However, with my frustrations stated I was thinking very early this morning as I spent time in prayer preparing for another day of meetings that perhaps these chapters in John are really the words of a person in love.
In my teenage and young adult years there were a few times when I was in love. Obviously they didn’t work out but I can still remember the women and how I felt. I can also remember that it was hard to explain my feelings to myself and others. It was hard to talk about my feelings; the words would get all jumbled up. I would repeat them over and over again until I am sure my friends were tired of listening to me. When I would speak about my feelings to the one I loved or tried to explain them to my friends often I didn’t seem to be making much sense.
Perhaps that is my struggle with the words of Jesus in John that we have been listening to throughout the Easter Season. Yes, they are Jesus’ words, but it is John who is trying to communicate them to us. It is John in the writing of the Gospel who is now the person in love. He is a man in love with the Father, a man in love with Jesus, a man in love with us. Both Jesus and John are trying to explain this love. Jesus to his disciples and John is trying to explain this love to us but in both cases words don’t always come out that clear. They explain this love over and over again, hoping we will understand and hoping that we too will fall in love!
Have a great Wednesday everyone!
Daily Prayer: O God, strengthen us with the power to fall in love through the gift of your Spirit in our inner most being. Fill our hearts with your presence and please do not leave us. Help us to grasp how wide and long and high and deep your love is for us. And, above all, enable us to know this love that surpasses all understanding and knowledge so that we may share it with others this day and always. Amen!
A Runner’s Thoughts: Remember running can be a sacred act, sacred time. Sacred is a Latin word sacraficium, meaning to cut up, or sacrifice. If we want our run to be spiritual we need to sacrifice time, energy and comfort. It requires that we face life head on, live wholly in the present, taking on joy and suffering, savoring each emotion, every experience while offering it all to God. (Adapted from Roger Joslin)
Daily Blessing: Wednesday greetings and blessings to all! It looks to be the beginning of a beautiful day here in West Hartford. We continue our days of Passionist Assembly here. All seems to be going well. As we enter this last day and a half I would ask you to keep us Passionists and those who are meeting with us in your prayers as we continue this journey through a time of discussion and reflection.
My prayer for all of you this morning is that God will bless your day with energy, enthusiasm, purpose, meaning, grace and much love! Be well and safe in your journeys today and may you be blessed with many encounters of the presence of God. Peace in Christ’s Passion and Joy in the Risen Lord…Fr. Paul
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