Loving God, our friendship with you in Jesus gives joy to our hearts. In gratitude we pray: Let us rejoice in you, O God.
Today, Jesus invites us to reflect on different questions: How well do our kids treat their classmates, even ones they don’t particularly like? What opportunities are we giving them to serve the community?
When we choose God, we choose to love as God loves. We do not love others less, we love them more. We likely will love differently. We may not offer the same goods and affirmation prized by secular measures, but we draw on another currency: grace from the divine treasury.
When Joseph reassures his brothers that “God sent me here ahead of you,” it’s tempting to see him as exhibiting an almost saintly degree of forgiveness. Perhaps Joseph’s generous kindness stemmed from his understanding that a truly wise person finds joy not in external circumstances but in the freedom only God can give.
We are made for relationship. Yet sometimes wisdom calls for walking away, walking another way, so that life in fact can be more abundant. When we walk toward new life, it may lead to the communion for which we long.
Jesus’ vision of the Church is not a community that trembles in fear behind its own walls but one that ventures out courageously to break down the walls that hold others captive.
The “power of the pen” in the first-century Roman Empire meant the deft use of all kinds of flourishes and devices, and Paul was a pro at all of them.
Is there a more welcoming, encouraging invitation from Jesus than, “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest”?
Since I’m always intrigued by the women’s stories hidden in Scripture, I imagine a conversation over tea with Sarah, the woman whose seven husbands all died on their wedding nights.
“Spend your heart.” That’s what I heard in prayer when waffling over how much of myself to give to some difficult projects.
