compassion, day 1

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: Luke 6:27-36

Reading for Reflection: 

This is the Season of Love.  What happens in us is the miracle of discovering our potential to care for others.  And so, we become foot-washing, water-walking, healing, beatitude people.  Our lives begin to bless.  We are compelled to respond to the Word of God, to speak in the Holy Name, to live out our ministry of love.

     We are fragile vessels whose love often gets tired.  We need to be converted over and over again.  And so, the healing act of our growth continues.  We empty ourselves that we may be filled.  We uproot that we may proclaim.  We take off our masks.  We call forth gifts.  We bless.  We wash feet.  And somewhere between the shedding of our masks and the foot-washing, we discover that it is not so much what we do that touches lives as who we are becoming.  And so we rest in the truth that what is most important is not how much of ourselves we leave with others, but how much we enable others to be themselves. (Seasons of the Heart by Macrina Wiederkehr)

 

 

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)