Sunday April 21: Follow Love’s Way

Practice

1. Practice Lectio Divina or some other preferred approach to Scripture using Psalm 23, any translation of your choosing. Linger with the phrases and imagery. You may wish to use it as an entry into your Centering Prayer practice this week. Or use a different verse each day as your scriptural anchor through the day.

2. See yourself as God sees you: a human being, beloved beyond measure, safe and welcome. Take a few moments to bask in this reality, and then in turn see someone in your life in that same way:  as a person loved without condition, made to feel safe and welcome in your God-soaked presence. If the person is a challenge to you, so much the better!  Pray and/or journal what this is like for you.

You may re-read the full email reflection here: https://mailchi.mp/coutreach/word-of-the-week-april21

 

What grabs me is the phrase that God is within each one of us. Thus we can find the Good Shepherd in each one of us. We can summon the Good Shepherd to the surface whenever the wolf appears in our lives. In my life it seems almost daily. Even if I am a coward, the hireling who wants to run, I can count on the Good Shepherd who willingly pops up because I have simply asked for His help. He is more than willing, but I do have ask! I do have to recognize that God is within me and available. Not only the Good Shepherd but every aspect of good that we know is available to me. Christ the healer, Christ the story teller, Christ the lover of sinners and tax collectors, etc. This is the month of the Eucharist and we Catholics believe in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. So if we have trouble finding God within each of us (see St. Teresa  and the “Interior Castle”) then we certainly know that when we receive communion, that God the Good Shepherd and all other aspects of God come into our body and soul at that moment. All we have to do at that moment is ask for the Good Shepherd to come into our lives and fight off the wolf who seeks to kill all that we know about this wonderful God within each of us that loves us so much that He laid down His life for us. With that kind of courage in each of us, how can we be cowards and run away?

I am resonating with Nan C. Merrill’s interpretation of the word “enemy” as “all my fears”. To prepare a table follows on fellowship and meal sharing with those around it. Conversations, laughter, tears occasionally…with my fears. Getting to know my fears better means, perhaps, being able to discern what it takes to calm my fears before they get agitated. What a powerful image; I will spend the week at table, making friends with my fears. <3 linda

The image this week spoke powerfully into the a thread “childhood sadness” that followed me throughout my life. I have been able to weep  and bring these tears to MY INDWELLING SPIRIT. I am hearing the words, MY BELOVED as they drop deeper and deeper into this abyss of my true self. MY BELOVED envelopes me as I traverse the valley of despair, each time a challenge to trust. RESTORING MY SOUL one tear at a time.

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