Reflections

Thursday, June 8, 2015

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.
(Mark 12:30-31)

To love you with my whole heart, Lord, I need to clear out any attachments and distractions. The paradox is that if I do love you with my whole heart, these will disappear, for there simply will be no room for them. Once I realize how you love me, how can I help but give my heart to you?

My mind can be my enemy. I love exercising it; I delight in solving puzzles, applying logic, reading and writing. I get frustrated because life is not logical. Still, you did not give me a mind just for my gratification. It helps me to know you, but you are so far beyond its grasp that I cannot depend on it alone. It is your Spirit that will guide me.

My soul is the Spirit you breathed into me, the kiss of your creation. It hears only in silence. Help me to cultivate quiet space.

Without you, Lord, I have no strength, but again and again you show me how to lean on you.

To love you is to receive your love and reflect it. How can I serve my neighbor today? I will remember the prayer of St. Francis, “Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.” Show me where and how I can replace hatred with love, injury with pardon, doubt with faith, despair with hope, darkness with light and sadness with joy. Let me seek only to serve.

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