Psalm 86:16, 17
Turn to me, take pity on me; give strength to Your servant, and save the child of Your handmaid.
Give me a sign of Your grace, that You O Lord are my strength and my comfort.
Beloved, here is a continuation of my prayer and my cry to You. In Your mercy and and at a time of Your choosing, hear and answer me.
Wisdom 9:13-17
13 Indeed, who can know the intentions of God? Who can discern the plan of the Lord?
14 For human reasoning is timid, our notions misleading; 15 a perishable body is a burden for the soul and our tent of clay weighs down the active mind.
16 We are barely able to know about the things of earth and it is a struggle to understand what is close to us; who then may hope to understand heavenly things?
17 Who has ever known your will un¬less you first gave him Wisdom and sent down your holy spirit to him?
Without You Beloved, who are the wisdom and power of God and the anointing of the Father through the Holy Spirit, we can neither know God nor the things of God. It is only in You that the Face of the Most High is becomes visible.
Philemon 9-10, 12-17
9 yet I prefer to request you in love. The one talk¬ing is Paul, the old man, now prisoner for Christ. 10 And my request is on behalf of Onesimus, whose father I have become while I was in prison.
12 In returning him to you, I am sending you my own heart. 13 I would have liked to keep him at my side, to serve me on your behalf while I am in prison for the Gospel, 14 but I did not want to do anything without your agreement, nor impose a good deed upon you without your free consent.
15 Perhaps Onesimus has been parted from you for a while so that you may have him back forever, 16 no longer as a slave, but better than a slave. For he is a very dear brother to me, and he will be even dearer to you. 17 And so, because of our friendship, receive him as if he were I myself.
Beloved, just as St. Paul pleads for the the runaway slave Onesimus, so too You plead for us at the right hand of God and You restore us to sonship in You. I am confident that You will hear my own prayers for those whom I plead before You in the Blessed Sacrament everyday.
Luke 14:26-27
“If you come to me, without being ready to give up your love for your father and mother, your spouse and children, your brothers and sisters, and indeed yourself, you cannot be my disciple. 27 Whoever does not follow me carrying his own cross cannot be my disciple.
Detachment from the world and from people is a hard thing Lord. I have a nature that wants to cling. Yes, I must cling, but to You alone. I cling to Your Word, I cling to Your Sacraments and turn to them as channels of Your marvelous grace that restores me to full communion with You.
Discipleship has its price - if it didn't it would not be worth much. We can just follow You indifferently, or we can try to imitate You as closely as our sinful natures permit with the help of Your grace - the choice is ours. We are absolutely free to choose for LOVE compels no one. However, You are very, very clear about what it will cost, "None of you can be my disciple if he doesn't give up everything he has." Sounds terribly, terribly frightening doesn't it Beloved. But the wonderful secret is that once we give up, we received fare more that we ever dreamed of. This is the glorious paradox of following You.
Psalm 90:4-6, 14 &17
4 A thousand years in your sight are like a day that has passed, or like a watch in the night.
5 You sow them in their time, at dawn they peep out. 6 In the morning they blossom, but the flower fades and withers in the evening.
14 Fill us at daybreak with your goodness, that we may be glad all our days.
17 May the sweetness of the Lord be upon us; may he prosper the work of our hands.
No comments:
Post a Comment