Devotional Thought of the Day

7 Everything will soon come to an end. So be serious and be sensible enough to pray. 8 Most important of all, you must sincerely love each other, because love wipes away many sins. 1 Peter 4:7-8 CEV

Christian petition is centered on the desire and search for the Kingdom to come, in keeping with the teaching of Christ.107 There is a hierarchy in these petitions: we pray first for the Kingdom, then for what is necessary to welcome it and cooperate with its coming. This collaboration with the mission of Christ and the Holy Spirit, which is now that of the Church, is the object of the prayer of the apostolic community.

I’ve been praying a lot today.

But perhaps not where I should have been praying.

Two of my friends, really mentors, one from my college days (Rodney) and one from the time I moved into the Lutheran Church as a pastor (Deacon Duane) are facing some medical struggles. Rod is dealing with memory issues, and just went on Hospice. Duane, who is battling cancer, is in the I.C.U. evening. My hearts and prayers are for them, and for their families. (And for quite a few others)

And yet, in my devotional reading today, I came across these two passages. They remind me that we pray not only for this world, but that we would take the time we have left serious. That we spend time in prayer, and as we talk to God, we grow in faith, and in the assurance of God’s love for us.

So in these times, I need to remember to pray for God’s kingdom to come, and in view of those prayers, I need to love people around me. The time is short. It seems like yesterday I was asked to sit on a committee by Rod, it seemed like yesterday I was staying at Duane’s up in Washington. I haven’t seen either in too long, and yet the common faith of both would say – keep reading out to people around you.

And that is where faith sustains us, in these times where our hearts aren’t focused on being missional, on remembering that God is in charge. That is where we keep on worshipping and praying and seeing what God is doing in our lives, and the lives of the ones we love.

Pray for my two friends please… but also pray that God’s kingdom comes, and that those around you will rejoice at its coming.

God’s peace

Catholic Church, Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd Ed. (Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1997), 633.