Category: Sister Judy (Page 260 of 271)

Devotions from Haase’s book, Living the Lord’s Prayer

As we pray the Lord’s prayer and say, “Thy will be done”, so we often wonder just what is God’s will for me?  Maybe we have a decision to make and we need discernment to know what direction to take. Jesus found his daily nourishment from knowing that the will of God was being accomplished in his life and ministry.  As we pray for His will to be done, we are also saying we are committed to doing His will and not our own. We need to move beyond the agenda of our own egos with its selfish concerns and desires to do what is good, acceptable and perfect as Paul says in Romans12:2.  1.  To make a faith-based decision we first become aware that we have reached a crossroad and desire to be objective and not give in to our own self-concern, self-image, self-preservation and self-gratification. 2 Secondly, we prayerfully deliberate, reflect and think through the decision. This requires honest self-reflection  and integrity and will harmonize with scripture and our passion and energy. 3 Thirdly, making a faith-based decision is following through with action.  Timing is important. We don’t want to be impatient and make the decision prematurely or wait too long and miss God’s timing.  We shouldn’t make decisions when we are experiencing high and low mood swings but when our feet are firmly planted on the ground. We may get a feeling of peace or a sense that this is the right thing. Sometimes this happens only after the decision is made. But in making faith –based decisions we trust that God, not chance, has the final word.

Devotions based on Haase’s book Living the Lord’s Prayer
Another characteristic of kingdom people is Surrender to the Present.   Jean-Pierre De Caussade writes a lot about this and said, “True spirituality is the ready acceptance of all that comes to us at each moment of our lives… What God arranges for us to experience at each moment is the best and holiest thing that could happen to us…There is never a moment when God does not come forward in the guise of some suffering or some duty, and all that takes place within us, around us and through us both includes and hides his activity.”  This means that we constantly surrender ourselves to every single circumstance of every single moment of our lives. Think of Mary who was surprised by the angel’s visit and word to her but responded with, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”  Could we have said that?!!

Do we respond with selfless, sacrificial love because we know the certainty of His love? 
Do we know that what each moment brings is the best possible thing for us and have the confidence in God that He is good?

As we surrender to His will at each moment, His kingdom comes and blossoms right here, right now, even if it seems so small and ordinary. Can we trust and surrender to the present moment today in all that comes our way?  I think it takes a willingness to renounce any desire to control but especially to trust. Let us trust Him!!

Devotions based on Haase’s book, Living the Lord’s Prayer

As we go through life praying Thy kingdom come, we are planting seeds of peace, love, and justice in our own small way. Haase mentions  characteristics of keepers of his kingdom. First is an awareness of God’s love and then sharing that love with others.

They have awareness in their bones that they are first and foremost beloved of our Father. It is like the very air that surrounds them and gives them life. This experience of His love grounds them in the present moment. Such awareness drives them deeper into the world and relationships. Their lives overflow with awe as they experience His love and they no longer have a need to prove themselves, gain the attention of others or make a name for themselves. There is no obsession with self-concern, self-image, self-preservation and self-gratifications. God’s love sets them free from the ego stranglehold and gives freedom to respond with selfless acts of sacrificial love. They become lovers of others as they accept others and show them hospitality and love. They focus on others without looking into the mirror to count the cost.

Human love for another does not take away from love for God. Rather, love of another person completes, rather than competes with, the love of God.”

May the reality of His love for us and others become deeper in us as we pray for His Kingdom to come.

Devotions based on Haase’s book Living the Lord’s Prayer

We pray thy kingdom come but what does that really mean? In the beginning Adam and Eve lived in an idyllic paradise where all they had all their needs met and basked in the blessings that God had laid out for them. But when they sinned, they eased God out of their lives and usurped His thrown and lost the immediate awareness of God’s all- embracing presence. God’s intention is to restore creation to a place of blessing and that the Kingdom of God would be one of peace, love and justice. Jesus never used splashy words to describe His kingdom but rather used ordinary things that are rather small: seed, yeast, hidden treasure, a pearl etc. that can all have a profound affect. He was saying our individual lives can promote His kingdom in the world more than we know. Like a seed we have the ability to transform the present situation into an experience for kingdom’s peace, love and justice. One-on-one it can be done. As we offer ourselves in selfless acts of love, He will make up for what is lacking.   As Teresa of Avila wrote, “Christ has no body but yours, No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes with which He looks compassion on this world, Yours are the feet with which He walks to do good, Yours are the hands with which He blesses all the world.” .

Devotions from Living The Lord’s Prayer by Albert Haase

“The way toward God is the way of downward mobility.  St Benedict said, “Our proud attempts at upward climbing will really bring us down, whereas to step downward in humility is the way to lift our spirit up towards God.”

This  means that we need to renounce our own desires and will and also accept ourselves in honest acknowledgment of our inferiority.  This is vastly different than a form of low self esteem. That is only false humility and promotes worthlessness and self-humiliation. Putting ourselves down is just as wrong as raising ourselves up.

  Real humility on the other hand, is nothing else but a man’s true understanding and awareness of himself as he really is.  He faces reality squarely. As St. Francis use to say, “What a person is before God, that he is, and no more.”

Pharisaical pride takes personal credit for everything: talents, gifts, accomplishments and abilities. It demands to take a bow and have an encore. Pride raises the ego up as it lowers the grace of God. IT steers us off the path.

Truly humble people recognize who God created them to be, what gifts and talents God has graciously given them, and how God has acted in their lives. 

May we put God where God belongs in our lives: at the very center.  He is the One who does the speaking and acting through us. He is the One who accomplishes all the good in our lives in spite of our sinfulness.

Devotions  from Living the Lord’s Prayer by Albert Haase

“To hallow God’s name is to walk the way of humility as we adore God’s presence, with the awareness of our sinfulness.”

Names are sacred . A person’s relationship to us is expressed by the name he calls us.
Names express the level of familiarity and depth of the relationship.

Names reveal our existence, character, identity, and how our life is lived. Jesus revealed a new name for God, Abba. It spoke of God’s closeness as a father is to his children. Every time we say Abba, we become aware of his divine presence.

When we hallow God’s name we are recognizing his very presence and also recognizing our unworthiness before such a loving God.

May we be filled with wonder and awe-filled thanks as we recognize his selfless, sacrificial love for us.

I like to take prayer walks and often go a couple miles in one direction before turning around to come back home again. One day as I was walking and about to turn around, it was like a picture of my spiritual journey…   My life is now more  than  half over and  I’m on the homeward stretch.  Even if I live to be a hundred, I am still in that second half and homeward bound. When we set out on the first half, there is adventure and excitement of the new things we might see and we don’t know how far we will venture. But on the second half we know that home awaits us and we are going back to that place of warmth and love. We have tasted adventure and newness but something inside also excites us to be going Home.

I love life and have been blessed with joy on the journey. But as I face the next segment of my life, it is preparation for the real destination that awaits me.  Even though the passing into glory is a mystery, there still is an anticipation that something awesome awaits us. More than we can even comprehend! So why do I Iive so much for this world and not more for His kingdom?   This world’s stuff will pass away but His kingdom is eternal?

May our eyes be on what is real, what is lasting and what our heart longs for…….Real Home!

  Devotions from Living the Lord’s Prayer by Haase

Because God has taken on flesh and blood in the incarnation, we Christians are challenge to adopt a deeply contemplative vision of each other.  “We are called to look beyond the superficial appearances of hairstyles and first impressions, to see and reverence in our neighbor another dwelling place for the Divine.”

Our faith is given us to recognize that Christ is in our neighbor and to help our love make both him and ourselves more fully like Christ.  Mother Teresa, who spent most of her life working with the dying on the streets of India, said, “I see God in every human being.  When I wash the leper’s wounds, I feel I am nursing the Lord himself.” 
As we grow in our faith, we become more aware that our neighbor is to be embraced and engaged, not simply endured.  “It is recognizing that our God who  is in heaven has taken on flesh and walks this earth in the poor, the sick, the marginalized, the forgotten-indeed, in everyone.”  Let us not miss Him in those we come in contact with today.

Devotions from “Living the Lord’s Prayer” by Albert Haase

There are no words to adequately describe our God and our limited understanding can not reach the heights of all that He is.  God is love but He is also so much more than what the human word Love means.

From the words of St. Francis: He is love, charity, wisdom, humility, patience, beauty, meekness, security, rest, gladness, joy, hope, justice, sufficiency etc etc. and so much more.  God is indescribable, unfathomable, in comprehensible. He is like the air we breathe: we can never grasp it with our hands. It is arrogant to think God can be captured, photographed, contained or described by the human heart or mind. God is God! 
Some people find that words, images and metaphors help make them more aware of His presence.  Others prefer the awe-filled silence and absence of images and metaphors.  Sometimes our prayer leads us to the gift of silent contemplation. When this happens, God quenches our thirst, feeds our hunger and  makes us forget all earthly things  It is like basking in the presence of God and is there anything more wonderful than that?!

Devotions from Albert Haase’s book, Living the Lord’s Prayer

Christian love is expresses in so many ways: friendship, acts of kindness, sharing our time, talents or treasures etc. 

Hospitality is one practical way to express love for our neighbor and reflects our love for our Father.

Part of hospitality is simply welcoming another sister or brother into the circle of our attention by welcoming words, handshake, hug, kiss, embrace etc.  This we have felt and experienced personally at our new church. Al often remarks that they couldn’t be more friendly to us.

The early Christians addressed one another as brother and sister and greeted one another with a kiss.
We also can go through all the motions of hospitality and still miss the importance of offering our undivided attention. 
We not only acknowledge someone else but accept them without judgment or criticism.  Just like Jesus called unworthy Zacchaeus out of a tree or accepted the sinful woman washing his feet with her tears.

Let us ask ourselves, how do we express hospitality?  Do we open ourselves up to others through love and graceful hospitality?