Month: June 2023

“Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere love of the brethren, love one another earnestly from the heart. You have been born anew, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God.”

1 Peter 1:22-23 (RSV)

After experiencing a conversion of faith when I was 19, I had a hunger for reading scripture. I read both Old and New Testament, praying as I read. In the zeal of being a new believer, I decided to memorize the entire first chapter of first Peter. 

I imagined that if I was ever in a situation without a Bible, I could have this chapter planted in my brain. In those early days of my conversion, I felt so much of God’s mercy and grace, that each time I read scripture, it seemed like a love letter from my Savior to me. The theme of the chapter I memorized is what God can accomplish in us as we go through fiery trials. Looking back, it was well worth memorizing, since trials are used by God to purify our faith.

Peter starts this chapter telling us that we are chosen to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood. God’s salvation plan always ties in with obedience, and through our obedience, He renovates, renews and transforms us into the image of His son. 

Our obedience is necessary for the renovation project, that Jesus, our designer, has in mind. We start by faith, but we haven’t fully arrived after a word and a prayer. It’s not magic, there is a life long process known as sanctification. 

If we are honest with ourselves, our whole life has been part of our renovation process. God uses each humbling situation to teach us something, that makes us more like Jesus. Peter refers to fiery trials, and fire purifies. We may feel that we can’t go on in a difficult situation, but God knows we can and we will. In the process, He is bringing things to surface and purifying us.

God desires to help us move forward and walk in the right direction, but we may be hesitating in faith during our trial. He still loves us and as we obey, He will unfold His good plans for our future.

We are chosen for goodness, to be sanctified, set apart as His children. Paul says “we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10)

Whether we feel it or not, we have always been held in the arms of Jesus, in His nail scarred hands, and He will never give up on our renovation process as we continue to walk with Him the rest of our lives. 

Lord, help us not to be discouraged by fiery trials, but to hold firmly to your word, in faith, so that we may obey through our life long process of purification and renovation for your glory. Amen

 “Every one then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house upon the rock; and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And every one who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house upon the sand; and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell; and great was the fall of it.”

Matthew 7:24-27 (RSV)

A Franciscan friar, author and psychologist, who was a New Yorker, with a down to earth style of speaking, had a deep love for Jesus and a comfortable relationship with many Jewish people in New York City. He had a familiarity with Jewish culture and was respected by many rabbis, who were his close friends. He passed away ten years ago, but if anyone could lead a person to faith in Jesus, Father Benedict Groeschel could. 

In one of his TV talks, he used the Yiddish word “schlep” to refer to a spiritual condition, instead of the usual use of the word. It made me laugh out loud, because I grew up in a very Jewish neighborhood in Chicago, where I regularly heard and used the word “schlep.” 

My parents owned a three flat apartment in that neighborhood, and we lived on the third floor, without an elevator. We did a lot of “schlepping”, up and down those three flights of stairs. A schlep is someone who is always dragging himself or things around, hauling baggage, and is always heavily burdened. 

In the area of faith, Fr. Groeschel used the word schlep to describe someone who drags himself through life, with half hearted faith, carrying their burdened soul back and forth, but when it comes down to what they believe, their response is uncertain and vague. A spiritual schlep is a wishy washy believer without an anchored faith. When troubles come, it’s the person who says “I don’t know what I believe anymore.” Their faith collapses because their foundation is on sand. The friar described it as spiritual schlepitude. 

I think Jesus also talked about schleps, in His parable about the man who built his house upon the sand. When the rain fell, and the floods came, the winds blew and beat against that house, and it collapsed. Jesus described the man who built his house on sand, metaphorically as a foolish man, with no solid foundation of faith to stand upon. We probably know people like this, and some may even be our relatives or close friends. 

Sometimes I have even questioned the circumstances in my own life, and wondered why other people don’t have the same type of problems I’ve had. Then I realized that everyone is dealt a different set of problems to challenge their faith, and we are not to compare ourselves to others, and what matters is, what we do with whatever has been dealt to us. 

When we carry burdens or attitudes around that we should give to Jesus, we become sluggish, heavy laden and can fall into a state of what the friar called schlepitude. Scripture is full of warnings to stay sober spiritually. Jesus called it a fool’s foundation of sand, and Paul also warned against a spiritual sluggishness.

He admonished the Hebrews to “not be sluggish, but be imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.” (Hebrews 6:12)

We need to stay alert and guard our foundation, reminding ourselves of Jesus’ words, and imitating the faith of believers who inherited God’s promises. The heroes of faith are an inspiration to us, whether they are people we read about in scripture or actual people we have known who lived their faith. 

Everyone’s faith is personal, and we don’t all respond the same way to adversity, but the only important question is, “Is our foundation on the rock?” Jesus told us to listen and act on His words. Hearing and doing builds on our foundation of Jesus, who is our rock, and that’s what keeps us through the storms, winds and floods of life.

We have one life to live, and we have all received a certain measure of faith, by God’s grace. Let’s guard that seed of faith that is growing in the good soil of our heart.

Lord Jesus, we cherish our firm foundation in you, and please help us to keep growing in wisdom and faith as those who built their houses on rock. We pray for grace and faith for those who have lost the firmness of a foundation in you. Amen

“The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.”

Psalm 51:17 ( RSV)

If Jesus wept over the physical death of Lazarus, there’s no doubt that He felt sadness and wept over anyone’s spiritual death as well. 

Jesus probably felt sad for the rich young man who claimed to obey every commandment, but still turned and walked away from Him. He had to feel sad knowing Judas, who spent so much time in fellowship with Him, ended up turning on Him in betrayal. 

God is sad for anyone who turns and walks away from Him, which is illustrated in the story of the prodigal son. Jesus reveals the Father’s heart through this parable, in how the Father runs to embrace his son, not standing, angry with crossed arms. He celebrated that his son was dead, but is now alive, and He desires everyone to be made alive again. 

Peter’s second letter tells us that God is not willing for anyone to perish, but He desires for all people to come to repentance. God may not be willing to lose anyone, yet He gives everyone the freedom to choose. Then He pursues after them day and night until they return. The 19th century English poet, Francis Thompson, referred to the Lord as the “Hound of Heaven”, who chased him down through days and years, as he hid from Him through his laughter and his tears, until he finally surrendered to the determined love of God, who followed him like the hound of heaven. He never loses the scent of one lost soul, and like a hound, He chases after them every day, until they return to Him. That’s the mercy of God. 

David described a broken and contrite heart as being the best sacrifice that we can offer to God. The definition of “contrite” is to feel or express remorse or penitence; affected by guilt. We not only feel it for ourselves, but we pray it for those we know and love, to experience the same repentance that leads to life. 

Our guilt is washed away in His boundless mercy, and so we want that for anyone we care for, and until it happens, we feel sorrow in our hearts for them. That sorrow is the sacrifice of a contrite heart that David wrote about. 

The apostle Paul spoke from a contrite heart to the Romans, when he said, “I feel great sorrow and unceasing grief in his heart for my own people. “

Jesus said from the cross, “Father forgive them, they know not what they do.” Those people seemed to know exactly what they were doing to Jesus, but in His contrite heart, Jesus felt sorrow for their lost souls.  God wants what is best for our human psyche, to both receive His complete soul cleansing and to also desire it for the people in our lives. Those who haven’t yet experienced God’s love through His forgiveness and mercy, are missing out on the joy of loving Him. Jesus even said, “whoever has been forgiven little loves little.” (Luke 7:47)

Lord, give us a more contrite heart, by sharing with us, your own sorrow for lost souls. Remind us that you are sad for all those who walk away from you, so that we will pray more fervently for them. Please chase down after every soul we lift up to you today, until they finally surrender to your love and mercy. Amen 

( I’m sharing an animated portrait of Jesus weeping.)

“Jesus wept.”-John 11:35🙏😥 pic.twitter.com/DHbjpLkd0M

— Letty (@Letty69033728) June 9, 2023

“The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good.”

Proverbs 15:3 (RSV)

When my twins were three, I had an opportunity to do free lance artwork from home. I illustrated educational audio visual filmstrips and was painting the illustrations in our family room area where the boys played, so that I could keep an eye on them. 

One day they were extremely mischievous, far beyond what was normal for three year old active twin boys. I had a difficult time finishing my art job, and I finally said to them, “You are not acting like the same Mikey and Jonny today!” 

One of them answered, “You are not acting like the same mommy.” 

I thought, “What?  Wow! “ I really learned a lesson that day. We naturally expect that our parents would be steadfast and unchanged in their behavior and give us their same attention each day. My children noticed my new distraction and they were simply reacting to me. I am an imperfect parent, who has learned from my mistakes. That day I learned it from the mouth of my three year old son. 

People may change and even fail us, but God never changes. His love and attention toward us is perfect. He doesn’t get sidetracked with special interests and obligations. He is God, so He gives us personal, undivided attention all the time. It’s up to us to believe it and receive it.

God never changes, but there will always be adults who act as if God is a distracted parent and not interested in them. I wonder how often people are acting out because they falsely perceive that God doesn’t care about them. God gives each person His same attention and love, even if their own parents didn’t. If they only knew, they would surely behave differently. 

Children need the presence of a caring attentive parent just as we all need to know God’s caring attentive presence in our adult lives. We need to visualize Him with us, by faith, watching over us in every single part of our day, even when things are not going as we would like.

Because He loves us as an attentive affectionate father, He has much more to teach us, and He finds different ways to do it. Sometimes He teaches us through the words of a toddler, like Jesus said, “out of the mouth of babes….”

Heavenly Father, thank you for being a patient, attentive father to us. Help us to train ourselves in knowing that you are with us in every part of our day. Reveal your love to us and help us to receive what you want to teach us each day. Amen

….”to have all the richness of fully assured understanding, for the knowledge of the mystery of God, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”

Colossians 2:2-3 (NABRE)

All the mysteries of God’s wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Christ. 

Hidden things are not apparent, unless we search for them. In Christ, there are treasures of wisdom which help to strengthen our faith. We are blessed with the opportunity to have access to these hidden things through Jesus. 

I don’t always remember my dreams, but I wrote down the details of a strange one I had about a year ago. I dreamed that a man was telling me that I needed to quickly leave my home and go with him to a hiding place. I didn’t recognize the man as anyone I knew, but I trusted him, and so we set out to travel together on foot. 

We ran through various outdoor landscapes, and when he took my hand, I was able to run as fast as him, and stay alongside him. When I let go of his hand and ran at my own pace, I couldn’t keep up and lagged way behind. He was so much faster, stronger and taller than me. 

I finally called out to him, “Hold my hand so I can run faster !” 

He grabbed my right hand and then I ran so fast, and could stay equally along side of him. 

We saw a pond, where we were going to stop to drink water, but when we arrived, the pond was dried up. He just stepped over it and we both continued running. I never got tired nor was I ever thirsty. He held my hand until we finally arrived at an interesting street, filled with stucco homes all in a row. 

Each home was colorfully decorated and there were men still working on the outside details of each one. On the front of each home, there was a big cross, colorful banners filled with scripture verses or Christian sayings, which I was trying hard to read as we walked by each one. 

We finally arrived at our destination, where I was going to reside. It was one of those many colorful homes, which was to become my hiding place. I never did get to go inside my hiding place, because that’s when I suddenly woke up. 

The man in my dream wasn’t Jesus, but he definitely was a heavenly being, probably an angel. The best memory I could recall after waking up, is the beautiful colors of those hiding place homes, and how fast I could run when the man, or angel, held my hand. 

I thought about that dried up pond, and the fact that I wasn’t thirsty. 

We may encounter many dried up ponds in our life, which can be very discouraging, unless we are receiving the living water that Jesus gives us. He told the woman at the well that His water would satisfy forever, and she would never thirst again. I was not thirsty in my dream, and that’s why the dried up pond really didn’t matter. 

The secular world considers those who live by faith, as using faith as a crutch. Some would say that a hiding place represents an escape from reality, but a hiding place in God is not a place to escape our problems, it’s a place to discover the hidden treasures of His wisdom.

Running alongside that angel is symbolic of living my life while abiding in Jesus, keeping my hand in His. Each house represents the colorful treasures that God has for everyone who believes. We can run and not grow weary, when we keep our hand in His. He has treasures to reveal to us, and we can do all things through Christ, who strengthens us. 

There was so much more to learn and discover inside those colorful homes, and I’m sure it would reveal the depths of His love for us. Maybe  it would be too overwhelming to reveal in just one dream. 

God is always working to reveal more of His wisdom to us, as the men in my dream were still working on enhancing each of those homes. It seemed to be an invitation to go deeper and farther, to seek the treasures of God that are hidden in Christ. 

Lord Jesus, please hold our hands and give us strength to run with the endurance, which only you can give us. Help us to seek those treasures hidden in knowing you, and reveal the depths of your love to each reader today. Amen