Your worthiness gives you no help, and your unworthiness does not harm you. As one drop of water is as compared to the great ocean, so are my sins as compared with God’s incomprehensible grace in Christ.
- Johann Arndt (God's goodness and mercy -- always available.) |
Christianity and Spirituality monthly forum
August 3, 2023: 7:30 - 8:30 CDT
"Interplay Between God and Creation"
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Gn 44:18-21, 23b-29; 45:1-5; Ps 105:16-17, 18-19, 20-21 Mt 10:7-15 Jesus said to his Apostles:
"As you go, make this proclamation:
'The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.'
Cure the sick, raise the dead,
cleanse the lepers, drive out demons.
Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.
Do not take gold or silver or copper for your belts;
no sack for the journey, or a second tunic,
or sandals, or walking stick.
The laborer deserves his keep.
Whatever town or village you enter, look for a worthy person in it,
and stay there until you leave.
As you enter a house, wish it peace.
If the house is worthy,
let your peace come upon it;
if not, let your peace return to you.
Whoever will not receive you or listen to your words—
go outside that house or town and shake the dust from your
feet.
Amen, I say to you, it will be more tolerable
for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment
than for that town."
Reflection on the Scriptures
The Gospel simply prompts us to take nothing along on our journey; God's grace and
love are sufficient for us. The Gospel doesn't just tell us to leave our baggage and attachments behind but also prompts us to resist picking up any along the way. Even the dust from our feet should be shaken off as if we were never in that place of rejection or hurt. We are to hold no grudges and bear no malice…. all these are dust… unnecessary baggage. We are to live, minister, and proclaim the word of God in our nakedness…our vulnerability. We are to do what is right even when it's hard and
leave others with a sense of our peace whether we feel they deserve it or not. That peace will surely return to us because God, who is impartial, balances out the experience equation when the time is right. That peace is really all that remains with us when we leave this world. Through all our experiences, God reveals to us in different ways that we have always been loved and never abandoned, even if we can not see it at that moment. Merciful God, help me with the dust I find difficult to shake off…the grudges, the betrayals, the rejections. Please help me to let go of what does not matter. Teach me to see beyond the obvious and anticipate your purposeful response. Teach me to travel lightly through life, so I may
feel peace, experience true freedom, and practice discipleship free of measurement. All these I ask in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
-by Vivian Amu
Proverbs for Perspective and Spiritual Living by Philip St. Romain, M.S., D. Min. From Pathways to Serenity, 1989, Liguori Publications; reprinted by Contemplative Ministries, Inc., 2013 (Minor editing applied.)
- https://shalomplace.com/view/pathview.html Included in Light for the Christian Journey, 2020: Contemplative Ministries, Inc.
https://shalomplace.com/view/light-journey.html
V. Discernment
17. Feelings teach the Ego balance between the extremes that it may find its center and so become rooted in God. Contemplative prayer is the
rooting.
18. In the now there are options; but choices are made in awareness on the basis of loving preferences — now this, later that.
19. Beware
the “project” of holiness or “attaining” virtue. These are attempts of the false self to expand its control into the arena of the spiritual.
20. Your human project is the most important of all, including your prayer, marriage, parenting, work, and even religious orientations. When making decisions, keep this large
perspective in mind.
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