One Walk

Dear Lord God, why is it so hard to maintain an attitude reflective of the fruit of the Spirit? One that continually releases and gives what it receives from You? Why do I stumble so? How can I (we) so quickly react out of selfishness and pride? How do I (we) stop the vicious cycle? Why do we hurt the ones we love? This is not Your love. This is the love from under the sun, burdened with worries, anxieties, selfishness, pride, and sensitivity; all reflective of the confidence that I (we) are Your children and in You and only You we will have and find who we are and what we need. For as Solomon said all else is futile. Then why? How do we stay connected to You in all times, in all ways and in all situations. How can we walk under the sun without stumbling? We cannot! O Lord, then You must help me to hold my tongue, hide myself when I stumble – help me to deal with myself in the darkness with You, so no one is exposed to my weaknesses and help me to walk full of You, rested and able to release and give what I receive; and when there is nothing left to give, remind me to retreat to the darkness that is lit with Your presence, so that together You will renew me and give me rest to continue my walk for You. These things I ask in Jesus name, Amen.

One whose soul is in disorder, whose mind is wandering with vain, useless thoughts, cannot pray. To pray, we must unite the flesh and its feelings to the soul with its imagination, memory and will.

— St. Frances Xavier Cabrini

Ephesians 2:19-22

19 So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; 22 in whom you also are built into it for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

Bible Study: [1-22] The gospel of salvation (Eph 1:13) that God worked in Christ (Eph 1:20) is reiterated in terms of what God’s great love (Eph 2:4), expressed in Christ, means for us. The passage sometimes addresses you, Gentiles (Eph 2:1-2, 8, 11-13, 19, 22), but other times speaks of all of us who believe (Eph 2:3-7, 10, 14, 18). In urging people to remember their grim past when they were dead in sins (Eph 2:1-3, 11-12) and what they are now in Christ (Eph 2:4-10, 13), the author sees both Jew and Gentile reconciled with God, now one new person, a new humanity, one body, the household of God, a temple and dwelling place of God’s Spirit (Eph 2:15-16, 19-22). The presentation falls into two parts, the second stressing more the meaning for the church.

                 [11-22] The Gentiles lacked Israel’s messianic expectation, lacked the various covenants God made with Israel, lacked hope of salvation and knowledge of the true God (Eph 2:11-12); but through Christ all these religious barriers between Jew and Gentile have been transcended (Eph 2:13-14) by the abolition of the Mosaic covenant-law (Eph 2:15) for the sake of uniting Jew and Gentile into a single religious community (Eph 2:15-16), imbued with the same holy Spirit and worshiping the same Father (Eph 2:18). The Gentiles are now included in God’s household (Eph 2:19) as it arises upon the foundation of apostles assisted by those endowed with the prophetic gift (Eph 3:5), the preachers of Christ (Eph 2:20; cf 1 Cor 12:28). With Christ as the capstone (Eph 2:20; cf Isaiah 28:16; Matthew 21:42), they are being built into the holy temple of God’s people where the divine presence dwells (Eph 2:21-22).

Psalm 117:1-2

1 Praise the LORD, all nations! Extol him, all peoples! 2 For great is his steadfast love toward us; and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever. Praise the LORD!

Bible Study: [Psalm 117] This shortest of hymns calls on the nations to acknowledge God’s supremacy. The supremacy of Israel’s God has been demonstrated to them by the people’s secure existence, which is owed entirely to God’s gracious fidelity.

John 20:24-29

24 Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, and place my finger in the mark of the nails, and place my hand in his side, I will not believe." 26 Eight days later, his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. The doors were shut, but Jesus came and stood among them, and said, "Peace be with you." 27 Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side; do not be faithless, but believing." 28 Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!" 29 Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe."

Bible Study: [1-31] The risen Jesus reveals his glory and confers the Spirit. This story fulfills the basic need for testimony to the resurrection. What we have here is not a record but a series of single stories. [28] My Lord and my God: this forms a literary inclusion with the first verse of the gospel: "and the Word was God."  [29] This verse is a beatitude on future generations; faith, not sight, matters.