DAILY MEDITATION: "Sharing the Abundant Love" for Sunday, 5 August 2018
Photo courtesy of Judith Leckie
Why must we go out to the far ends of the world to preach the Gospel of Jesus when people do not have to know Jesus in order to enter the house of God? We must go out because we want to share with all people the abundant love and hope, joy and peace that Jesus brought to us. We want to "proclaim the unfathomable treasure of Christ" and "throw light on the inner workings of the mystery kept hidden through all ages in God, the creator of everything" (Ephesians 3:8-9).What we have received is so beautiful and so rich that we cannot hold it for ourselves but feel compelled to bring it to every human being on earth.
For further reflection...
But if I say, "I will not mention him or speak any more in his name," his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot. (Jeremiah 20: 9 (NIV))
Your response...
What motivates you to share God's love?
Comment on this Daily Meditation.
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Daily Meditation: "Jesus Comes to Us in the Poor" for Saturday, 4 August 2018 from The Henri Nouwen Society in Toronto, Ontario, Canada
DAILY MEDITATION: "Jesus Comes to Us in the Poor" for Saturday, 4 August 2018
Photo courtesy of David Kirkpatrick
What finally counts is not whether we know Jesus and his words but whether we live our lives in the Spirit of Jesus. The Spirit of Jesus is the Spirit of Love. Jesus himself makes this clear when he speaks about the last judgment. There people will ask: "Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink?" and Jesus will answer: "In so far as you did this to one of the least ... of mine, you did it to me" (Matthew 25:37, 40).This is our great challenge and consolation. Jesus comes to us in the poor, the sick, the dying, the prisoners, the lonely, the disabled, the rejected. There we meet him, and there the door to God's house is opened for us.
For further reflection...
Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. (Revelation 3:22)
Your response...
Where have you discovered the Spirit of Love and "the door to God's house" opened to you?
Comment on this Daily Meditation.
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Daily Meditation: "The Door Open to Anyone" for Friday, 3 August 2018 from The Henri Nouwen Society in Toronto, Ontario, Canada
DAILY MEDITATION: "The Door Open to Anyone" for Friday, 3 August 2018
Photo courtesy of David Kirkpatrick
Jesus is the door to a life in and with God. "I am the gate," he says (John 10:9). "I am the Way; I am Truth and Life. No one can come to the Father except through me" (John 14:6). Still, many people never have heard or will hear of Jesus. They are born, live their lives, and die without having been exposed to Jesus and his words. Are they lost? Is there no place in the Father's house for them?Jesus opened the door to God's house for all people, also for those who never knew or will know that it was Jesus who opened it. The Spirit that Jesus sent "blows where it pleases" (John 3:8), and it can lead anyone through the door to God's house.
For further reflection...
Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me. (Revelation 3: 20 (NRSV))
Your response...
"Let us be renewed by God's mercy, let us be loved by Jesus." (Pope Francis, 2013 Easter Message, Urbi et Orbi)
Comment on this Daily Meditation.
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Daily Meditation: "Jesus Takes Away Fatality" for Thursday, 2 August 2018 from The Henri Nouwen Society in Toronto, Ontario, Canada
DAILY MEDITATION: "Jesus Takes Away Fatality" for Thursday, 2 August 2018
Photo courtesy of David Kirkpatrick
The great mystery of the incarnation is that God became human in Jesus so that all human flesh could be clothed with divine life. Our lives are fragile and destined to death. But since God, through Jesus, shared in our fragile and mortal lives, death no longer has the final word. Life has become victorious. Paul writes: "And after this perishable nature has put on imperishability and this mortal nature has put on immortality, then will the words of scripture come true: "Death is swallowed up in victory. Death, where is your victory? Death, where is your sting?" (1 Corinthians 15:54). Jesus has taken away the fatality of our existence and given our lives eternal value.For further reflection...
Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death... and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. (Hebrews 2:14, 15 (NIV))
Your response...
What do you make of Henri's comment that "death no longer has the final word?"
Comment on this Daily Meditation.
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Daily Meditation: "All People Lifted Up with Jesus" for Wednesday, 1 August 2018 from The Henri Nouwen Society in Toronto, Ontario, Canada
DAILY MEDITATION: "All People Lifted Up with Jesus" for Wednesday, 1 August 2018
Photo courtesy of SDGimagery.com
The death and resurrection of Jesus are God's way to open for all people the door to eternal life. Jesus said: "When I am lifted up from the earth, I shall draw all people to myself" (John 12:32). Indeed, all people, from all times and places, are lifted up with Jesus on the cross and into the new life of the resurrection. Thus, Jesus' death is a death for all humanity, and Jesus' resurrection is a resurrection for all humanity.Not one person from the past, present, or future is excluded from the great passage of Jesus from slavery to freedom, from the land of captivity to the promised land, from death to eternal life.
For further reflection...
He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. (1 John 2: 2 (NIV)))
Your response...
What do the death and resurrection of Jesus mean to you?
Comment on this Daily Meditation.
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Text excerpts taken from Bread for the Journey, by Henri J.M. Nouwen, ©1997 HarperSanFrancisco. All Scripture from The Jerusalem Bible ©1966, 1967, and 1968 Darton, Longman & Todd and Doubleday & Co. Inc. Scripture chosen by L. Yeskoo.
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