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Today’s Gospel recalls the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. Jesus is Resurrection and life and we will see God’s glory when we have faith in him.
Perhaps, this week, I might feel called to renew my belief in the one who is Resurrection and fullness of life, and to ponder anew the gifts of life, freedom and joy which the Lord freely offers. What might life in his Spirit look like in the coming week?
#dailyingodsword
Jesus said, “I give you a new commandment: love one another. Just as I have loved you, you must also love one another” (John 13:34)
Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will.
To do your will, O my God, is my delight,
and your law is within my heart!
I speak of your faithfulness and salvation,
I have made no secret of your kindness and truth.
Psalm 40:8,11
🎨 Fresco in St. Athanasius Church in Zovik, Macedonia
#dailyingodsword
#praythepsalms
Feast of the Annunciation of the Lord
...She had been a child who played, ate, slept
like any other child–but unlike others,
wept only for pity, laughed
in joy not triumph.
Compassion and intelligence
fused in her, indivisible.
Called to a destiny more momentous
than any in all of Time,
she did not quail,
only asked
a simple, ‘How can this be?’
and gravely, courteously,
took to heart the angel’s reply,
the astounding ministry she was offered:
to bear in her womb
Infinite weight and lightness; to carry
in hidden, finite inwardness,
nine months of Eternity; to contain
in slender vase of being,
the sum of power–
in narrow flesh,
the sum of light.
Then bring to birth,
push out into air, a Man-child
needing, like any other,
milk and love–
but who was God.
This was the moment no one speaks of,
when she could still refuse.
A breath unbreathed,
Spirit,
suspended,
waiting.
____________________
She did not cry, ‘I cannot. I am not worthy,’
Nor, ‘I have not the strength.’
She did not submit with gritted teeth, coerced.
Bravest of all humans,
consent illumined her.
The room filled with its light.
Consent,
courage unparalleled,
opened her utterly.
- Denise Levertov
Annunciation (excerpt)
BLESSINGS ON THIS FEAST OF THE ANNUNCIATION! May our consent open us and illumine our lives with the light of her son, our brother and Lord!
🎨Annunciation by Mary Alexander Eastman
#saturdayswithmary
Dear friends: Courtesy of the artist, I'm happy to share this new painting, completed today, his Feast Day, of St. Oscar Romero, for St. Cecilia's Church in Boston, by Nancy Marek Cote. Thanks to the artist for sharing it. www.mareksaints.com/
Calling all songwriters, musicians, poets!
National competition for hymn about Eucharist – The Southern Cross
www.thesoutherncross.org
SAN DIEGO — From 13th-century St. Thomas Aquinas to contemporary singer-songwriter Sarah Hart, many have tried their hand at writing a hymn about the Eucharist.
Be surprised by joy, be surprised by the little flower that shows its beauty in the midst of a barren desert, and be surprised by the immense healing power that keeps bursting forth like springs of fresh water from the depth of our pain.
-Henri Nouwen
And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds…
Hebrews 10:24
Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.
Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.
Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.
If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.
1 Peter 4:8-11
“He professes to have knowledge of God
and styles himself a child of the LORD.
…his life is not like that of others,
and different are his ways.
He calls blest the destiny of the just
and boasts that God is his Father.”
Wisdom 2
#dailyingodsword
"Each one of you has to be a microphone for God. Each one of you has to be a messenger."
+Oscar Romero
Let’s not turn our gaze away
We join with the international community today in remembering Saint Oscar Arnulfo Romero, archbishop of El Salvador, assassinated on this day in 1980 by a paramilitary member because he was an advocate for the poor and condemned military and landowner violations of basic human rights. Honoring Romero, the United Nations proclaimed this day the International Day for the Right to the Truth Concerning Gross Human Rights Violations and for the Dignity of Victims. Let us pray Romero’s own words: “Let us be today’s Christians.
Let us not take fright at the boldness of today’s church.
With Christ’s light let us illuminate even the most hideous caverns of the human person: torture, jail, plunder, want, chronic illness.”
Saint Oscar, pray with us.
TODAY'S READINGS: Wisdom 2:1a, 12-22; John 7:1-2, 10, 25-30. “So Jesus cried out in the temple area as he was teaching.”
#takefiveforfaith
#useyourvoiceforgood #godsmicrophone
