Opening Prayer: Spirit of Wisdom, may we bear your love
for humanity by bringing good news to the poor. Acting according to your will, we will
come to know your reign, where all will be seated at your heavenly
banquet. Let us bring food to the
hungry, healing to the violated, and presence to the lonely. Teach us to shine like the stars in our
relationship with God, with our neighbor, and with all of creation. Lead us in promoting peace and
integrity through our everyday challenges. May your comforting embrace
bring us compassion for others. Amen.
~William Purcell
Scripture: Luke 4:14-21
Journal: What does it look like in your life to bring the
good news to the poor? To proclaim
liberty for the captives and recovery of sight to the blind? What does it look like to set at liberty
those who are oppressed and proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor? What does Jesus want this to look like in our
lives?
Reflection:
The question is not: How many people take you
seriously? How much are you going to
accomplish? Can you show results? But:
Are you in love with Jesus?
Perhaps another way of putting the question would be: Do you know the incarnate God? In our world of loneliness and despair, there
is an enormous need for men and women who know the heart of God, a heart that
forgives, that cares, that reaches out and wants to heal. In that heart there is no suspicion, no
revenge, no resentment, and not a tinge of hatred. It is a heart that wants only to give love
and receive love in response. It is a
heart that suffers immensely because it sees the magnitude of human pain and the
great resistance to trusting the heart of God who wants to offer comfort and
hope. (In the Name of Jesus by Henri J. M. Nouwen)
Prayers
Closing Prayer: Lord, please open my eyes. Please let me see those around me that are in
need of my compassion. Compel me to
listen to them, to hear their needs. Give
me the heart to be interested in their troubles and provide for me the means to
help them. I want to be compassionate. I want to be like you that had so much
compassion for the world that you sacrificed your Son on a cross for us. I want to have that kind of heart for the
world that I will do all I can to be a voice for the oppressed, a giver to the
poor, an encouragement for the disabled.
Amen. ~Kelli Mahoney
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