BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD.
Be in your prayer space, follow the usual steps and settle into silence.
Sit still…..Relax…….Do not rush………
Take a couple of gentle, slow and deep breaths…becoming aware of your breath going in and out… stay focused on this breath of life……
Now from the depth of your heart begin to wish your mind well………
Take a moment. Bless your day. Let your day Bless you……Take another moment. Bless your world. Let your world bless you……
We continue our meditation on being Easter People……Easter people must remember and bless themselves with the words and actions of their master. Today’s meditation calls us to dwell on some of the most important words and deeds of our master, Jesus before his death.
Jesus had his last supper with his disciples (John 13:16-20). Great things happened during this meal. He had washed the feet of his disciples and called them to follow his example in gracious and self-sacrificing service. Jesus also wanted the disciples to know that redeeming the world would cost him his life and that he was choosing death and that it was his chosen act of “surrender” to the will of his Father. He was accepting death in fidelity, in loyalty, in love, in total giving. And one of the disciples was going to betray him who loved and trusted!
Learn to surrender to the will of the Father! Pray for wisdom and courage to accept the cost of self-surrender!
Jesus and the disciples were around the Passover table (John 13:31-35). Tension mounted among the twelve disciples as Jesus told them that one of them would betray him. Questions about who the betrayer was, suspicion of each other…….many such factors created confusion. It is amazing to know how Jesus tried to help the disciples become aware of what was happening and what was going to happen to him. They just failed to understand. They were too preoccupied with themselves and their ambitions.
Jesus made a final and special appeal to the heart of Judas. For the host to offer a special morsel from the dish was a sign of special friendship. When Jesus handed Judas Iscariot the “bit of food”, the “dipped morsel”, it was an offer of “special friendship”, a final appeal to the heart. But the heart of Judas was unmoved, full of greed, darkness, hate and didn’t see the light or the love that was offered. Judas left never to return!
Jesus told Peter as he affirmed his loyalty that even he would deny him ‘three times before the cock crows’. This was a tough time for Jesus and his disciples.
Be alert! Stay awake! Be sensitive to those around you and their concerns, needs, struggles, etc. Learn to see beyond yourself! Listen to the heart of those around you! Be compassionate!
After Judas left, rejecting the love that was offered, Jesus told the disciples that they were to live and love as he did: “love one another as I have loved you”. The standard of life and love went far beyond what they had known. It was no more, “love your neighbor as yourself”….it became, “love one another as I have loved you”.
The disciples were to love as the master loved…..not as others love them, not as they wish to be loved and not as they love themselves, but as the master himself loved! This is unconditional love…love unconquerable, invincible. This is love without competition, comparison, control and discrimination. This all embracing love…the way God loves…love of all people, the rich and the poor, the proud and haughty, the humble and meek. This is self-sacrificing love, “no one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends”.
May your love transcend competition and control…May your love transcend ill feelings, jealousies, hatred, etc….May you reach out in selfless and generous service!
As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you; Abide in my love. (Jn. 15:9)
The secret of the life of Jesus was his contact with the Father. Again and again, he withdrew to quiet places to be alone with the father. He knew what it meant to “abide” in the Father’s Love. His disciples must do the same.
To “abide” is to be in close contact; to be in touch; to be intimate; to live an intense, personal relationship.
I am the vine, you are the branches. He who lives in me and I in him, will produce abundantly, for apart from me you can do nothing (Jn. 15:5).
That they may all be one, as you Father are in me and I in you; I pray that they may be one in us, that the world may believe that you sent me (Jn. 17:21).
Love is patient; love is kind. Love is not jealous, it does not put on airs, it is not snobbish. Love is never rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not prone to anger; neither does it brood over injuries. Love does not rejoice in what is wrong but rejoices with the truth. There is no limit to love’s forbearance, to its trust, its hope, its power to endure. Love never fails (I Corinthians 13:4-8).
Love must transcend competition and control…
Love must reach out in selfless and generous service…
Love must transcend ill feelings, jealousies, hatred……
Love goes beyond the call of duty……
Love walks the extra mile……
Be transformed by God’s love….let that love be visible, be present, be the roots of all that you are…
Jesus called his disciples to be with him and to go forth from him to fulfill his mission. He gave them his message, his power, his lifestyle, his presence and a community to live in and to serve……
The disciples were commissioned to go out with the master’s message – not with their own agenda, but with the master’s word. They were to speak his word, in his name. They were to stand with him, in him and for him.
Be faithful to the WORD of Jesus!
Today, you are called to carry on and complete his mission…
Be strong! Stand fast in the Lord! Be rooted and growing in the Lord!
All of us carry the treasure of this loving Jesus, dwelling within us and working through us, fragile human beings – earthen vessels. We can not expect to witness perfection. But, we must be willing to stand up and be counted among the saints who struggled, suffered, sacrificed, prayed, loved, and served as they tried to follow their master………..
I must be able to proclaim – may be in imperfect words and actions – as best as I can that Jesus has touched my life. Jesus has made a difference in my life. I must let His way, his truth and his life transform my way, my truth and my life.
Day by day……Day by day……Oh, dear Lord, three things I pray…To see thee more clearly…To love thee more dearly…To follow thee more nearly……day by day…
Fr. Gus Tharappe1, msfs