* Welcome God every morning before work by taking ~5 min to read this Living In Faith Exchange (LIFE) Group devotion (life-devotions.blogspot.com), which has snippets from Living Faith (livingfaith.com).
Stop judging, that you may not be judged. Matthew 7:1
Living Faith snippets: "It is easy to impute motives or assume circumstances. We are chosen to protect the reputation of another, to love our neighbor as ourselves, to look beyond the obvious and see Jesus in others. We, too, are chosen to defend the weak, to stick up for the less fortunate. We, too, are chosen to realize that the person we may not naturally like is one of Jesus' dearest friends. Help me, Jesus, to look through everyone and everything this day to see you." by Sr. Charleen Hug
Sr. Francelle snippets: "Dearest Ones, On the first Sunday of each month, we Sisters observe Retreat Sunday, a day when we keep silence until 3:00 pm. I look forward to this day, because we spend time reading and praying about our reason for being on this earth, about our death and how we can better love God in our daily life. The Bible says God's relationship with each one of us is a love relationship. Often, He refers to us as His "beloved." He compares our love affair with Him to a marriage, when two people vow to love each other forever. That's what God wants from you and me - a promise to love Him, just as a spouse does. This is shown in the way I treat His beloved children. I do think the greatest need today is to understand the Mystical Body of Christ, the belief that He is in every one of His children and we all ought to be servants to one another. Jesus came to serve, not to be served. We must do likewise. I pray every day that I won't lose my faith, and I pray daily for all of you, that we shall all keep our faith. It is really all that matters. Our Lord said to St. Peter: "Satan has desired to have you that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith shall not fail." Our prayer throughout the day can be simply offering oneself to do God's will. Let's pray for each other!" See the entire devotion at sisterfrancelle.blogspot.com
Faith quote: "When asked to sum up the "law and the prophets" (Matt 5:17), [the Lord] said that love of God and love of neighbor are the true vocation of every person. This is perhaps idealism for some, but for Christians it is the source and summit of reality." by Carl Anderson (author of "A Civilization of Love")
ProLife news: lifesitenews.com
Our Prayers: Abortion, our enemies, our troops, China earthquake, Myanmar cyclone, Midwest floods, depression/despair, prisoners, Vicki Miller (her cancer treatment)
* New: Dani (A close friend's 11 yr old son, Devantae, had a fence fall on top of him, breaking his back. He is currently paralyzed, cannot walk, talk, eat.)
Through Christ for ProLife,
Pat
Phil 4:13
* Outreach: Let's gladly invite those near us to join our LIFE Devotions group (Mark 16:15), providing routine spiritual connection and strength (simply forward a devotion with an invitation).
* Today's Bible readings at www.usccb.org/nab/today.shtml.
* Prayer: Prayer connects us with God's will & His miracles, thereby changing us & helping others. Wayne Watson lyrics, “When God's people pray, there is hope reborn, there is sin forgiven, and miracles you can't explain await!” "If you pray that God will move a mountain and He doesn’t, assume Christ wants you to climb it instead & see Him."
* Defend the unborn: 'Rescue those who are unjustly sentenced to death; don’t stand back and let them die' (Prov 24:11). 'Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you' (Jer 1:5). 'It is a great poverty that a child must die that you might live as you wish' Blessed Mother Teresa. Click for Prayer to End Abortion.
* Evangelization: Let's make room for non-believers (be a friend, make a friend, lead friend to Christ) and perpetual re-evangelization of self and those near us, by way of daily prayer (relationship) and following Christ's example of selfless love, mercy, and service.
Let's joyfully live out the Good News and gladly tell others about it (Mark 16:15)!
1 comment:
Stop judging, that you may not be judged. Matthew 7:1
When I do not judge I am engaged in mercy. The root of the word “mercy” has the same root as the words “commerce” and “merchant” which allude to exchange. When Jesus says to stop judging, it is not just good advice. To not judge means I have an open posture toward not only my neighbor but toward God who provides clarity in revealing that not judging is essential to sharing in the life of God. When I have an open posture, a willingness to not turn away, shun, shut down, or close myself off, I participate in the divine exchange and share in the life of God. Jesus gave me a tool to help me, psychologically, to be open to the outsider, the stranger, the prisoner, the enemy, the hurting, the sinner – all of these the poorest of the poor -- by reminding me that which I do for the least of my brethren I do for Jesus (Matt 25:31-46). He also gave me His words, “Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do.” (Lk 23:34) I sometimes bristle at this notion but it allows me a more open posture towards my neighbor in responding with love. That doesn’t mean I ignore a problem but it gives me a spaciousness to come up with more loving solutions in my response rather than my knee-jerk egoic reaction of condemnation. My prayer ultimately becomes, “Bless Them; Change Me” because as I measure out it will be measured out to me. (Matt 7:2)
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