Part 1 of 2
Morning, Psalms 66 and 67; Evening, Psalms 19 and 46;
Ezekiel 3:16 to 27; Ephesians 2:1 to 10; Matthews 10:24 to 33 and 40-42:
“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— not the result of works,” (Ephesians 2:8 and 9),
We do not work our way into heaven. We live out our lives loving and helping others as best we can. Helping others is not works that saves us. The faith that saves us results in good works. It takes a scrutinizing eye to see the difference. This is hard for us to see but so easy for God to see.
Part 2 of 2
Eucharistic Readings for the 7th Sunday in Easter: Year B
Acts 1:15-17 and 21-26; Psalm 1; 1 John 5:9-13 ; John 17:6-19:
“I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God; so that you may know that you have eternal life.” (1st John 5:13).
As we stand here between the Ascension and the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, we hear our Lord Jesus say in our Gospel reading for today that he “is no longer in the world and is coming back to the Father.” Yet, here he is still with us as he prays to God in the presence of the apostles. One of the apostles is John who records Jesus’ words. At the point of saying these words, he has not been crucified yet, but is already saying that he is on his way home.
Time seems to be irrelevant. You and I are on our way home today. We are living in the dash. There is the day we are born, then the dash, then the day we pass away. But these are only earthly terms. Our Lord Jesus once again sets us an example of how to live out the dash time in our life while here on earth. We pray.
As John writes in his 1st letter for today, we must first believe – believe that God is. Then believe that God is good. Then believe that God came to us in the person of our Lord Jesus to set us an example of how to live and love one another and prepare for our life after our earthly death.
Does knowing that you will live beyond this life change the way you live your life now? Are there corrections that you need to make before you wake up in the presence of the saints of God? In the day that you rise to eternal life, the time in this life will seem to be irrelevant. But the acts of this life will be with you forever. We have time now while time is relevant to fix whatever troubles us.
Let us live to love, more than just love to live, listening to what the Spirit is saying to, and through, the saints of God, while pondering anew what the Almighty can do. John
onewhoponders 