Salvation’s Word is Spoken, Have Faith. By Beth DeCristofaro

Salvation’s Word is Spoken, Have Faith.       By Beth DeCristofaro

Friday of the Fourth Week of Easter

 

When Paul came to Antioch in Pisidia, he said in the synagogue:  “My brothers, children of the family of Abraham, and those others among you who are God-fearing, to us this word of salvation has been sent.  (Acts 13:26)

 

Jesus said to his disciples: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me.” (John 14:1)

 

Piety

My brother, Jesus, Word of Salvation, reveal to me ever more fully the peace and joy you place on my heart.  May my faith grow so that I act with your spirit of love and trust despite my human, conflicting, and colliding emotions.

 

Study

Orienteering is a sport which I’d like to try someday.  A topographical map, a compass, and unfamiliar terrain are the ingredients to finding one’s way to a designated somewhere.  Being immersed in nature, with no exit ramps or blinking “cheap gas” signs, sounds heavenly.  One must be confident in the ability to read a compass and to understand a map.  Also, one must be secure in the ability to achieve the physical challenge of traversing the landscape.  And there is the underlying trust that the magnetic pole will cause your compass to point true.  Like gravity or air, the magnetic north pole is a given, a relatively fixed point on the globe.  God’s silent, internal voice can be our fixed pole.

 

Jesus, again and again, asks his friends to follow him; his teachings were flagstones to step upon.  Some of these teachings include the Beatitudes, Jesus’ feeding and healing the lowest of the low and even the oppressor, stories that illustrated the kingdom of God and our, through him, relationship to the life-giving vine.  But Jesus also spoke of the mercy of a God who sends servants out into the roads to invite strangers to a feast, whose feathered wings protect like a mother bird, who loves even the lilies of the fields and tiny sparrows who live fleeting lives and a God who hunts for us in the brambles, putting us on his shoulders to bring us back to green pastures.  Why does our compass swing so widely off its mark if he has told us: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me.”  We don’t find our way ourselves, but we can lose the way

 

Of course, life often puts us into a tizzy.  But to stay in that whirlpool or act from that place of fear, anger, self-righteousness, vanity is not what God, who sent us this word of salvation, wants.  What is underneath self and ego?  Can we find that word spoken on our hearts safeguarding us untroubled in Christ?  Rest there, let the waves sort themselves out. 

 

Action

St. John of the Cross, locked into a damp, freezing cell by confreres of his own order, was able to put beautiful words to the Holy Spirit’s outpouring! He was deeply united to God’s word of salvation amid his sufferings. All emotions, including less than positive reactions to what happens to us are God-given but do not need to compel our actions.

Ask Jesus to bring your attention to the word of salvation within your heart. Ask that grace reveal it more clearly. Let it grow, let it glow, and shed his light on sin, troubles or decisions in which you feel lost. Accept Jesus’ faith in God, which he shares with you, to guide you. He wants loving sweetness for me, you, and everyone.  He wants you to join him in a place he prepared for you.  (John 14:2)

 

 

Illustration:  https://olmc.us/2018/06/17/gods-garden-june-18-2018/