compassion, day 5

Come to Stillness: Take a few minutes to allow your mind and heart to be still before God.

Opening Prayer:
Loving Father, teach me to love and care for those that need you today.  Those who are passed over and do not feel love unless I love them for you.  May Christ's love for others be felt through me today.  In your name and by your power I pray these things.  Amen. (Disciplines for the Inner Life by Michael Benson and Bob Benson)

Psalm for the Week: Psalm 103

Scripture for the Day: Matthew 25:31-46

Reading for Reflection: 

One of the ways Christ said He speaks to us is through those who are hungry and thirsty, through those who are strangers and those who need clothes, through those who are sick and in prison.  And what does He say to us through them?

     "Please give me something to eat."

     "I'm so thirsty."

     "I'm so very lonely.  Please stay a while and talk with me."

     "Please don't stare.  I'm embarrassed enough as it is."

     "Please don't be afraid of me.  I'm sick, that's all.  And I need help."

     "I am isolated from everyone in this prison.  Please come and visit me."

     Just as there are needy people on the street, there are needy people at the office...the factory...in the classroom...and at home.

     "I am hungry," they are saying, and maybe what they are hungry for is just a crust of human kindness.

     "I am thirsty," they are saying, and maybe what they are thirsty for is someone who will refresh them with a smile or a pat on the back or an e-mail of encouragement.

     "I am lonely," they are saying, and maybe what they are lonely for is someone who will befriend them, understand them, have lunch with them, and listen to them.

     Behind all of those voices of hunger and thirst, of loneliness and nakedness, of sickness and imprisonment, behind all of those voices is His voice calling us out of ourselves to Himself. (Windows of the Soul by Ken Gire)

 

Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself

Song for the Week: Our God Reigns

 

So much holy So divine
Yours and so much mine
By the morning Light is Thine
Perfect by design
Mighty to men Light of the earth
Sending the son To echo his worth
Breaker of sin, Winner of souls
Every creature will know

Our God Reigns Over the Heavens
Over the earth Our God reigns
Praise His name All still standing
All that was, all that remains
Our God reigns

In devotion To His bride
Standing by her side
Mighty to men Light of the earth
Sending the son To echo his worth
Breaker of sin, Winner of souls
Every creature will know

 

Closing Prayer:
Our Father, here I am, at your disposal, your child, to use me to continue your loving the world, by giving Jesus to me and through me, to each other and the world.  Let us pray for each other as we allow Jesus to love in us and through us with the love with which His Father loves him. (Seeking the Heart of God by Mother Teresa)