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In 2014, I am facilitating a 12-week interactive online course in contemplative prayer and action for priests with Saint Luke Institute. Please visit SLIconnect.org to learn more: https://www.sliconnect.org/product/living-god-program-contemplative-life-2/
In 2014, I am facilitating a 12-week interactive online course in contemplative prayer and action for priests with Saint Luke Institute. Please visit SLIconnect.org to learn more: https://www.sliconnect.org/product/living-god-program-contemplative-life-2/
Monday 5th
Week of Easter
St. Luke’s Institute
May 19, 2014
FIRE TO DESTROY ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Ø
There were many ways in which God could have
saved the world
Ø
When James and John encountered opposition, they
asked Jesus about calling down fire from heaven to destroy their enemies
Ø
That same thought may have occurred to Paul and
Barnabas in our first reading
Ø
It certainly would have been fast and effective,
but Jesus reprimands them for suggesting such a response
Ø
Instead, God chose to save the world neither by
warfare nor by destruction of enemies, but rather through love
Ø
One would wonder why
LOVE TO TRANSFORM ++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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When Paul wrote that love is patient, love is
kind, etc. (1 Cor 13:4-13), he was describing God’s attitude toward the world
Ø
And thus the attitude expected of the followers
of J
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In today’s Gospel, John confirms that if we want
to know God, we have to be loving people
Ø
Consider what loving someone opens up for some
whose hostile toward us
Ø
A tit-for-tat alternative merely escalates
discord
Ø
Loving and acceptance on the other hand opens up
the solution space for the individual
Ø
It’s a space in which s/he can become much more
Ø
And most importantly it’s the way of Jesus
Ø
And it is in imitating Jesus that we become
vehicles of G’s presence, G’s approach, in our fallen world
THE REAL FOLLOWER OF
JESUS +++++++++++++++++++
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Some XTNS get tired of hearing all this talk abt
love
Ø
If not fire from heaven, they prefer emphasizing
law, rituals, and dogmas as signs of their religion
Ø
Real follower of Christ, however, finds love to
be the focus of their lives
Ø
Love is what it’s all about
Ø
C.S. Lewis observed, “We were made not primarily that we may love God but that God may love
us”
CONCLUSION
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Ø
Yes, there were many ways in which God could
have saved the world, but he chose the one he knew best: he chose love
Ø
And we’re left with the question, “What will we
choose?”
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
