It is a fact of Christian experience that life is a series of troughs and peaks. In his efforts to get permanent
possession of a soul, God relies on the troughs more than the peaks. And some of his special favourites have gone through longer and deeper troughs than anyone else.
- Peter Marshall
(Peak or trough: what is it for you at this time in life? How is God with you, and how are you with
God?)
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2 TM 2:8-15; PS 25:4-5AB, 8-9, 10 AND
14
MK 12:28-34
One of the scribes came to Jesus and asked him,
"Which is the first of all the commandments?"
Jesus replied, "The first is this:
Hear, O Israel!
The Lord our God is Lord alone!
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your soul, with all your
mind,
and with all your strength.
The second is this:
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
There is no other commandment greater than these."
The scribe said to him, "Well said, teacher.
You are right in saying,
He is One and there is no other than he.
And to love him with all your heart,
with all your understanding,
with all your strength,
and to love your neighbor as yourself
is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices."
And when
Jesus saw that he answered with understanding,
he said to him, "You are not far from the Kingdom of God."
And no one dared to ask him any more questions.
Reflection on the Scriptures |
How do we free up that occupied space in our hearts to love God with our whole selves? We want to focus our whole minds and hearts, but how? If we begin to focus by making a commitment to daily prayer, that promise can have a profound effect on our lives.
Prayer is a relationship with a real, loving entity, a God who loves us more than we can
imagine. The shift happens when we move from “saying prayers” to praying in the sense of entering into a personal relationship, which centers on a sense of closeness, accompaniment and intimacy.
What do we want to thank God for? What do we worry about? What are we facing today? What do we want to ask of God? Speak, then listen. What is God asking of us?
Where do we feel “sent” by God today? How can we serve our God whose profound love understands and forgives us over and over?
- by Maureen McCann
Waldron
Revelations of Divine
Love - by Julian of Norwich
Fourteenth Revelation, Chapter 51
“He is the Head, and we be His
members.” “Therefore our Father nor may nor will more blame assign to us than to His own Son, precious and worthy Christ” For, twenty years after the time of the Shewing, save three months, I had teaching inwardly, as I shall tell: It belongeth to thee to take heed to all the properties and conditions
that were shewed in the example, though thou think that they be misty and indifferent to thy sight. I assented willingly, with great desire, and inwardly [beheld] with heedfulness all the points and properties that were shewed in the same time, as far forth as my wits and understanding would serve: beginning my beholding at the Lord and at the Servant, and the manner of sitting of the Lord, and the place that he sat on, and the colour of his clothing and the manner of shape, and his countenance
without, and his nobleness and his goodness within; at the manner of standing of the Servant, and the place where, and how; at his manner of clothing, the colour and the shape; at his outward having and at his inward goodness and his unloathfulness.
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