20 April 2016 - into specifics

[ Today's Readings ]

I came into the world as light,
so that everyone who believes in me might not remain in darkness. 

Jesus, help us come into the light. You don't want to condemn us. But you need us to see things they way they really are. You tell us the truth straight from the Father not to condemn us but to save us. But since what you are telling us is the truth we must obey it. If we don't we remain in darkness ignorant of the truth, possibly ignoring it. But it remains the truth even when we don't see it. 

Whoever rejects me and does not accept my words
has something to judge him: the word that I spoke,
it will condemn him on the last day,
because I did not speak on my own,

These words of yours are truth. You speak them to set us free. But they remain truth if we don't choose freedom. You don't take delight in saying, 'I told you so.' But you do tell us so. Help us to listen.

LORD, we need to listen. Listening is how we come to believe in you and the one who sent you. It is how we come into the light of truth and how we become connected to the Triune God. It is precisely this posture of the heart that the Church in Antioch manifests in today's first reading.

While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said,
“Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul
for the work to which I have called them.” 
Then, completing their fasting and prayer,
they laid hands on them and sent them off.

This is how the Church truly works as your body, LORD. It listens and you move within it, pushing it out to the work for which you have called it. It is not content to just listen once and go. Instead hands are laid on the missionaries so that they can manifest a continual openness to your voice as they are "sent forth by the Holy Spirit" to proclaim your word.

This seems, as it often does, like more specificity than we can expect when we try to listen in modern times. But it is not. You want to speak to us. You want us to hear you so clearly that we also hear the Father and the Spirit. You want to send us out so that we can turn the dark places of this world into places where your light shines.

May God have pity on us and bless us;
may he let his face shine upon us.
So may your way be known upon earth;
among all nations, your salvation.

An oldie but a goodie..