14 June 2023 - glow up

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets.

I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.

Jesus was about to move in to the part of the Sermon on the Mount where he would reference the law, saying, "You have heard it said" and then appear to change it saying, "But I say to you". But before doing so he gave this introduction to clarify what he planned to do. What Jesus was going to say about the law was not that his hearers ought to set what they had heard from Moses aside for something entirely different, but rather to bring to receive from Jesus the deeper hidden fullness of meaning that the law contained.

Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away,

not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter

will pass from the law

The Pharisees probably regarded Jesus as lax when it came to the law. His disciples didn't observe ceremonial washings and even picked grain on the Sabbath. Yet their observations of Jesus and his disciples missed the point. Jesus himself always embraced the law as a harmonious whole, whereas the Pharisees got caught up in the details of the letter of the law. They divided and opposed different elements of the law in order to justify themselves, becoming judges of the law rather than submitting to it, in effect placing themselves above the law while still claiming to obey it. 

for the letter brings death, but the Spirit gives life.

The law was a dangerous tool in the hands of prideful and fallen men. They often used it in ways that brought about literal death, to the degree that they opposed Jesus healing on the Sabbath, even going so far as to kill Jesus himself. Yet even before the full outpouring of the Spirit the law had some degree of glory, still raised Israel head and shoulders above the other nations, preparing them to be the people to whom the Messiah would come. Yet the glow of that glory, of the whole system of ritual and sacrifice was destined to fade. It was unable to bring worshippers to the truly fulfilled version of the Law that Jesus alone could offer. But that old system always pointed beyond itself and toward Jesus. Letter was always meant to give way to Spirit. Legal observance was meant to be swallowed up in the loving obedience of sons and daughters.

For if what was going to fade was glorious,

how much more will what endures be glorious.

Only the teachings of Jesus are a rock so solid that they will endure forever. The living letters of his word will never pass away. We are meant to allow the Spirit of Jesus to write this law in our own hearts. It means that we must give up control, and stop attempting to twist the law into the service of our selfishness so that the Spirit himself can begin the work of untwisting our hearts and molding them to be like that of Jesus.

Maranatha! Music - I Will Delight

13 June 2023 - city lights

Today's Readings

(Audio)

You are the salt of the earth.

But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned?

The disciples of Jesus are meant to be the salt of the earth, both insofar as they act as preservatives for life, and insofar as their unique flavor is meant to help accent and bring out the many good but subtle aspects of flavor that are present but often hidden in creation.

How can disciples most embody this role as salt? It is only by embracing that which is distinctively Christian and not shying away from the flavor which such a life possesses. For it is only an authentic witness of a Christian where one's life and words are a harmonious whole based on the teachings of Jesus and the Scriptures that can be the source of life for others. This sort of saltiness not only preserves souls for eternity but also helps keep the culture around us alive as well. Without the unique contributions of Christians media and entertainment appear to devolve into the sort of gladiatorial combat popular in ancient Rome. Without Christians in political office society quickly begins to neglect the lowest and the least, the most invisible and marginalized members of society, and to instead gives care and protection only to the strong and the popular.

It is no longer good for anything

but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.

We can see that Christians who have lost this distinctive saltiness are ineffective, as their are many examples in the headlines. They engage in the discourse of the world on the level of the world rather than holding themselves to the higher standards of the Gospel. If the world lies then they feel that they must as well in order to compete. If the world espouses violence then so too, they think must they. Yet this seems to describe to some degree the vast majority of Christians in the public square. But it isn't really that surprising when we consider the genuine radicality of the true Christian witness. The saltiness is noticeable, and people instead seek acceptance under the guise of the familiar. Lest we be too quick to judge, we ourselves are often among those who join in the disordered games of the world. We too conceal our witness out of the desire for acceptance, but by doing so potentially deprive the world of what it needs to enjoy genuine life. At the very least this often results in the flavor of the dish being diminished into the watered down sludge we often experience.

You are the light of the world.

A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden.

Christians are sometimes afraid to let their lights shine because they worry that if they do they will begin to grow in pride. They rightly want to avoid becoming like the Pharisees who blow trumpets to mark their good deeds and instead want to hide from their right hand what their left hand is doing. It is true that we aren't meant to merely radiate light in order to be admired. And honestly, as with the Pharisees, such attempts don't go very far to actually transform our world. But if we can instead get our minds off of ourselves and set about the good works prepared for us in advance we may hope to be the lights of the world with becoming to preoccupied about it ourselves. The trick is to be present in the world as servants focused on others, able to be noticed, but not seeking that recognition as our chief reward.

Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket;

If we hide our light one of two scenarios is likely. The first is that we might smother it entirely. But the second, the one which we may hope for, is that the bushel itself may catch fire and escape our attempts to hide or control it. There are times when our pride wants to show off our goodness to others, and such times as these we can resist and avoid. But there are times when we know that we should be stepping out into the world as agents of the light but find ourselves afraid to do so. These times when things are beyond our control are not the sort that satisfy our pride or vanity. But they are the ones from which the Father is often the most glorified, since it becomes all the more obvious that it is he himself at work.

For however many are the promises of God, their Yes is in him;

therefore, the Amen from us also goes through him to God for glory.

That we as Christians can be the light of the world is just one of the many promises of God in Scriptures. Like all of them, this is one that cannot be embraced by our own strength or skill. It requires us to stand on faith, of committing our own "yes" to the absolute "Yes" given by Jesus himself to the Father. As such we are called to get off the fence and stop wavering at "maybe". Instead, we are called to more completely trust the one whose "Yes" was unwavering. This trust will unlock the power of his promises in our own lives, promises which work precisely when our faith is firm.

But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind (see James 1:6).

Maranatha! Music - Shine Jesus Shine

12 June 2023 - rooted in God

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Since "only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven" (see Matthew 19:23) Jesus called the poor in spirit blessed. We can say that the poor in spirit are those who are truly in the world but not of the world, using the things of the world while not being possessed by them (see First Corinthians 7:31). Such a one does not hoard her wealth as did the rich man who ignored Lazarus, or build silos to store up more excesses herself. Such riches as we do have are meant to be the the disposal and the service of the Kingdom. And insofar as we must do without material things we can still have the comfort that comes from being a part of God's Kingdom, assured that our deepest spiritual needs will always be met.

Blessed are they who mourn,

for they will be comforted.

The Lord himself is the "Father of compassion and the God of all encouragement". He himself is the one who fills us with encouragement when we mourn in order that "we may be able to encourage those who are in any affliction" with the very gift God first gave to us. The world apart from God can do very little to provide comfort to those who mourn. Apart from God individuals can convey understanding and sympathy but they generally can't do much to change the harsh realities of life in a fallen world. But God himself is able to transform affliction into joy and death into resurrection. Our every affliction becomes an opportunity to learn to experience the comfort of God in a new way. This in turn helps us to become lights to a world that is afflicted, feels hopeless, and doesn't know where to turn.

Blessed are the meek,

for they will inherit the land.

Meekness is said to be power under control. It is the result of not forcing things, acting violently, or insisting on one's own way. In short it is the very opposite of the strategy that would seem to actually result in any kind of individual gain, much less inheriting the land. Yet when we don't insist on using our power to do things our way we can learn to perceive and cooperate with divine power. When we learn to root our choices in the divine power we will move past our own desperation and struggle and discover that the land is somehow mysteriously already ours. Similar to how it was not by their own strength that those of the exodus generation eventually conquered the promised land, we can only enter the spiritual promised land by following God's lead, by willing to be still and let him fight for us.

The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still (see Exodus 14:14).

Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness often seem to be anything but satisfied. And if such satisfaction could only come when every wrong was at last put to right they would have to wait until the return of the Lord in glory to truly experience it. But it seems that there is a sense in which they can discover a source of satiety even during this life, even amidst a fallen world. This can happen when they allow God himself to be the source of their nourishment, so that they can say that he "has filled the hungry with good things" (see Luke 1:53). They are then like Jesus himself, whose food was to do the will of his heavenly Father. It is fidelity and rather than success that disposes us to be fed by God in this way. It really can come to pass that the Eucharist both sates our deepest spiritual hungers and yet disposes us to seek even more ardently the transformation of the world around us.

Blessed are the merciful,

for they will be shown mercy.

Mercy only makes sense if it is available to everyone. On what grounds would we try to plea for mercy and yet condemn others? Since we all stand in need of mercy as sinners who have fallen short of the glory of God (see Romans 3:23) we are meant to desire mercy not only for ourselves but for the world. When God deigns to show us mercy he means to transform us into agents of mercy. The very idea that mercy could be constricted or contained, hoarded for oneself, is foreign to it. Mercy must flow through us if it is to truly be effective in us.

Blessed are the clean of heart,

for they will see God.

Our hearts tend to become like car windshields after a long trip, covered with insects and bird excrement. It becomes hard to see things as they truly are through such a layer of accretion. On the journey of our spiritual lives we are meant to both avoid the paths that we know will tarnish our hearts with sin and to return again and again to the living water that can wash them clean. The point of this is not only to see the road ahead, but especially the destination, God himself. Only by seeing him can we truly and finally come to rest in him, for it is by seeing him that we are transformed.

And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another (see Second Corinthians 3:18)

Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is (see First John 3:2).

Peacemakers are called children of God because they become like Jesus himself who established peace between God and humankind and created the possibility of true peace between peoples, the bond of peace which the Spirit himself brings about (see Ephesians 4:3). Jesus desires us to share this peace with the world, since it is peace that the world itself cannot give, just as he himself first shared it with us.

The most important thing is, as we have heard, to seek first the Kingdom of God, for when we do we will find that even persecutions, insults, and falsehoods spoken against us cannot compare to the greater joy of living lives rooted in God. It is then that we experience "all these things" being added to us (see Matthew 6:33), then that we "receive a hundredfold now in this time" (see Mark 10:30).

If something seems to be missing from our lives is it really missing? Or are we just looking in the wrong places, trying to draw water from cisterns that cannot hold water (see Jeremiah 2:13)? The wonderful thing about the beatitudes is that there is nothing to earn, no work that we must do to qualify. They are instead gifts that transform us from those with no foundation, tossed about but the circumstances of this life, to those whose foundations are built in a rock, Christ himself.

Look to him that you may be radiant with joy,

and your faces may not blush with shame.

When the poor one called out, the LORD heard,

and from all his distress he saved him.

Newsboys - Joy

11 June 2023 - bread of angels

Today's Readings

(Audio)

He therefore let you be afflicted with hunger,

and then fed you with manna

The ancient Israelites ate manna in the dessert in order to help them understand that their exodus journey from Egypt depended entirely on the providence of God. He let them "be afflicted with hunger" precisely so they could understand their need for his gift of manna and to appreciate it. They were to learn that man could not live "by bread alone does one live, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of the LORD". 

Those who ate the manna in the desert still died, and indeed did not even enter into the promised land. They did not yet demonstrate themselves to be a people who lived by the word of God but instead one who put him to the test. They grew tired of their supernatural food and their patience was worn out by their journey. They had received bread of angels  (see Wisdom 16:20) but still somehow found plenty about which to complain.

"I am the living bread that came down from heaven;

whoever eats this bread will live forever;

Fortunately, this was not the end of the story. Jesus taught that the bread of the exodus was only a sign pointing toward a bread that was truly living, full of life-giving power.

Amen, amen, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave the bread from heaven; my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world (see John 6:32-33).

The gift of the bread was meant to teach the exodus generation to depend on the word of God. So it was fitting that the Word of God himself would become living bread so that the people could feast, not only a symbol, but on the substance of that Word, and truly root themselves in dependence on God. 

Just as the living Father sent me

and I have life because of the Father,

so also the one who feeds on me

will have life because of me.

Jesus himself said that he had hidden food that his hearers did not recognize, saying, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work" (see John 4:32-34). The utter dependence of Jesus on his Father was the food that sustained him. In turn Jesus was able to actually be food of this same sort for others. It was to be a food that was concerned not with satisfying the appetites of the body, but those of the soul. Thus is was life-giving in a way that any sort of earthly bread could never be.

Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood

has eternal life,

and I will raise him on the last day.

For my flesh is true food,

and my blood is true drink.

It was of course shocking to see symbol give way to substance in the person of Jesus himself. It would have been impossible to anticipate that God would give himself so completely in this way. Bread seemed to be too humble to become the way in which God would give himself away. But then, if he truly wanted to give all that he was, flesh, blood, soul, and divinity, could there have been a more complete way to demonstrate it? 

Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood

remains in me and I in him.

Normal food provides a measure of communion with those with whom meals are shared. It happens in a merely external way that is easy to dismiss or ignore. But the living bread, who is Jesus himself, desires to provide communion with himself, the Father, and the Spirit at the most internal and intimate level imaginable. Yet in spite of the riches of this gift it is still fairly easy to ignore the way in which he enters our hearts and infuses us with eternal life.

I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing (see John 15:5).

We might imagine that it is common for branches to take the vine very much for granted until and unless they are separated from it and realize how, without it, they whither and quicky die. So too with the nourishment we receive in the Eucharist. We need faith to appreciate the gift we have been given. Without faith we tend to close ourselves off to the life-giving potential of the gift, in effect starving ourselves of the only source of true life. It is better to not need to learn the hard way by being separated from that life and seeing where we stand on our own. Instead, we should use our faith to recognize the truth of what Jesus is doing and desires to do within us. Then we will be grateful for what we receive and open to the possibility of still greater transformation by his power. Such growth remains quite hidden, but the eyes of faith can have the assurance that it is nevertheless taking place.

The cup of blessing that we bless,

is it not a participation in the blood of Christ?

The bread that we break,

is it not a participation in the body of Christ?

Jesus promised that he would be with us always, unto the end of the age (see Matthew 28:20), and the place where he is maximally present to us is precisely in his gift of the Eucharist. He gives himself in this way because he desires to live within us, to fill us, to sustain us, to be the very life that is the source of our life. If a normal meal provides some level of fellowship for those who eat, imagine what untapped riches of relationship are possible for share in the communion of this bread and this cup.

He has granted peace in your borders;

with the best of wheat he fills you.

Jim Cowan - This Is Jesus

Curtis Stephen - This Is Jesus

Sister Stacy Whitfield - How Lovely

10 June 2023 - alms in

Today's Readings

(Audio)

In the course of his teaching Jesus said,

"Beware of the scribes, who like to go around in long robes

and accept greetings in the marketplaces,

seats of honor in synagogues,

and places of honor at banquets.

They devour the houses of widows

Jesus warned his listeners to beware seeking honor for honor's sake, especially in matters of religion. His examples the type of behavior to avoid were scribes who were motivated by the pride they enjoyed from the esteem of others, by their desire to be noticed, respected, and celebrated. This led to a sense of entitlement in which they came to believe their own hype. This in turn led them to take advantage of others who were weak and dependent, as a matter of course. 

as a pretext, [they] recite lengthy prayers.

We know we've veered into troubled territory when our prayers become a pretext. This means that we have forgotten the fear of the Lord that causes us to depend on him and cling to him. Instead our prayers become perfunctory, designed to give a religious veneer to what is in fact entirely self-directed and self-oriented lifestyle. That we could be sincere in prayer on the one hand and ignore those needy ones beloved by God on the other is meant to be impossible. Genuine prayer would open our hearts to God's concern for the widow and the orphan. It would remind us that any honors we receive in this world do not really accrue to us but rather to God who has given us any gift that others might notice and celebrate. 

A poor widow also came and put in two small coins worth a few cents.

In contrast to the scribes who succumbed to an imagined sense of self-sufficiency and entitlement Jesus presented a widow whose complete dependence of God was evident. The scribes would not have even noticed a woman like this, trampling over those like her in their own desire for profit. Had they seen her small gift to the treasury they would not have been impressed. They would likely have criticized the apparent functional uselessness of such a gift. Why, a voice like this might ask, give something when it will accomplish nothing for the temple and only leave the giver bankrupt? The value of such a gift is indeed hidden in the eyes of the world which measures only that which is useful and successful as good. But Jesus measured with different metrics than those of the world.

Amen, I say to you, this poor widow put in more

than all the other contributors to the treasury.

We prefer to remain in control, to give only from our surplus, only what we can easily do without. But the widow was an icon of the true Christian life, surrendered for others out of love, just as Jesus himself did on the cross. The logic of such self-gift is only evident in the giving when we realize the freedom that comes from basing our lives in total dependence on God himself. No one thought the cross was a good idea in advance when Jesus warned them about it. But it was the ultimate source of resurrection and of life.

The point is not for us to intentionally ruin ourselves financially. It is rather for us not be fooled by worldly honors but instead to remember our own poverty such that any gifts we might give are only tokens of the love we ourselves have received. When we learn that all that we have and all that we are comes from God we will no longer feel the need to hold anything back from him. We will then be able to give when we are asked to give and what we do retain we will keep in for his service. Because ultimately our gift is not merely supposed to be about money, but our very selves. This is good news because it means we don't have to be rich our successful to be pleasing to God. He looks, not at our skill, but at our love.

give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you (see Luke 6:38).

It is true that when we give of ourselves God is able to unleash more of his power in our lives, as he did with Raphael in the case of Tobit, Tobiah, and Sarah. He can do this because in doing so he won't sabotage us with human honor, but any glory will instead redound to his praise.

Raphael called the two men aside privately and said to them:

"Thank God! Give him the praise and the glory.

Before all the living,

acknowledge the many good things he has done for you,

by blessing and extolling his name in song.

Honor and proclaim God's deeds,

and do not be slack in praising him.

Matt Maher featuring Lizzie Morgan - Leaning

9 June 2023 - son and Lord?

Today's Readings

(Audio)

How do the scribes claim that the Christ is the son of David?

Jesus was inviting those who listened to broaden their concept of who the Messiah would be. Yes, he would, as they knew, be the Son of David, just as the then still blind Bartimaeus corrected identified Jesus himself (see Mark 10:46-52). 

David himself, inspired by the Holy Spirit, said:

The Lord said to my lord,

'Sit at my right hand

until I place your enemies under your feet.'

This psalm to which Jesus referred was a psalm of enthronement for new kings of Israel. However, as the monarchy was only a distant memory at the time of Jesus it had come to be widely accepted as having a deeper meaning that prophetically predicted the coming on the Messiah. 

David himself calls him 'lord';

so how is he his son?"

In the ancient world a father would not address his son as 'lord'. In order for this to make sense there would need to be an individual that was a son of David that was somehow greater than David, a son in a way that was unique among the ancestors of David. Natural explanations fell short. They could account for a son or a lord but not both in one. In truth, only the incarnation of Jesus answered the apparent riddle. Only the one who was both Son of God and son of David would make sense of David addressing the Messiah as his Lord. Jesus was greater than Abraham, greater than Solomon, greater even than David, the Messianic antetype. The fact that he was addressed as lord ('adoni') was a hint not only of his Messianic identity, but also of his divinity.

The great crowd heard this with delight.

Jesus did not simply drop into the scene in ancient Israel without context or preparation. And yet we can see that he defied and transcended all expectations of him. It was evident that the prophecies preparing the way for his coming were ample, but impossible to understand until he appeared. They were like a lock to which only Jesus himself was the corresponding key. But it is clear that once the fulfillment of these promises was understood it set people on fire. We can see this from the abundance of the use of Messianic psalms in the preaching of the early Church found in Acts of the Apostles.

Exalted at the right hand of God, he received the promise of the holy Spirit from the Father and poured it forth, as you (both) see and hear. For David did not go up into heaven, but he himself said: ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.”’ Therefore let the whole house of Israel know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified (see Acts 2:33-36).

The crowds were delighted, probably in large part because they perceived that Jesus had confounded his interlocuters with cleverness or cunning. But there was a more genuine cause of joy to be found in the words of Jesus, as they had the potential to help people transcend limited ideas about the Messiah, and therefore about Jesus himself. And we too often mistakenly impose human limitations on our understanding of Jesus. We too sometimes see the son of David without realizing that he is also at the same time Lord of all. Let us too thrill to let go of our limited ways of thinking and allow Jesus to reveal himself to us. He is the Lord of all (see Acts 10:36), the King of Kings and Lord of Lords (see Revelation 19:16). Let us rejoice in worshipping this King.

Our merely human problems all stand to benefit because Jesus is more than merely human. He is able to bring healing and establish godly relationships just as Tobit, Anna, Sarah, and Tobiah experienced. Because Jesus is God, and not merely one competitive power among many within contingent reality, there is nothing that is beyond him. Let us join the chorus of praise.

The LORD gives sight to the blind.

The LORD raises up those who are bowed down;

the LORD loves the just.

The LORD protects strangers.

Chris Tomlin - Jesus Messiah

JJ Hairston & Youth Praise ft. Hezekiah Walker - LORD Of All

8 June 2023 - first of all?

Today's Readings

(Audio)

One of the scribes came to Jesus and asked him,

"Which is the first of all the commandments?"

This scribe seemed to have better motives than the Pharisees and the Sadducees whom we recently saw attempting to entrap Jesus in his speech. Instead, this man appeared to have a genuine curiosity about Jesus and his teaching and asked him through this question for a summary of what he was all about. Yet although he did not appear to be hostile and although the initial answer of Jesus was not altogether surprising it still seemed like he got a response that was much more challenging than he expected.

Jesus replied, "The first is this:

Hear, O Israel!

The Lord our God is Lord alone!

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,

with all your soul, with all your mind,

and with all your strength.

The scribe might well have expected to hear the great Shema prayer of Israel as the response of Jesus. Such a response in itself was in keeping with the tradition and history of the people of Israel who had been taught to value this commandment above all. 

The second is this:

You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

In giving a second when the scribe only asked for the first Jesus immediately changed the game. The scribe thought he was asking a question about the proper hierarchy of commandments, such that one could, if necessary, choose one over and against another. Taken to extremes this resulted in the false piety of the Pharisees who, for instance complained when healings were performed on the Sabbath. Such individuals could imagine that so much of their heart, soul, mind and strength, was directed to God that there was no room for neighbor. 

There is no other commandment greater than these.

Jesus revealed instead that there could be no conflict between love of God and the love of those whom God had created. Truly loving God with the entirety of one's being meant also being utterly committed to one's neighbors. Setting the commandments against each other was a demonstration that one was not fully given over to God, but was creating opposition between commandments in order to create a space of freedom to be selfish, and to render God as more of an abstraction than one who truly made demands upon his followers. 

If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a fellow believer, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? (see First John 4:20).

When we approach our Christian life we try to resolve the question of what our priorities should be by dividing various goods and weighting their values. This is such a very human way to think about things that it can be hard to imagine any other way could be possible. And, as a crutch, it isn't all bad to have such a hierarchy. The real problem is when we use it to justify our the minimalism of our own commitment of discipleship. Jesus wants to help us to see the apparently conflicting demands of discipleship in a new light wherein God and neighbor are not at odds, but a unified whole. We will experience this when our love of God feels the need to overflow into love for those around us and when our love of neighbor feels incomplete when it is without reference to God. 

And when Jesus saw that he answered with understanding,

he said to him, "You are not far from the Kingdom of God."

And no one dared to ask him any more questions.

The answer of Jesus was so impressive as to silence the crowds. No one dared to ask him any more questions because his answer to this last answer had left no wiggle room for ego or selfishness, and showed that truly loving God wholeheartedly wasn't something commonplace and already practiced by many, but rather another level and an open invitation. Hence Jesus said, "You are not far from the Kingdom of God". But what of us, who are, by grace, members of that Kingdom? How divided are our hearts? How many different directions apart from God is love leaking out of us? Jesus desires to unify us, not only with one another, but within our own hearts as well, making us to love as he loves. It is this sort of love that is worth more than sacrifices, that gives value to any offerings that are given. It is this love for God and neighbor that was preeminently on display when Jesus embraced the cross. And it is this path we are called to follow.

Now, Lord, you know that I take this wife of mine

not because of lust,

but for a noble purpose.

Call down your mercy on me and on her,

and allow us to live together to a happy old age.

We can see in Tobiah and Sarah a relationship where love of God and love of one another was not in conflict. They loved one another all the more because God held the first place in each of their hearts. And this can be true not only of marriages as was the case with them, but with all human relationships. When we embrace the call of Jesus to love with all of our hearts we will find ourselves healed and protected by angels and safe from the powers of hell.

Bob Fitts - One God