Jesus said to his disciples:
“Whoever has my commandments and observes them
is the one who loves me.
Whoever loves me will be loved by my Father,
and I will love him and reveal myself to him.”
Judas, not the Iscariot, said to him,
“Master, then what happened that you will reveal yourself to us
and not to the world?”
Jesus answered and said to him,
“Whoever loves me will keep my word,
and my Father will love him,
and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.
Whoever does not love me does not keep my words;
yet the word you hear is not mine
but that of the Father who sent me.
“I have told you this while I am with you.
The Advocate, the Holy Spirit
whom the Father will send in my name
he will teach you everything
and remind you of all that I told you.”
John 14:21-26 (NAB)
Prayer Reflection
Dear Father now that is the truth! Jesus gave us so much to listen to and keep in our hearts in regards to you beloved Father. The commandments Jesus gave are to love God and to love our neighbor as ourselves. Anyone who has these in their heart also loves Jesus because if we love you dear Father we also love your son, because you are one. But why is it when we say we are Christians who love God, fail to love our neighbor. If a stranger who was alone came up to us to talk, do we keep our distance because they are not with our group. I witnessed this myself around others and saw how when a person asks a question of another and the rudeness in their not wanting to simply answer. We fail so very often in our day to day dealings with others and we think we are Christians, followers of Christ. God loves us inspite of our failings and forgives us on a constant basis. Those simple gestures speak volumes of how truly much we have followed the commandments Jesus gave us. Some of those very simple gestures tell how much we don't love as we should.
Showing posts with label listening. Show all posts
Showing posts with label listening. Show all posts
Monday, April 21, 2008
Monday, April 14, 2008
Do You Hear What I Hear
Jesus said:
“I am the good shepherd.
A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
A hired man, who is not a shepherd
and whose sheep are not his own,
sees a wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away,
and the wolf catches and scatters them.
This is because he works for pay and has no concern for the sheep.
I am the good shepherd,
and I know mine and mine know me,
just as the Father knows me and I know the Father;
and I will lay down my life for the sheep.
I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold.
These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice,
and there will be one flock, one shepherd.
This is why the Father loves me,
because I lay down my life in order to take it up again.
No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own.
I have power to lay it down, and power to take it up again.
This command I have received from my Father.”
John 10:11-18 (NAB)
Prayer Reflection
Dear Father there is much truth to these words spoken by Jesus. It speaks of us in our time as well as two thousand years ago. Yesterday's reading touched upon the gate and listening, today we find how much love Jesus has for us. He gave up his life! The act of love for you dear Father and love for us. Don't we say this to those we love also, that we would die for them. And there are many that would, we have martyrs that did exactly the same, gave their life for Jesus and for us as well. It's possible they were put to the test and answered correctly. Would any of us be able to answer this as well, or is our love superficial. After all, we all say we are God's children and that we all love Jesus, but when he calls us, do we really hear his voice and truly know him. How well do we listen to the Word of God being spoken at our Masses or is our thoughts off on what has to get done when we go home or of the many other things that preoccupy our minds from this world. Is our love more for this world then rather than Jesus and you dear Father? Jesus' love is so great to come in search of those who belong and lost their way. We are one big family why aren't we also helping each other find their way back too.
“I am the good shepherd.
A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
A hired man, who is not a shepherd
and whose sheep are not his own,
sees a wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away,
and the wolf catches and scatters them.
This is because he works for pay and has no concern for the sheep.
I am the good shepherd,
and I know mine and mine know me,
just as the Father knows me and I know the Father;
and I will lay down my life for the sheep.
I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold.
These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice,
and there will be one flock, one shepherd.
This is why the Father loves me,
because I lay down my life in order to take it up again.
No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own.
I have power to lay it down, and power to take it up again.
This command I have received from my Father.”
John 10:11-18 (NAB)
Prayer Reflection
Dear Father there is much truth to these words spoken by Jesus. It speaks of us in our time as well as two thousand years ago. Yesterday's reading touched upon the gate and listening, today we find how much love Jesus has for us. He gave up his life! The act of love for you dear Father and love for us. Don't we say this to those we love also, that we would die for them. And there are many that would, we have martyrs that did exactly the same, gave their life for Jesus and for us as well. It's possible they were put to the test and answered correctly. Would any of us be able to answer this as well, or is our love superficial. After all, we all say we are God's children and that we all love Jesus, but when he calls us, do we really hear his voice and truly know him. How well do we listen to the Word of God being spoken at our Masses or is our thoughts off on what has to get done when we go home or of the many other things that preoccupy our minds from this world. Is our love more for this world then rather than Jesus and you dear Father? Jesus' love is so great to come in search of those who belong and lost their way. We are one big family why aren't we also helping each other find their way back too.
Friday, February 09, 2007
Listening
When they heard the sound of the LORD God moving about in the garden at the breezy time of the day, the man and his wife hid themselves from the LORD God among the trees of the garden.
Genesis 3:8
Reflection:
Their eyes were opened and sin became theirs. Once they knew what they have done they tried to hide, but one thing they did not learn was that they could not hide from God.
We can all wonder to what the sin was that Adam and Eve committed, but the first one was listening to the serpent telling them to go against God's Word. They listened to temptation and not to what they originally were told to do.
How often do we do the same thing, go against what we are told to do. Or someone egging us to do something as a dare. We are all in some way prodded to go against what we know is right. Is it in those times we see if we can overcome listening to the voice that will send us astray. Because no matter what we do we can't hide from God either. We can try but He does see us in our nakedness, in our sinfulness. His forgiveness is great, when we seek it from our hearts.
Why do we listen to the voice that leads us astray as Eve did and led Adam to do the same? Can we be the ones to turn that sin around and show God that we can listen to Him for once. That would be something for the record books.
Genesis 3:8
Reflection:
Their eyes were opened and sin became theirs. Once they knew what they have done they tried to hide, but one thing they did not learn was that they could not hide from God.
We can all wonder to what the sin was that Adam and Eve committed, but the first one was listening to the serpent telling them to go against God's Word. They listened to temptation and not to what they originally were told to do.
How often do we do the same thing, go against what we are told to do. Or someone egging us to do something as a dare. We are all in some way prodded to go against what we know is right. Is it in those times we see if we can overcome listening to the voice that will send us astray. Because no matter what we do we can't hide from God either. We can try but He does see us in our nakedness, in our sinfulness. His forgiveness is great, when we seek it from our hearts.
Why do we listen to the voice that leads us astray as Eve did and led Adam to do the same? Can we be the ones to turn that sin around and show God that we can listen to Him for once. That would be something for the record books.
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