“Be willing to do without material things rather than lose the spiritual.”
~ St. Catherine of Siena
|
Bringing your missionary vision into focus ~ we explore and share the missionary life and present issues for our awareness or to be reminded that our world needs prayer and action! Holy GroundMonday, March 15th, 2010
“Do not come any closer. . . . Take off your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground” (Ex. 3:5). This is a common quote that comes to the missionary as he or she leave home and enters another culture, encounters another people… There is a moment of holy silence in becoming aware of our new surroundings, but all of us, like Moses are called by name ~ let us “take off our sandals” in a symbolic way, and enter God’s life by establishing right relationships with God and one another. We will discover just how much our lives are fragile gifts. Let us embrace our profound dependence on our loving and merciful God, rejecting sin and rebellious pride ~ and celebrate instead God’s saving acts of justice and selfless love! Renewed CommitmentFriday, March 12th, 2010
Having options is nice but we cannot remain on the level of options and go deeper at the same time. If we want to channel our time and energy, to give shape and purpose to our lives, sooner or later we need to make concrete choices about the specific direction that we want our life to take. Good commitments are really about freedom ~ true freedom. True freedom is not about having a zillion options or doing what I feel like doing all the time. Ultimately, freedom is about becoming the kind of person I really want to be. There is much to experience and learn about from life, in making choices and committing ourselves to certain options, we deepen and grow both humanly and spiritually. The most important commitment as Christians is our baptismal commitment, where we pledge to follow Jesus and the Gospel. All other commitments flow from this one. Throughout scripture, God promises to love us, be with us, watch over us and help us. This time of Lent reminds us, that even if we should fail to keep our commitments, we can always count on God’s promise of love and forgiveness, of renewal and starting again. Thought for Food ~ change of mindThursday, March 11th, 2010
“In Greek, the root meaning of repentance is not the confession of sin but a change of mind.” ~ Tertillian A New RelationshipWednesday, March 10th, 2010
Throughout human history, God’s presence initiates new relationships. In the depths of despair and silence of God’s people in exile, God spoke a new word ~ an invitation ~ a word that empowered them to shake off their oppression and be free! There is need to share this word that restores communities to life. With those coming out of exile, reorganization required a radical rethinking of both who God was and who they were as God’s people. In second Isaiah (chapters 40-66) we are given inspiration to dream and see things in a new way, a poetic power to speak a word of comfort and evoke in the imagination of his audience, the astounding message of ”coming home”, of an end to living exiled. Isaiah recognized that God is doing something new! It is no surprise that this poetic vision of God’s new creation is the most frequently sited part of the Old Testament for Christians. It also urges those who listen to participate in this new future with God. Spend some time with Isaiah and let his words inspire us to action! |
Lent is a time to renew our commitment to God ~ we sometimes have a hard time getting started or keeping a commitment but it’s never too late to start again, to give new attention and energy to choices we have made.
