Your Tripod: Have Life because of Jesus By Beth DeCristofaro

Friday, April 23, 2021

Have Life because of Jesus By Beth DeCristofaro

So Ananias went and entered the house; laying his hands on him, he said,
“Saul, my brother, the Lord has sent me, Jesus who appeared to you on the way by which you came, that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Immediately things like scales fell from his eyes and he regained his sight. He got up and was baptized, and when he had eaten, he recovered his strength. (Acts 9:17-19)

For steadfast is his kindness toward us,
and the fidelity of the LORD endures forever.
R. Go out to all the world and tell the Good News. (Psalm117:2)

Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died,
whoever eats this bread will live forever.” (John 6:57-58)

Piety

Jesus, give me each day yourself, bread of life nourishing me in days of doubt or drought. Help me to spill your love over and out to others, sharing your sustenance.

Study

It seems fitting to Earth Day this week as we read from John’s Gospel. The splendors of the earth seem to be Spring preening, and we are reminded of our duties as earth’s stewards to take care of her. These responsibilities come because we are children of the same God who created such marvels. God is loyal to creation, glowworm, and sinning humans alike to the point of choosing to walk, feeding, healing and teaching, among us. An extraordinary juxtaposition of miracles!

Did the Creator create all these things so beautiful, or did the Creator give us the ability to see beauty? Yes, to both. We long for beauty that brings us to a place of gratitude and marvel because God is at its root. We long for the love which created beauty, but we can be diverted by beauty misunderstood and incomplete. We do not worship nature but we worship the divinity which is partially revealed in it. And the greatest of those revelations is in Jesus, bread of life.

Action

Catherine de Heuck Doherty said “You, like Christ, must incarnate yourself … into the streams of day-by-day life of people who live in the world … What does it matter if you think you are a sinner? Take it for granted. You are. So am I. So are we all. But don’t bother about it. Do not impede his grace in your soul by dwelling on your poverty. We are all paupers of this kind … all sinner. Dwell instead on the incomprehensible mystery of his choice of you.”^{^[i]}

The mystery of the bread of life incarnated through me! A beauty beyond comprehension! How do I allow Christ to incarnate in me? Give thanks and ask for his grace to be more open, more courageous like Ananias and Paul to spread his beauty and love.