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The Greatest Victory of This Year… Who Will You Tell About It?
Devotional Thought on Monday:
15 I speak to you as sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. 16 The cup we use in the Lord’s Supper and for which we give thanks to God: when we drink from it, we are sharing in the blood of Christ. And the bread we break: when we eat it, we are sharing in the body of Christ. 17 Because there is the one loaf of bread, all of us, though many, are one body, for we all share the same loaf. 1 Corinthians 10:15-17 (TEV)
938 Let us go to Jesus in the Tabernacle where we can get to know him and assimilate his teaching, and then be able to hand out this food to souls.
Yesterday, we celebrated an incredible victory.
I wonder which of us will share the news of this victory today?
Yesterday, we were invited to feast together, with a crowd far greater than any audience to watch any superbowl, any all star game. A diverse and rowdy bunch for sure, as people not just across racial, cultural, and age gaps were gathered together. Even across time were gathered in the presence of God to feast, to enjoy, to know God’s love.
What a victory we celebrate! What a victory we can share with others!
Our victory, for we share in it with Jesus. We share in His Body, His Blood, together. We share in praising Him with angels and archangels and all those host of Heaven.
After a super bowl victory, the fans will relive the special moments of the game for weeks. I am still getting advertisements for Patriot gear. People are still talking about it though it is slowing down quite a bit.
I wonder why we don’t talk about the Lord’s Supper, the Eucharist, with similar fervor? Even among church folk – you rarely might hear how good a sermon was, or more likely the music, but how often do we hear about how incredible communion was?
Is it too intimate?
Do we not comprehend what took place?
Do we not realize the promises, once guaranteed, now fulfilled as we take and eat, take and drink?
Do we not understand what it means to proclaim and celebrate His death, which intercepted our spiritual death, until He comes again?
Celebrate my friends! As you do, at that moment as you take the Body and Blood of Christ and are nourished by it, may you gain more insight into God’s love for you! May you know the incredible dimensions of that love, revealed in Christ Jesus being made a sacrifice, for you.
AMEN!
Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). The Forge (Kindle Locations 3316-3317). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
The Simplicity of Sharing God’s Love…
Devotional Thought of the day….
28:16 The eleven disciples went to the hill in Galilee where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him, even though some of them doubted. 18 Jesus drew near and said to them, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. 19 Go, then, to all peoples everywhere and make them my disciples: baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, 20 and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you. And I will be with you always, to the end of the age.”
Matthew 28:16-20 (TEV)
“The moment you have anyone—whoever he may be—at your side, find a way, without doing anything strange, to pass on to him the joy you experience in being a son of God and living as such.” (1)
There are many things to think through, in the scene mentioned above, as having broken the power of death and shame, Jesus gives the disciples some last directions about the ministry He is sharing with them.
It is interesting to me that even in His presence, some doubted, for that gives me hope, when I struggle with this great work we have – and indeed, considering the last verse we have the answer. We are never far from our Triune God and His glory – even here in this “life”.
I love parts of the TEV translation here – especially when it uses “people” rather than nations. Nations distance the project, they make it seem larger than possible – to go into ALL the WORD and make disciples of ALL NATIONS. If we consider the task with those words, it is easy to become disappointed, disillusion – 7 billion people? But if we see that passage refering to going everywhere – and making disciples of people, the task becomes a matter of life, a matter of our vocation, not some task, but really, that which is part of every role, every vocation, everything we do in life.
That is why I love the simplicity of how a catholic priest named Josemarie Escriva (now canonized as a saint by the RCC) describes this work we call evangelism. Find a way, without doing anything strange to pass on the joy! What joy? Pass on the joy of being a son of God, and living as such!
There is a magnificent joy in realizing we have been freed to be God’s children, to live life with that kind of exuberance, with that kind of energy. To realize the burdens God has lifted from us, the anxiety we’ve been from – for a purpose – to walk with God. Think of that for a few moments as you eat your lunch today. And then, look around you, see those God has brought into your life – who live or work or are enjoying a game or eating, those people side by side. Simply share with them your joy, help them to see it is theirs as well.
For that is why we have been sent into the world, to reflect His love, His mercy, His light.
Lord, as we cry Lord have mercy, may we cry for those around us, and as we receive that mercy, may we share that with them as well.
(1)Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). The Forge (Kindle Locations 701-703). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
