Daily Reflection – You Never Really Know Who You are Until You’ve Suffered
Difficult Teachings – Turn the Other Cheek
Minute Meditation – Christ Is Proclaimed by Our Lives
The Franciscan path of prayer that leads to peace is a path of transformation and witness. Christ is proclaimed not by words but by the example of one’s life, one’s willingness to suffer or perhaps offer one’s life for the sake of another. Christ lives in that Christ lives in us––in our bodies, our hands, our feet and our actions. This is the challenge for our time with its emphasis on rationality and materialism, the challenge of divine risk, of allowing God to enter our lives and lift us out of the doldrums of mediocrity, privatism and individualism. We are called to be vulnerable to grace so that we may be transformed into the living Christ.
—from the book Franciscan Prayer
//Franciscan Media//
Meditation of the Day – Love Proves Itself by Deeds
Verse of the Day – Blessed are Those Who Suffer Because of Righteousness
“But even if you should suffer because of righteousness, blessed are you. Do not be afraid or terrified with fear of them, but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts. Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope, but do it with gentleness and reverence, keeping your conscience clear, so that, when you are maligned, those who defame your good conduct in Christ may themselves be put to shame.” 1 Peter 3:14-16
//Catholic Company//
Minute Meditation – To Hear the Word and Act
As she prayed, Clare gradually took on the visage of the very image of the crucified Christ she contemplated; but this happened, not just because she prayed, but because Clare always acted upon the word she was given in prayer. Hers was devotion, a word in the Middle Ages that meant the virtue of hearing the Word of God and then acting upon that Word with alacrity. I hear, and I do what I hear in God’s Word. How many must have been the words given to Clare through a lifetime of prayer! Words that Clare would endeavor to put into practice as she went through her ordinary day, even given her own suffering that was attendant upon an illness that kept her bedridden, off and on for years, an illness that grew worse as she grew older. She and the suffering Crucified Christ became mirrors of each other, a man and a woman who became the poverty of God, both in themselves and in their relating. For the perfect poverty of Christ is the emptying yet filling love and relating of the Blessed Trinity.
— from the book Mystics: Twelve Who Reveal God’s Loveby Murry Bodo, OFM
//Franciscan Media//
Meditation of the Day – You Must Have Peace in Your Own Soul Before You Can Make Peace with Others
“You must first have peace in your own soul before you can make peace between other people. Peaceable people accomplish more good than learned people do. Those who are passionate often can turn good into evil and readily believe the worst. But those who are honest and peaceful turn all things to good and are suspicious of no one. … It is no test of virtue to be on good terms with easy-going people, for they are always well liked. And, of course, all of us want to live in peace and prefer those who agree with us. But the real test of virtue and deserving of praise is to live at peace with the perverse, or the aggressive and those who contradict us, for this needs a great grace. … in this mortal life, our peace consists in the humble bearing of suffering and contradictions, not in being free of them, for we cannot live in this world without adversity. Those who can best suffer will enjoy the most peace, for such persons are masters of themselves, lords of the world, with Christ for their friend, and heaven as their reward.”— Thomas á Kempis, p.72-73
Seeking God in Suffering – Hanging On By a Thread
Hanging On By a Thread
DAY 12 | James 5:7-11
As you know, we count as blessed those who have persevered. —James 5:11
A friend of a friend called me: “I don’t think I can do this anymore. Would God really want me to suffer like this, day after day, with no relief?” His illness was tormenting him, and he was looking for permission to end his life. He wondered if God would be angry with him.
Suffering is not God’s will. It is part of life in this broken world; God’s light has broken into the darkness, but we still long for the complete fulfillment of God’s plan. Jesus is coming again to restore everything. Meanwhile, life can be excruciatingly difficult, and we—as God’s people—are called to persevere. Hold on tightly to hope.
James reminds readers of the perseverance of the prophets and of Job, a man who suffered greatly when he lost all his children, all his possessions, and his health. Yet he did not lose hope or give up. God was there with him and eventually restored his possessions and gave him abundantly more.
The point of Job’s story is not that he regained possessions but that he persevered in his faith in God and that God demonstrates compassion and mercy.
This is the only reply I could give to the friend who was almost ready to give up: Your life is precious to God. Hang on until God says it’s time to come home.
Jesus, you know agony and suffering, and you empathize with us when we struggle to face yet another day of pain and uncertainty. May we feel your loving arms surround us as we push forward. Amen.
//Reframe Ministries//
Verse of the Day – For the Sake of Christ
//The Catholic Company//
Meditation of the Day – Free Me From Evil Passions
“Free me from evil passions and heal my heart of all disorderly affections, that being healed and well purified in my interior, I may become fit to love, courageous to suffer and constant to persevere. Love is an excellent thing, a great good indeed, which alone maketh light all that is burdened and makes all that which is bitter sweet and savory. The love of Jesus is noble and generous; it spurs us on to do great things and excites us to desire always that which is most perfect.”— Thomas á Kempis, p. 89
//The Catholic Company//