Sunday Reflection (October 16, 2022)

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Because our Scripture has been used to legitimate hatred, evil, malice, injustice, and political machinations I am wary of using the phrase “Inspired Scripture.” Yet, Scripture is “inspired” in that God’s message of love and reconciliation triumphs over human hatred and malice. May we learn to understand that Scripture is inspired when it equips us to do good things.
 
Through the leading of the Holy Spirit, “Scripture inspires” us to love God and our neighbor. Through the leading of the Holy Spirit, “Scripture inspires” us as Christ’s Church to reveal God’s love to the world. Through the Holy Spirit, we are in the process of being transformed by having Christ Jesus formed within us and among us as Scripture inspires us to become a living inspiration of God’s love.

Prayer for the Week (October 16, 2022-October 23, 2022)

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Let us pray to God our Father as we learn to love the Word he speaks to us: God our Father, you keep speaking to us today in the words and deeds that bind us to you. May we listen attentively to your Son with his message of faith, hope, and love. May it bring us wisdom in our confusion, and encouragement in our trials. Help us to respond to his words with deeds of justice and compassion. We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord who eternally dwells with you and the Holy Spirit, One God now and forever more.  Amen.

                         

Devotion October 12, 2022

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Devotion October 11, 2022

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Prayer for the Week (October 9, 2022-October 15, 2022)

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Let us thank our loving God for all his goodness:  God our Father, we are your graceful work of art.  When we were doomed to death through sin you called us to life through the death and resurrection of Jesus.  Open us to your love and life given for free as a gift without charge or regret.  Give us thankful hearts so that we learn from you and your Son to share our friendship with others.  Accept our thanks through Jesus Christ our Lord
Amen.

                         

Sunday Reflection (October 9, 2022)

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God does not require you to do tasks beyond your capabilities, and we may think we are doing our best when we are not. Nevertheless, God requires that we do our best, and if we stumble, get up again and continue. If you are doing well, God does not give up on you. If you try, God does not give up on you. If you fail, God does not give up on you (2 Timothy 2:11-13)!
Jesus, the one who showed us what it is like to be faithful to God and others, offers us forgiveness when we do not meet that standard. God cannot but be faithful to humankind. This is indeed great hope for us, but this is not an excuse for failure; rather, it is an encouragement to continue in the faith even when we fail.

Devotion October 5, 2022

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Devotion October 4, 2022

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Sunday Reflection (October 2, 2022)

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Think of the Holy Spirit as the transmission that transfers energy from the engine to the wheels. The engine is the story of God’s love and compassion revealed in Jesus Christ, and the wheels are Christ’s Church empowered by the Holy Spirit to embody and share God’s love and compassion with the world. For almost 2,000 years, this one, apostolic, catholic, Church has transmitted and continues to transmit the story of God’s love revealed in Jesus Christ. Christ’s Church will continue to do so until Christ comes again.
 
Christ’s Church is Apostolic in that the Apostles and all the generations of Christians before us passed this message to us. Christ’s Church is catholic in that it is universal throughout the world of which we and the Roman Catholic Church are a part as well as Baptists, Presbyterians, Pentecostals, Episcopalians, Lutherans, and so forth. All Churches have the Holy Spirit dwelling within them and among them to transmit the story of God’s love in word and deed. May we embody this message (2 Timothy 1:11-14).

Prayer for the Week (October 2, 2022-October 8, 2022)

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Let us pray that our faith be strong and bold: Lord our God, you desire that our lives be full of truth and love. You have entrusted it to us as a task to be brought to a good end in partnership with you. Give us, your servants, a trusting faith, firm, loyal, enduring, and bold. May we grow in the conviction that you can overcome might and evil with what is weak and little and that your kingdom will come by the power and love of Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

   (Claretian Publications)