During the racial unrest in my city last summer, the plea I heard over and over by protesters was simply to be heard. Unfortunately, most of us find speaking comes much easier than listening. To truly listen demands that we stop the inner dialogue in our heads, put aside our presumptions and allow the person to reveal who he or she is, not our version of him or her.
If that is true for our interactions with other human beings, the challenge is greater with the mystery we call God. If we are preoccupied with our own failings, we cannot hear God’s reassurance that we are forgiven. If we are certain God condemns the same people that we have deemed unacceptable, we cannot hear the call to change our hearts. If we are certain we have the truth, we will not be teachable.
These so called devotions lately are too political, am not here for that, am unsubscribing.
Terri, thank you for your devotion. * In my younger years, I had that problem, of doing most of the talking and not listening to the other persons. As a result I misinterpreted what the persons had said and made presumptions ending in a not so pretty situations and me feeling shameful and ugly. I've gotten better at listening with God's help, but still need a lot of work. In our sickness, our weakness, our shame, our sin, our oddness—lots of us feel like this leper. We feel as though we’re just not worthy. But whatever trouble we are in, we have to come to Jesus. Jesus will never reject us no matter who we are, what we’ve done, or how we look (Jn 6:37). Most people have a form of spiritual leprosy. Inside, many of us feel dirty, ugly, leprous. We would not tell anyone about this for fear of being rejected by everyone. However, we can take these shameful things to Jesus. He will forgive our sins and heal our leprous condition. God Bless our Living Faith Family and continued prayers for all.
Thank you for that. We don’t have all the answers. If we close our minds off we will miss what God is trying to teach us. It all goes back to love God, love your neighbor. That means the poor, people who don’t look like us, those struggling, those who are pushed down. It isn’t a right or left thing. It is a God thing. Feed the hungry, clothe the poor, care for the sick. We need to go back to the basics. Treat others as we want to be treated. No matter skin color, religion, financial status, etc. we are all created in His image. Thanks again.
We have been subscribers to Living Faith for a very long time now. I have also sent copies to others ... some have done the same and formed their own groups reading Living Faith. So I appreciate your hard and creative work. However, the sense we are getting, to quote my lovely wife this morning "they are turning left." Her assessment. I have been seeing little things for the last week or so. Here is what we are seeing. And I will try to let you hear more as I see it and will give you more history on our side (or our range of readers, not just my family and me). Today you closed the reading noting that 'If we are certain we have the truth, we will not be teachable.' Well ... first of all Jesus is the truth. And he is the teacher. Of that we can, and must be clear. The earlier part of the reading talks about protestors. I am sure there are things in what they are saying that we need to hear but hearing what is not clear and many times it is dialogue we need not just listening. Who are the teachers you have in mind? I listen and dialogue but I always go back to Christ and the Holy Spirit as the place of truth. And the Bible. It is not like a speed limit sign, it is a process. I want to understand truth according to our God. That is the only real source ... deviate from that and we invariably find ourselves in trouble. It is hard to put this clearly in a reading. However, the reading for today took us to a place we know is on thin ice. I am happy to talk more. Will also send over a comment on an earlier item I had concern with. Peace, Tony
I read the end like this: If WE are certain WE have the truth, then we are not teachable. The truth of God is undeniable, but it is His truth, not ours. So we are learning as much as we can from His Word, humbling ourselves so we can be teachable of His Word.
Loved, "Who are the teachers you have in mind? I listen and dialogue but I always go back to Christ and the Holy Spirit as the place of truth. And the Bible. It is not like a speed limit sign, it is a process. I want to understand truth according to our God. That is the only real source ... deviate from that and we invariably find ourselves in trouble." The process for me is drinking milk (being fed), eating baby cereal (being fed) and chewing solid food (on my own) :-) I couldn't agree with you more, Tony! We need you to share with us your daily lesson from Christ Himself and the Holy Spirit!!! So others can contemplate and reflect on thier own with the Holy Spirit from your learned lessons :-)
Lord, may I hear You through all the "noise" in the world today. Protect and guide us all that share our love for You. Amen. Blessings and continued prayers for everyone.
Well said Tony, I wish political comments could be kept out of the daily reflections. What I saw this summer wasn't "racial unrest," it was rioting and destruction of people's livelihoods.
Thank you Terri ! Hebrews 3:7 has been my mantra for years. Sometimes I get too stubborn and want to listen to my own words! So Lord, I am a sinner, needing your constant voice, please keep my heart from hardening. Keep reminding me, love the person, hate the behavior. Morning BF Family. May God’s face shine on you and give you peace!
Amen! Thank you Holy Father for this beautiful day and for this Gospel today. Thank you Lord for my faith, my life and for my family. Thank you Holy Father, most of all, for your great sacrifice and for the opportunity of forgiveness and reconciliation. Please Lord have mercy. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me, a sinner. Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ, King of Endless Glory. Amen
Open our hearts to him who is calling us to himself. Let us not be fooled by the world with all of its false promises, but hear the one who is calling himself to us. Harden not your hearts today, let love, joy and peace gush out. We all have some sort of leprosy, sin in our lives. Deep down we do not want to live with this sin, we want to be made clean. No worries, Jesus offers himself if we come to him for our forgiveness of our sins. The joy and happiness the leper felt could not for a second be contained inside of himself, he just had to tell everyone what had happen, which as we know had some fall out. Jesus could not enter the town again freely, so he preached from out side of the city gates in the wilderness. Let all of us encourage ourselves and other to not let sin turn our hearts from Jesus. Let us keep Chris in our hearts, we have become partners in Christ to do his will to share his love, joy and compassion with others. Dear Jesus, please hear my prayers for our Living Faith Family today. Dear Jesus hear my plead of prayers for those who have no one to pray for them and for all of the souls in Purgatory, who will be reunited in their Heavenly Father today. Amen.
Amen. Lord, Jesus please give us a positive spirit to be teachable and meek.
Psalm 95:7c-11, "Today, if only you would hear His voice, “Do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah, as you did that day at Massah in the wilderness, where your ancestors tested Me; they tried Me, though they had seen what I did. For forty years I was angry with that generation; I said, ‘They are a people whose hearts go astray, and they have not known My ways.’ So I declared on oath in My anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’” Today's reading in Hebrews, the writer is quoting Paslm 95! What was he talking about? He was talking about the Israelites wandering in the desert for 40 years because of their hardened hearts and unbelief towards the God Who took them out of slavery from Egypt and led them into the promised land. A 11-day jouney turned into 40 years :-( That's what the psalmist was talking about quoted here in Hebrews! Why??? Because they complained...They repeatedly complained about food and water (Num. 20:2–5; 21:5). When they had manna from heaven, they complained they had no meat (Num 11:4–6). They grumbled and rebelled against Moses’ leadership (Num 14:2–5; 16:1–3). Aaron and Miriam, Moses’ siblings, complained about Zipporah, Moses’ wife (Num 12:1). The people even complained about God’s judgment that resulted from their complaints (Num 16:41). The people forsake the Lord. The Lord orders the Levites to kill 3000 people by the sword, because they worshipped the golden calf ( Exodus 32:28) There were more examples of their hardened hearts and unbelief in the desert...and the result? All of the first generation Israelites who came out of Egypt DIED in the desert except Joshua and Caleb and the second generation Israelites!!! Moses died in the desert too :-( ***So it is with me if I don't trust God and instead focus on my problems/complaints (hardened heart and unbelief), my journey will be longer than necessary and I will die in the desert!!! So what do I do? From Psalm 95, I see and hear: 1)Do not harden my heart 2)Be content with what God has provided and do not complain about God's provisions (food, water, ledership, etc) 3)Be grateful for and reconize what God has done 4)Do not let my heart go astray 5)Learn about God's ways*** ***When I complain about others and and current situations, I am actually complaining against God as if He is not doing His job making things right for ME :-(*** ***I want to enter into Your rest, Lord! Give me a new heart and put a new spirit in me! Remove from me my heart of stone and give me a heart of flesh. (Ezekiel 36:26) Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. (Psalm 51:10 ) And do not let me be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of my mind through the Holy Spirit, so that I may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:2) Therefore if I am in Christ, I am a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come! (2 Corinthains 5:17) Amen! Remind Me Who I am by Jason Gray https://youtu.be/19Fa5eFcIIA
Amen
As I went for my daily walk, this song was playing, Truth Be Told by Matthew West https://youtu.be/qbaMFZS11Nw ***I am thinking about what I just learn about not complaining and then I realize that complaining is very different than sharing my personal struggles by telling the truth!*** ***John 8:31-32, "So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed Him, “If you abide in My Word, you are truly My disciples, and you will know the Truth (Jesus), and the Truth (Jesus) will set you free.”*** Amen :-):-):-)
Amen! Such a simple but impactful reflection. Open my heart Lord to hear your voice. Prayers for all.
Amen! :-) So true Teri . Thank you . Many Gods blessings to LFF now an always . Michael
Amen
I couldn't agree more with you Terri. I tend to filter things through my own perspective, not listening to others or mentally preparing my response while they are still speaking. I hear words but often not the underlying feelings that are being conveyed. We have one arbiter in Jesus whose word we should all listen to. Lord I ask for the grace to avoid a hardened heart.
Living Faith provides brief daily Catholic devotions based on one of the Mass readings of the day. Published new each quarter, these reflections are written by women and men from a variety of backgrounds - lay people as well as clergy and religious. Learn more.
Receive a free reflection for Sundays every week via email
About Living Faith Living Faith Foundation Privacy Policy Questions & Answers Contact Us
© 2021 Creative Communications for the Parish, a division of Bayard, lnc. All Rights Reserved.
Please look at this website of the cleansing of the leper. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGvWrSwIESs