"As the Lord
spoke to me, the spirit entered into me and set me on my feet, and I heard the
one who was speaking to me: Son of man I
am sending you.”
Ezekiel 2:2-3A
That I, Paul, might
not become too elated, because of the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in
the flesh was given to me…Three times I begged The Lord about this that it
might leave me, but he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for
power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, I am content with weakness,
insults, hardships, persecutions and constraints, for the sake of Christ; for
when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:7-10)
Jesus departed from
there and came to his native place (Nazareth) accompanied by his disciples.
When the Sabbath came he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard
him were astonished. They said, " Where did this man get all this? What
kind of wisdom has been given him? Is he not…and they took offense at him. Jesus
said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his native place
and among his own kin and in his own house."...He was amazed at their lack
of faith.
(Mark 6:1-6)
Piety
When
I share at Breaking Open the Word (BOW) with RCIA on Sundays, I love the use
the African Method. Yes, it came from
the Continent! The method is simple:
What did you hear (in the Readings)?
What did it mean to you? And what
will you do with it? Since I came to use
this method with these on the Journey of Faith, I began to use it myself on a
more regular basis.
Could
this affect my PIETY? (It often does!).
"As
The Lord spoke to me," and often my own query is, "Are you speaking
to me?" And oh so very gently do I
hear, "YES, I am speaking to you, Philip." (How many times am I more
like one of his kinsmen, rather than the one baptized in his Name. Baptized, Prophet, Priest and King.).
Study
So,
why then, is it so easy for me to, shrink back from my CALL. JESUS, persists: "My GRACE is sufficient
for you." And I find Him, ending
the sentence back to me with just a "period," rather than and
"exclamation point." But in my heart of hearts, I know that there is
an Exclamation Point on that sentence.
Oh,
Lord, help me for I am a man of unclean lips! Make me clean, so, that I may
say, "Here Am I. Send me!" (Isaiah
6:5-9)
“Lord,
I remember when I took up that cross (at the 91st Men's Closing in May of 1994)
I spoke, "and I am counting on Christ." Help me now Lord, with your GRACE, to STUDY
my Environment and work at affecting change. (And, Lord, I am talking about
affecting a change in me!)
Action
"So
he was not able to perform any mighty deed there, apart from curing a few sick
people by laying hands on them." As I break open this Word, these last
sentence JUMPS OUT at me. I always thought Jesus left there defeated (my
thoughts, not Mark's). However, he was
able to cure a few!
WOW,
thanks for that one Lord and please HELP me (by Your GRACE) to WALK and to LIVE
in my BAPTISMAL Mantle as Prophet, Priest and King. I want to be like you and
to be YOUR HANDS, affecting change and healing!
I
would like to take this opportunity to share something with you that Father Joe
spoke to me so many years ago as Spiritual Director on my Cursillo
Weekend. As I had shared the pain of
defeat with him, he said, "Always remember that the Rose is the product of
the Thorn Bush." I have never
looked at a Rose quite the same way. There were Roses blooming on that Pathway,
at Missionhurst, that Sunday Morning as I made my way out to the sounds of
singing!
De Colores and a hand
stretched out to Father Joe as I humbly am passed this baton,
Phil
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