Devotion
What God Requires
Frances Taylor
I love this passage from the prophet Micah. What does God require of me? The answer is simple yet profound. He wants us to work for justice, to love and to be humble, remembering that God is God and we are not. I remember many years ago when my mother was still alive, we both belonged to the same political party and there were two people running for a place on the ballot. We both wanted the same end result, but we voted for two different people because we believed our candidate was the best choice to bring about the justice we wanted to see. Working for justice isn't always an easy choice. Love seems easier, but we've already seen that not all are lovable and that we are called to love those we don't necessarily like and even to love our enemies. Maybe walking humbly with our God is the easiest. Well, what does it mean to be humble? True humility does not deny the gifts we have been given, in fact it means using our gifts to the best of our ability while all the time giving God the credit. To give yourself a quick humility check, think about how you react to a compliment. Do you just say "thank you" or do you play it down as if you don't deserve the compliment? The humble person says thank you and if another person also deserves credit as well, they mention it. But to put one's self down is to deny God's gift and is false humility. And just when we thought we had an easy answer.
Prayer
Loving God, you have blessed us so much. Help us to give you what you require, a loving heart that will work for justice knowing we owe everything we have to you. Amen.
Devotion
Culpability
Frances Taylor
This is an interesting passage because, among other things, it talks about sin and who is considered guilty of sin. Paul is talking about how he has been forgiven, how God has been merciful to him because his actions were committed in unbelief. In order for sin to be committed, one needs to know he is committing it. No one can commit sin in retrospect. Sin is always a deliberate act. This can be hard for some to understand. Actions can be considered sinful, even though the person committing them may not be culpable. For example, lying is a sin. However, is the two year old hiding behind the curtains sinning when he or she claims not to have broken the vase? No, because the child has no understanding of the difference between truth and lie. Those who do not have a relationship with God, who do not know the commandments, who have never heard of Jesus, may commit sinful actions, but are not guilty of sin. This is what Paul claims is his situation. Paul ...
Morning Prayer
And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there: And both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, ) full of grace and truth.
Inspiration
When the Lord sent his only Son, he sent also his word. For his body was this very word made flesh. Importantly this was not simply a manifestation of God's word, but also rather an 'animation' of it (meant here in the original Latin as 'animare' –'to instill with life or spirit'), an instance of God's love and divine grace in action, among us.
Prayer
Lord, I am grateful for your mercy in showing us your word made flesh so that we may be redeemed. Further, I am grateful to you for showing us your love and grace through your only begotten son. Let his body not have been torn and broken for no avail, but feed us now in the Eucharist. Let not his blood have...
