Category: lectio divina

2015.08.08: the way of words

Take to heart these words which I enjoin on you today. Drill them into your children. Speak of them at home and abroad, whether you are busy or at rest. Bind them at your wrist as a sign and let them be as a pendant on your forehead. – Dt 6:6-8

it’s easy to hear the words
it’s easy to speak the words
it’s easy to write the words
and wear it on our wrists
and around our necks

it’s not so easy
to open our hearts
and experience the words
seeping into our very being

only when we are the words
will the people believe

2015.08.07: the way of the cross

Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? – Mt 16:24-26

the cross marks the spot
where heaven meets earth
before you lies the choice
power or the Truth
social status or the cross
the world or your life
the temptations of the desert

the cross represents
heaven and earth
divine and human
choice and chosen
freedom and obedience
come, lay down your life
pick up the cross and follow
Emmanuel, God with us
the way to the Father
the way of the cross
the way, the truth, and the life

2015.08.06: revealed

Jesus took Peter, James, and his brother John, and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, – Mk 9:2

everything on earth
a reflection of heaven
made more apparent
in the waters of baptism

here on the mountain
heaven intersects earth
divine incarnate and
human transfigured

from this origin
all things begin anew
the journey home begins
the cross remains a choice

2015.08.05: the Father’s will

Then Jesus said to her in reply, “O woman, great is your faith!* Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed from that hour. – Mt 15:27

Lord Jesus, i am grateful
that it was your will
that my daughter be healed

my faith was just as strong
when i prayed to no avail
to the gods of my ancestors

many are the mothers
who have greater faith than mine
yet their children remain uncured
and cry out in the night

i am grateful for the outcome
yet i was already strangely at peace
with the will of the Heavenly Father

2015.08.04: human condition

Immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” – Mt 14:31

o Lord, my God
it is not you that I doubt
it is myself that I doubt
i can never withstand the test of time
no matter how many times you forgive me
i just can’t stop sinning
no matter how many deeds you perform
i can’t stop doubting
i fear
it’s the human condition

yet in my despair
you come and comfort me
you do not wish for an unblemished soul
you do not need an unstained baptismal gown
you only want sincerity
you want an honest dialogue
a total abandonment of disguises
no more barriers to connection
a perfect union of human and divine
one body
one soul
one Spirit