Scripture

Matthew 11:28-30 (NIV)

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

Words of Hope

This scripture has comforted me when the cares of my day encroached upon my nights, robbing me of sleep. I would remember this scripture, pray, and turn my worries over to God and find rest.

Recently, I noticed that there was a second part to that message from Jesus. Yes, he promised us rest, but he also spoke of something perhaps even more amazing. Jesus said that if we take his yoke upon us and learn from him, (for he is gentle and humble in heart); we would find rest for our souls. Then he added, “For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

I have so often heard about how hard it is to be a Christian. My experience, however, is that the Christ way, makes my life easier and more rewarding. Now, I am having that notion confirmed by the words of Jesus. “For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Jesus came, offering forgiveness for our sins and a way of life that is easier with a lighter load. I personally have found life with Jesus is less stressed and more joyful. What’s not to love about this God?

Prayer

Dear God, we are once again overwhelmed by your love and generosity. Our hearts are filled with joy and tremble with excitement as we read this message from Jesus. May we answer as if we were in the crowd to whom he was speaking, “Oh, Yes God, we will take your yoke upon us. We will listen and learn your ways. We will work in tandem with you for your causes. We will love you always. Amen.

Devotion Author

Carole Anne Sarah

Reading (from song lyrics)

HELP! I need somebody,/HELP! Not just anybody/

HELP! You know I need somebody/ HELP!  (John Lennon)

Words of Hope

It just feels like one &#%!@ thing after another, doesn’t it? One relentless assault, tragedy after tragedy. For a while, after the Covid 19 cases began to decline, vacation planning increased, and our summer hearts yearned again. Then came Buffalo and Uvalde and a flurry of Memorial weekend shootings. Dear God, will the violence ever end?! We are, like Rachel, crying out for our children, weeping over the slaughter of innocents. Inconsolable. And though we know that “thoughts and prayers” in the mouths of some politicians have become excuses for inaction, for people of faith, prayer linked to action is a potent force, an indispensable practice, a lifeline.

A Benedictine sister once told me that when things get really difficult, she often prays, “O Lord, make haste to help me.” This call and its sister verse, which are prayed in the Liturgy of the Hours during the day and evening, become imbedded like a mantra in the monastic psyche: “God, come to my assistance. Lord, make haste to help me” (from Psalm 69).

Abba Isaac, one of the desert fathers, urges us to keep this prayer always before us and sees in it an urgent prayer of the heart which acknowledges our dire and urgent need for God. “What greater or holier poverty can there be than that of one who, knowing that [they have] no defense and no strength of [their] own, asks for daily help from another’s bounty, who understands that every single moment of [their] life and substance depends on Divine assistance.”

“Lord, make haste to help me” may mean different things to different people right now: For one, help me channel my rage at this unholy violation of sacred life into meaningful action. For another, help me find the inner resources to help comfort my child who is frightened to go back to school. For another, help me face just one more day.

Whatever the meaning, God’s spirit of compassionate healing and mighty justice will minister to our deepest needs.

Prayer

Make haste to help us, Lord. We need you to survive and to thrive and to summon the courage to place our very lives on the line for justice. Amen.

Devotion Author

Dr. Pat Saxon

Scripture

Psalm 34.18

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

Words of Hope

How to make a moment last forever

Ever wonder why “time flies” when you’re having fun, but conversely, losing a loved one can feel like the longest moment of your entire life? My heart anguishes for the families and friends of the Uvalde, Texas elementary school shooting who, I assume, are still experiencing the longest moment of their entire lives right now. Time, it seems, is frozen and will be for a long time. If only we could find a way to make the moments when the smiles of our loved ones, containing all the love and hope in the world, last forever. Though I never knew them, I still feel like something is missing now that they’re gone.

As we grieve, we must remember those smiles. We cling to the past, not because it hurts to do so, but because something almost tangible was left behind. And if we are to move forward, then we must discover what that is. Though death irrevocably changes us, it’s only because life changed us first. Let us decide then which changes us more.

God’s Messiah to Earth died in a way that left consequences still felt to this day. When Martin Luther King Jr. died, it shook a nation. And the absence of all those that we’ve lost because profits and position matter more than human life, is saturating every corner of comfort with the deepest longsuffering and loneliness. Yet even at midnight, we can still see the stars. And the gifts they left us with remain unspoiled because their lives mattered to us, and still do. For they are the true reasons why we will never be the same – though they were only here for a moment.

Prayer

Dear Lord,

Change us in a moment, in the blink of an eye. Transform us into a people that has been healed from the poison of corruption. Revive us from the sting of death. Guide the souls of the loved ones we’ve lost into your loving embrace. May they find your eternal peace and everlasting joy. And comfort those left behind.

Amen.

Devotion Author

Jonathon McClellan
Order of St. Francis and St. Clare

Scripture

1 Corinthians 2:12-16

Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God. And we speak of these things in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual things to those who are spiritual.

Those who are unspiritual do not receive the gifts of God’s Spirit, for they are foolishness to them, and they are unable to understand them because they are discerned spiritually. Those who are spiritual discern all things, and they are themselves subject to no one else’s scrutiny.  ‘For who has known the mind of the Lord
   so as to instruct him?’
But we have the mind of Christ.

Words of Hope

There are times when verses from the Bible confound me. These verses are some such. I can easily see where the Gnostics got idea that God had specialized knowledge and understanding for some people. So, I meditated on these words to see if I could discern something that I was missing. Here are my thoughts.

I read a quote this week (and apologize for not remembering the persons who said it) that God’s Spirit is not something that comes to us but is already in us. It needs to be awakened. This puts the whole passage in a new light to me. Even though this concept seemingly contradicts ‘receiving’ the Spirit, I am willing to give some latitude to 2000+ years of translations.

So here is what this passage has come to mean to me. People have God given gifts through Spirit. Spirit awakens within us, and we come to understand what our gifts are and what God means for us to do with those gifts. For those in whom Spirit is not awakened the gifts are there but seem foolish or wasted when used by those in whom Spirit is awakened in the manner God would ask. But Spirit and gifts of Spirit reside in all people. Spirit needs to be awakened. Awakened, the spiritual need to use the gifts they have.

Prayerful Words

Spirit of God reawaken in me each day. Remind me of my gifts. Help me understand the gifts.  Instruct me in their use. Amen

Devotion Author

Weber Baker
Order of Saint Francis and Saint Clare