Something to Ponder
In prayer there is a connection between what God does and what you do. You can’t get forgiveness from God, for instance, without also forgiving others. If you refuse to do your part, you cut yourself off from God’s part.
– Matthew 6:14-15 (MSG)
Blessings and the strength of Love be with you.
Rev. Mary,
revmjwhite@hotmail.ca
Reading from Richard Rohr’s “The Wisdom Pattern: Order, Chaos, Reorder”
Jesus did the victim thing right. He neither played the victim for his own self-aggrandizement nor did he make victims of other people. He became the liberating and forgiving victim. This pattern is quite rare, but, whenever it happens, it exercises an immense healing and reconciling influence, even though it often increases the wrath and denial of some accusers. Just read the lives of Martin Luther King, Jr., Oscar Romero, or Mahatma Gandhi for the most visible examples from our recent past. Normally, the prophets are killed because they bring the lie out into the open. At that point, our hatred is pointed toward the messenger, because he or she has taken away our needed object of hatred. If we need to hate, we will destroy anyone who tells us our hatred is the problem.
Prayer
O God, bring new life where we are worn and tired; new love where we have turned hard-hearted; forgiveness where we have wounded; and the joy and freedom of your Holy Spirit where we are the prisoners of our selves.
– John L. Bell