, pray to, and act in Christ. We are freely given the grace to lovingly respond to a given challenge, but it is through our free will that we make that response; we choose to reciprocate God’s gifts of “compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,” bearing with and forgiving one another. But who ever said choices were easy?

Christmas is my favorite time of year, but in the midst of joy and thanksgiving, it, too, can pose uncomfortable interpersonal challenges. This week, I have been reminded of the joy that loving relationships bring and the disappointment brought on by others. Paul’s reminder that God gives the gifts of “compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience” shows how much I need to grow spiritually and reminds me about my dependence on Christ’s mercy and strength.  St. Paul writes that in his weakness, Christ is made strong: “I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me” (2 Corinthians 12:9). And I embrace Paul’s sentiment.

In this week of loving communion with the Incarnate God, let us revel in His grace, knowing we are imperfect but loved despite our imperfections. Let us ask God to grant us the humility to grow, “[bearing] with one another . . . [and forgiving] each other; just as the Lord has forgiven [us].”

Please keep each other and our special intentions in prayer this week, and may you all be blessed and encouraged in the love and peace of Christ.

Sunday, December 20, 2015

Mark 9:33-37 (NRSV): Service and Humility

Mark 9:33-37 (NRSV): Service and Humility
. . . For on the way they had argued with one another who was the greatest. He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, "Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.”

The disciples, again, get it wrong. As they argue who is the greatest, Jesus corrects them not only verbally but visually. Jesus is clear in his speech: “If anyone would be first, he must be last and servant of all.” As followers of Jesus we must imitate his example of humility, self-giving, and service, putting others before ourselves. This applies to everything we do in life, no matter our job or personal circumstances. We come last; others come first. To illustrate this, Jesus takes the lowest socially-ranked human of the times, a child, and embraces him or her saying, “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me.” When we serve what society deems the least or lowest level citizen, we imitate Christ. But Jesus takes our service a step further. When we serve the least person of honor, we serve Christ himself. After all, God became human in Jesus.  In coming to save a sinful world, Jesus chose to be born among the stench of animals, exposed to the cold, damp air of a stable, raised in a struggling family who had little and worked hard to survive. Jesus came to us not as a worldly king but as a crying child in need of love, totally dependent upon Joseph and Mary. As we prepare for Christmas, let us remember the humility of the Creator of the universe. Let us remember that God loves us so much that he became “the last of all and servant of all.”

Let us all pray that our families and friends be blessed this Christmas and that those children (and their families) who seek shelter and safety in the war-torn corners of the world find protection in the loving arms of Christ’s Body on earth.

Please keep each other and our special intentions in prayer this week.  

May you all be blessed and encouraged in the love and peace of Christ.  
Stan

Sunday, December 13, 2015

Matthew 6:27, 33-34 (NLT): Focusing on Today

Matthew 6:27, 33-34 (NLT): Focusing on Today

Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? . . . .
Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.

Jesus reminds us that although our anxieties and worries are part of the everyday struggle of this world, we are to put our faith in Him, to “seek the Kingdom of God above all else.” When we incessantly worry about tomorrow, we are piling unnecessary stress upon ourselves. Concern and planning are necessary for providing for our families and ourselves. “Worry,” however, is a distraction; it is a tool of temptation. When we live in the immediacy of the moment, when we lay down our heavy burdens and rest in the love of Jesus (Matthew 11:28), we are more present and aware of how God is working through us, even in our times of doubt, struggle, and failure. By seeking God in the moment, harnessing the gift of grace in the now, we catch glimpses of God working in, through, with, and around us.

Many years ago while strolling through downtown Louisville, Kentucky, the spiritual writer Thomas Merton had a mystical experience of God that changed the direction of his life.  In his famous memoir, Merton writes:

In Louisville, at the corner of Fourth and Walnut, in the center of the shopping district, I was suddenly overwhelmed with the realization that I loved all those people, that they were mine and I theirs, that we could not be alien to one another even though we were total strangers. It was like waking from a dream of separateness, of spurious self-isolation in a special world, the world of renunciation and supposed holiness… This sense of liberation from an illusory difference was such a relief and such a joy to me that I almost laughed out loud… I have the immense joy of being man, a member of a race in which God Himself became incarnate. As if the sorrows and stupidities of the human condition could overwhelm me, now I realize what we all are. And if only everybody could realize this! But it cannot be explained. There is no way of telling people that they are all walking around shining like the sun. (The Seven Storey Mountain)

Merton was able to recognize the immediacy of the moment.  He was able to push aside future anxiety and see God in the people who stood in front of him.  In that moment, he witnessed a life-changing revelation.  I pray that we, too, put aside the anxieties and worries of tomorrow so that we can witness the love and connectivity that God offers us today.

Please keep each other and our special intentions in prayer this week.  

May you all be blessed and encouraged in the love and peace of Christ.  
Stan

Monday, December 7, 2015

1 Corinthians 13:7 (ESV): Love’s Challenge

1 Corinthians 13:7 (ESV): Love’s Challenge
Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

St. Paul rightly reminds us that love is not only patient and kind, but it bears, believes, hopes, and endures all things.  In our life’s vocation, we are reminded of this daily.  As parents, spouses, family members, friends, and school employees we are called to love without condition. Very often that love is easy; we give it to someone we adore.  Sometimes, however, we find ourselves in a difficult relationship where we are called to love the disagreeable person in front of us. And that love is not always the easiest kind. If we bear, believe, hope, and endure in the love of Christ working through us, we can offer ourselves to that difficult-to-love person. In that offering of self, we become more like Jesus and bear the fruit of love to others in His name.

Please keep each other and our special intentions in prayer this week.  

May you all be blessed and encouraged in the love and peace of Christ.  

Stan