Welcoming the Holy
Here we invite you to take time for yourself in personal prayer. The following spiritual reflection offers words and images which we hope will evoke for you an experience of God.
By: Sister Donna Del Santo
Opening Prayer
Psalm 90:1-6, 13-17 (From Psalms for Praying © 2007 Nan C. Merrill)
Eternal and Immortal One, You have been our refuge in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, before You had formed the earth and the world. From everlasting to everlasting, You are the Alpha and the Omega.
When our days on Earth are ended, You welcome us home to Your Heart, to the City of Light, where time is eternal and days are not numbered. You gather those who love You as friends returning from a long journey, giving rest to their souls. You anoint them with the balm of understanding, healing wounds of the past.
Awaken us, O Holy One! Too long have we been asleep! Have mercy on Your people! Help us to wait in Silence listening for Your gentle Voice. Strengthen us with courage to face the fears within. O, that we might be converted in our hearts and walk together in peace and harmony!
Let Your Love be known to the nations, Your Glory to our children's children. Let the grace and gentleness of the Holy Spirit be upon us, guiding our feet upon paths of Love Consciousness. Increase the Light within us, O Beloved, hear our prayer!
Scripture
Luke 10:25-77
Great crowds were traveling with Jesus,
and he turned and addressed them,
“If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother,
wife and children, brothers and sisters,
and even his own life,
he cannot be my disciple.
Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me
cannot be my disciple.”
Reflection
For me, this is one of Jesus’s most challenging gospels…Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple.
In our earliest SSJ documents, we were to be filled with “Zeal” for Christ’s mission. In other words, we are called to give our whole self to following Jesus, and to accept his way of seeing life and then put that into practice in the way we live.
If we find that the wants of our family members are being put before the genuine needs of others, then we need to ask, “Am I acting unjustly towards members of my broader family in Christ?” “Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.” (Matt 25:45)
So, the person who is an immigrant, or homeless, that waiter in the cafe, or the woman who is incarcerated...How do I love and care for each of these sisters and brothers as Jesus might?
Jesus speaks plainly about the cost of being his disciple. What do you think Jesus is trying to convey to his followers then and now, to you and me? How do you react to the challenge of these demanding words?
Closing Prayer
by Edward Hays in Prayers for a Planetary Pilgrim
Implant within my heart, O God,
the fiery zeal of a Jeremiah,
the conviction of a Ruth or Rebecca
and the zest of a Francis of Assisi.
Stir my slumbering soul,
that it might sing a song of passion and devotion,
drunk with dancing joy and desire for you,
my divine and loving Friend.
May my heart be as hot as the heart of Moses
for all your children burdened by slavery,
for all who feel oppression's steely heel
or suffer rejection in an alien land.
May I, like your son Jesus,
be consumed with zeal for you, Divine Beloved,
for life, for justice and for peace;
for all that I know in faith.
Fill me with zeal, O God.
Amen.
