Faith and Love

What matters is faith that makes its power felt through love.
Gl.5:6

What is the first sign of faith? Love.

Paul warns against observing the Law in place of exercising faith. The Law is a yoke to slavery. Faith is the door to freedom.

There's a little Pharisee within me that quite likes the Law. It's so clean and black and white. The trouble is I could never keep it. My life is murky and grey. I need the mercy that comes by faith.

Faith is a free gift. All I need to do is receive it. 

Jesus, thank you for the gift of faith. I place my trust in you.

Hear and Do

‘Happy the womb that bore you and the breasts you sucked!’ But he replied, ‘Still happier those who hear the word of God and keep it!’
Lk.11:27,28

A woman in the crowd cries out the greatest compliment she can think of. Jesus responds with the greatest challenge.

Happiness comes from hearing God's word and doing it. Hearing is relatively simple. The Bible and prayer are there to help me. It's the doing that can be a challenge. 

Here is where the Holy Spirit can be invited. He animates spiritual virtues in my life, including love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Exercising any of these is keeping God's word.

Come Holy Spirit. Animate your fruits in me as I hear God's word and keep it.

Free Alive and Filled

This was done so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might include the pagans, and so that through faith we might receive the promised Spirit.
Gl.3:14

Believing Jesus died for me frees me from the curse of the law, brings me life... and the promised Holy Spirit.

Faith is such a wonderful gift. It's offered to all but received by few. Through faith I am free, alive and filled with the Holy Spirit.

Thank you Jesus for the gift of faith. I place my trust in you.

Manservant

‘I am the handmaid of the Lord,’ said Mary ‘let what you have said be done to me.’ 
Lk.1:38

Mary's angelic visitation could have had her responding with flight, fight or submission. She chose the latter. 

I'm not sure how I would respond to an angelic vision. Mary's response reveals her extraordinary trust in God. Being a handmaid wasn't just a figure of speech. That is exactly how she saw herself.

Am I a manservant of the Lord? Do I perform close, personal duties for God? Not to the degree Mary did. 

The key words here are "close" and "personal". I need to get closer and more personal with Jesus. Put simply, just hang out with him like mates do. 

When I have this level of intimacy with Jesus, Mary's instruction to the Cana wedding marshall's servants can apply to me. "Do whatever he tells you". 

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen. 

Love Shown By Mercy

 

A lawyer stood up to put Jesus to the test, saying, ‘Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?’
Lk.10:25

Where am I in the parable of the Good Samaritan? Great question. 

Interestingly, I'm drawn outside of the famous parable and seem to identify with the conniving lawyer. I'm struck by how Jesus drew out of the lawyer the right answer... twice. Firstly that eternal life is found in loving God and loving others and then it is mercy that shows the outworking of these two great loves.

The lawyer actually knew the right answers, he just needed Jesus to draw them out. That's me. I already know what is right and what is wrong. That has been placed in all of us by God. I need Jesus to draw "rightness" out of me. 

How does that happen? By doing what the lawyer did. Enter into conversation with Jesus. Even though the lawyer's motivation was corrupt, Jesus drew right answers out from him.

Jesus, you see gold in my miry clay. Draw out of me all that is good, beautiful and true. Let my love show itself in mercy.

Less of Me More of You

I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and of earth, for hiding these things from the learned and the clever and revealing them to mere children.
Lk.10:21

Any vainglory the triumphant seventy-two may have been tempted to embrace is deflated by Jesus. He calls them mere children.

I've come off leading a successful retreat and faced this same temptation. Haven't I done well. Well... no, I haven't. He has done well. I am just a child doing what I've been told.

Maybe a better response to watching "even devils submitting" is to say, 'I'm constantly amazed at how Jesus uses me.'

Jesus, less of me and more of you. My reward is that you know my name.

 

Less is More

Unless you change and become like little children you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 
Mt.18:3

In Jesus' eyes, lesser is greater.

If there is to be any striving in God's Kingdom it is the striving to be the lesser. I'm reminded of those always-funny comedy scenes where two people are arguing over who should go through the door first. "After you. No, after you. No, I insist, after you!" Then out of frustration they both lunge for the door, only to both get jammed there.

Striving to be the least is counter culture in a world that esteems the biggest, the best, the brightest and the beautiful. 

To be honest, humility doesn't come naturally to me. Yet, if I desire to follow Jesus, humility is my very first step. I'm encouraged to know that Saint Thérèse at first struggled with this. Then a point came where she surrendered her ego to Jesus and "littleness" became her boast. 

Jesus, help my less become more. Saint Thérèse, please pray for me.