Tag Archives: Religious text

Lent Day 23

March 12

Be Glad and Rejoice

Isaiah 65:17-21

For I am about to create new heavens
and a new earth;
the former things shall not be remembered
or come to mind.
But be glad and rejoice for ever
in what I am creating;
for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy,
and its people as a delight.
I will rejoice in Jerusalem,
and delight in my people;
no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it,
or the cry of distress.
No more shall there be in it
an infant that lives but a few days,
or an old person who does not live out a lifetime;
for one who dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth,
and one who falls short of a hundred will be considered accursed.
They shall build houses and inhabit them;
they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.


Prayer Thought

Lord, we want to bathe in the newness that you create by the touch of your hand.


Letting go of our suffering is the hardest work we will ever do. It is also the most fruitful. To heal means to meet ourselves in a new way — in the newness of each moment where all is possible and nothing is limited to the old.

—–Stephen Levine

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Filed under Lenten Reflections 2018

Pleasing God

Haarlem, Netherlands, Church of Saint Anthony

Haarlem, Netherlands, Church of Saint Anthony (Photo credit: Multerland………)

Someone asked Abba Anthony, ‘What must one do in order to please God?’ The old man replied, ‘Pay attention to what  I  tell  you:  whoever  you  may  be,  always  have  God before your eyes; whatever you do, do it according to the testimony of the holy Scriptures; in whatever place you live, do not easily leave it.  Keep these three precepts and you will be saved.’

—–sayings of the desert

Commentary

Abba Anthony gives us three simple, and yet difficult principles, that we must do to please God. The challenge is to keep God before our eyes when our sight is so cluttered with the saga of life. Additionally, we are called to live with the scripture as the ever present guide for our lives. As if that were not enough, we are then instructed to “stay put” even when things are tough. Our world tells us quite clearly to keep focused on the earthly, while perhaps giving some attention to God, and to move on whenever life gets uncomfortable. Perhaps if we all developed a vision of God and followed that vision where we are planted, we would find that peace that eludes us.

Prayer

Lord God, help us to see you in all that we do. Guide us by divine revelation each day of our lives. Help us to find true peace in the place you have given us. In these things we can find you in your fullness and grace. After all, that is what our journey is all about. We humbly ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen

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Filed under Advent, Advent Devotional, Antony of Egypt, Christian Living