Friday

Friday

When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears, and rescues them from their troubles.

Psalm 34:17

Friday Prayer

Lord, my heart is occasionally inclined toward stirring up conflict.  One tiny word spoken can cause a ripple of hurt and resentment.  You, O Lord, do not stir up conflict.  You, O Lord, speak words of love to your people.  Teach me to guard my tongue so that the words coming out of my mouth are filled with love.  Give me your Spirit so that my words can cause a ripple of renewal.  Amen.

Friday Meditation

If we pray, and really pray, we can hardly escape the fact that our cares for the moment, big and small, will fill our prayer and often make it nothing but a long list of requests.  Often this prayer of petition is treated with a certain disdain.  Sometimes we regard it as less than prayer of thanksgiving and certainly less than a prayer of praise.  Prayer of petition is supposedly more egocentric because the person is putting his own interests first and trying to get something for himself.  The prayer of thanksgiving, it is said, is directed more toward God, even if it is in connection with gifts which he has given.  And prayer of praise is devoted directly to God for his own sake apart from anything we may or may not have received from him.  But the question is whether this distinction helps us understand what prayer is.  The important thing about prayer is not whether it is classified as  petition, thanksgiving or praise, but whether it is a prayer of hope or of little faith.

-          Henri Nouwen

Thursday

Thursday

So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out toward the east. 
The two men parted company.

Genesis 13:11

Thursday Prayer

Parting ways, O Lord, is a painful endeavor.  Separation and seclusion from loved ones are among the many crosses I must carry.  Give me patience and perseverance when distance separates me from my family and friends.  Heavenly Father, make the time that we must be apart brief and our opportunities for reunion often. Keep those whom I love safe and out of harm while they are away.  Above all, O God, fill my long-distance relationship with your loving kindness.  Amen.

Thursday Meditation

My own personal life, the pains of that life are mostly related to expecting from people a love that only God can give.  I become more and more aware that if I make another person into a god, I make myself into a demon.  Love me, love me, I’m so lonely, I cannot do without you.  Before knowing, I grab at and I strangle the other person emotionally.  If we live in communion, we somewhere deeply know and trust that we are infinitely loved by a God who loved us first.  And I meet another person who also knows that he or she is infinitely loved by God, we can meet each other and form community, build a home and receive fruits of our love with our children, friends or spiritual fruits like joy, peace, gentleness, kindness.

-          Henri Nouwen

Wednesday

Wednesday

But I can say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you.

Luke 6:27

Wednesday Prayer

Christ Jesus, loving the hard to like should be easier than loving my enemies. Yet finding even the smallest amount of love for prickly people is hard for me.  Lord, you have placed many diverse people in the life.  Some of the people I deal with on a daily basis are a joy to be around; some of the people I deal with on a daily basis are everything but joyful.  Give me unending love as I carry the crosses of my relationships. Show me how to love hard-to-like people. Amen.

Wednesday Meditation

Different people remember a similar illness, accident, success or surprise in very different ways, and much of their sense of self derives less from what happened than from how they remember what happened… Most of our human emotions are closely related to our memory.  Remorse is a biting memory, guilt is an accusing memory, gratitude is a joyful memory, and all such emotions are deeply influenced by the way we have integrated past events into our way of being in the world.  In fact, we perceive our world with our memories.  Our memories help us to see and understand new impressions and give them a place in our richly varied life experiences.

-          Henri Nouwen

Tuesday

Tuesday

I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry.

Psalm 40:1

Tuesday Prayer

Waiting can be a difficult task, O Lord.  Though I want life to happen on my time, I recognize that often I must wait for your time.  While I wait for my relationships to grow deeper, give me steadfast faith.  While I wait for damaged relationships to heal, give me patience.  Teach me how to carry the crosses of relationships so that I can wait patiently for your will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.  Let me cry out to you, Heavenly Father, as you incline your ear to hear me.   Amen.

Tuesday Meditation

What counts in your life and mine is not successes but fruits.  The fruits of our life are born often in our pain and in our vulnerability and in our losses.  The fruits of our life come only after the plow has carved through our land.  God wants us to be fruitful.  The question is not: “How much can I still do in the years that are left to me?”  The question is:  “How can I prepare myself for total surrender so my life can be fruitful?”  Our little lives are small, human lives.  But in the eyes of the One who calls us the beloved, we are great – greater than the years we have.  We will bear fruit, fruit that you and I will not see on this earth but whose reality we can trust. 

-          Henri Nouwen

Monday

Monday

Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your angry.

Ephesians 4:26

Monday Prayer

Try as I might, Lord, my anger still prevails.  Try as I might, Lord, my anger causes me to sin.  Blessed Redeemer, guard my mouth from saying angry words that can damage relationships.  Guard my mind from thinking angry thoughts that can make me bitter.  Place my eyes on the cross of Christ, and show me the way to forgiveness.  Relationships, though often so full of joy and happiness, can also be a heavy cross to carry.  Let your Son, Jesus Christ, calm my frustrations and heal my relationships with his powerful forgiveness. Let the sun never go down on my anger, O Lord.  Amen.

Monday Meditation

Jesus calls us to gratitude.  He calls us to recognize that gladness and sadness are never separate, that joy and sorrow really belong together, and that mourning and dancing are part of the same movement.  That is why Jesus calls us to be grateful for every moment that we have lived and to claim our unique journey as God’s way to mold our hearts to greater conformity with God’s own.  The cross is the main symbol of our faith, and it invites us to find hope where we see pain and to reaffirm the resurrection where we see death.  The call to be grateful is a call to trust that every moment of our life can be claimed as the way of the cross that leads us to new life.  Can we be grateful for everything that has happened in our life – not just the good things but for all that has brought us today?

-          Henri Nouwen

Beneath the Cross of Jesus

Beneath the Cross of Jesus
Hymn #297
Words by Elizabeth C. Clephane/ Music by Frederick C. Maker/ Tune Name: ST. CHRISTOPHER

1. Beneath the cross of Jesus  I fain would take my stand,  the shadow of a mighty rock  within a weary land;  a home within the wilderness,  a rest upon the way,  from the burning of the noontide heat,  and the burden of the day.	2. Upon that cross of Jesus  mine eye at times can see  the very dying form of One  who suffered there for me;  and from my stricken heart with tears  two wonders I confess:  the wonders of redeeming love  and my unworthiness.
3. I take, O cross, thy shadow  for my abiding place;  I ask no other sunshine than  the sunshine of his face;  content to let the world go by,  to know no gain nor loss,  my sinful self my only shame,  my glory all the cross.

Sunday

Fourth Sunday of Lent

So they are no longer two but one flesh.  What therefore God has joined together
let not man separate.

Matthew 19:6

Sunday Prayer

My God, divorce hurts.  Separating the one-flesh union causes great pain to a great number of people.  Certainly the husband and wife are hurt when a relationship dissolves.  Yet the pain of a broken marriage sends a shock wave through children and parents, family and friends, neighbors and acquaintances.  Lord, give me all that I need to carry the crosses of relationships.  Uphold me in my time of weakness.   Amen.

Sunday Meditation

Oh, if we could sit for just one half hour a day doing nothing except taking a simple word or phrase from the bible and holding it in our heart and mind.  “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.”  Say it three times.  We know it’s not true, because we want many things.  That is exactly why we’re so nervous.  But if we keep saying the truth, the real truth – “The Lord is my shepherd,, I shall not want” – and let that truth descend from our mind into our heart, gradually those words will be written on the walls of our inner holy place.  That becomes the space in which we can receive our colleagues and our work, our family and our friends, and the people we will meet during the day.

-          Henri Nouwen