Daily Devotion, February 24, 2021

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Daily Devotion, February 23, 2021

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Sunday Reflection (February 21, 2021)

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When you are driven by the Holy Spirit to do good in obedience to Jesus Christ, there will be temptation that seeks to thwart the doing of good. There is an easier way! We can avoid temptations by making no commitment to the doing of good and following Jesus, but how then would the world know about God’s grace and kindness?

Prayer for the Week (February 21-February 27, 2021)

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Let us pray that during this Lenten Season we turn fully to God and people: God of the covenant of love, you invite us to follow your Son. As the Holy Spirit led him to the desert, may he open our eyes to see the wastelands of evil that we have created in our world. May we learn from Jesus to believe in the Good News and to give shape to your Kingdom of truth, justice and unselfish love. We ask this in the name of Jesus our Lord.
Amen.
(Claretian Publications)

Prayer for the Week (February 14-February 20, 2021)

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Let us pray to our Almighty Father whose Son was revealed in majesty before he suffered death upon the cross: God, give us grace to perceive his glory in suffering, so that we be strengthened to suffer with him and be changed into his likeness, from glory to glory. Amen.

(Book of Common Prayer)

Sunday Reflection (February 14, 2021)

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The Holy Spirit transforms our views, our attitudes, our words, and our deeds to those of a follower of Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 4:3-6). The Holy Spirit creates us as vessels and instruments of God’s love and mercy in the world. We realize the burden someone else is carrying and share that burden as we were able. We realize someone’s failure as a deep wound, and not an occasion for tearing down or throwing stones. 
 
Christ is the standard for which God intends humanity ultimately to be, yet sin prevents us from living according to that standard of Christ (2 Corinthians 4:3-6). Thus, we are continually transformed to become the same image that Christ because “Out of Zion God shines forth in perfect beauty.” That is not, mean, ugly, vindictive, malicious, but beauty (Psalm 50:1-2). God shines forth through us in perfect beauty because the Holy Spirit transforms us unto the image of Christ. Each of us is a work of art and beauty in the eyes of God.

Daily Devotion, February 9, 2021

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Sunday Reflection (February 7, 2021)

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While awaiting the manifestation and flowering of God’s kingdom, it is easy to forget that in our waiting, God reshapes our hearts and develops our faith and character.  Our Scripture Reading found Israel in exile in Babylon, and while in exile they wondered if God noticed, and if the Babylonian gods were stronger than the God of Israel.

Their faith and character were challenged, but God tells us that those who wait on the Lord will have their strength renewed (Isaiah 40:18-31).  We too wait with a hope that rises from a compassion that propels us to bring about the dreams of justice, love, and peace. God has not overlooked us and our struggles for a better world.

Prayer for the Week (February 7-February 13, 2021)

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Let us pray to our compassionate God who is near to us in Jesus Christ: God, we cry out to you in our weariness and in our sorrow and illness, as your Son called upon you in his suffering unto death. Strengthen us in the conviction that you are to be found in our pain as well as in our joys, and that you care for us through him who showed us how much you loved us, Jesus Christ our Lord, who eternally dwells with you and the Holy Spirit, One God now and forevermore.

Amen.

(Claretian Publications, alt.)