Today’s text
1 John 5:16-17
“If you see your brother or sister committing what is not a mortal sin, you will ask, and God will give life to such a one--to those whose sin is not mortal. There is a sin that is mortal; I do not say that you should pray about that. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that is not mortal.”
Prayer
I do not know what mortal sin means, Dearest One. I cannot grasp it. I know only that sin kills, right here and now. It is the illusion of separation from you. It is living without awareness that I and all that is are always in you, and you are in us. We exist only because we bear your Being. We are never separate from you, from your life, from your wonder, from the vitality and love you are.
Such awareness brings gratitude and calm. Anxiety flees the field, leaving the assurance that I am alive with you. The life I live is your life breathed into flesh. Every breath resonates with the peace that I have all I need in life and death. For, I am alive with you, the Boundless Spring of love and being itself.
What can mortal sin be but the determination to live in the illusion that this is not so? Your divine life has come in the flesh of my brother Jesus--and continues to come in and to the flesh of all you love? And you all love all you have made. Is mortal sin this dualism that separates you from our common life, denying that you are here, present and knowable in every moment?
If so, I will pray for those who fall into such sin including myself, for it is a terrible darkness.
Awaken our senses, Abiding Presence. Evaporate the illusion that clouds our vision so that we may know every breath we take draws in your creative love as you seek to fill us and all that is. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
Reflections on Scripture and the experience of God's presence in our common lives by David L. Miller, an Ignatian retreat director for the Christos Center for spiritual Formation, is the author of "Friendship with Jesus: A Way to Pray the Gospel of Mark" and hundreds of articles and devotions in a variety of publications. Contact him at prdmiller@gmail.com.
Friday, June 01, 2007
Friday, June 1, 2007
Today’s text
1 John 5:16-17
“If you see your brother or sister committing what is not a mortal sin, you will ask, and God will give life to such a one--to those whose sin is not mortal. There is a sin that is mortal; I do not say that you should pray about that. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that is not mortal.”
Prayer
I do not know what mortal sin means, Dearest One. I cannot grasp it. I know only that sin kills, right here and now. It is the illusion of separation from you. It is living without awareness that I and all that is are always in you, and you are in us. We exist only because we bear your Being. We are never separate from you, from your life, from your wonder, from the vitality and love you are.
Such awareness brings gratitude and calm. Anxiety flees the field, leaving the assurance that I am alive with you. The life I live is your life breathed into flesh. Every breath resonates with the peace that I have all I need in life and death. For, I am alive with you, the Boundless Spring of love and being itself.
What can mortal sin be but the determination to live in the illusion that this is not so? Your divine life has come in the flesh of my brother Jesus--and continues to come in and to the flesh of all you love? And you all love all you have made. Is mortal sin this dualism that separates you from our common life, denying that you are here, present and knowable in every moment?
If so, I will pray for those who fall into such sin including myself, for it is a terrible darkness.
Awaken our senses, Abiding Presence. Evaporate the illusion that clouds our vision so that we may know every breath we take draws in your creative love as you seek to fill us and all that is. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
1 John 5:16-17
“If you see your brother or sister committing what is not a mortal sin, you will ask, and God will give life to such a one--to those whose sin is not mortal. There is a sin that is mortal; I do not say that you should pray about that. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that is not mortal.”
Prayer
I do not know what mortal sin means, Dearest One. I cannot grasp it. I know only that sin kills, right here and now. It is the illusion of separation from you. It is living without awareness that I and all that is are always in you, and you are in us. We exist only because we bear your Being. We are never separate from you, from your life, from your wonder, from the vitality and love you are.
Such awareness brings gratitude and calm. Anxiety flees the field, leaving the assurance that I am alive with you. The life I live is your life breathed into flesh. Every breath resonates with the peace that I have all I need in life and death. For, I am alive with you, the Boundless Spring of love and being itself.
What can mortal sin be but the determination to live in the illusion that this is not so? Your divine life has come in the flesh of my brother Jesus--and continues to come in and to the flesh of all you love? And you all love all you have made. Is mortal sin this dualism that separates you from our common life, denying that you are here, present and knowable in every moment?
If so, I will pray for those who fall into such sin including myself, for it is a terrible darkness.
Awaken our senses, Abiding Presence. Evaporate the illusion that clouds our vision so that we may know every breath we take draws in your creative love as you seek to fill us and all that is. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Today’s text
1 John 5:16
“If you see your brother or sister committing what is not a mortal sin, you will ask, and God will give life to such a one--to those whose sin is not mortal.”
Prayer
I know sin all too well. My heart is not singular and pure. My soul does not shine with the crystalline clarity of your divine heart. Each intricate facet of your Being glimmers with the unsullied, undiluted purity of the Love whom you are. Who can gaze into light so pure, so piercing?
I am nothing like this. My sin is the source of most of my pain and sadness, my weakness and worry. I would love and trust you, finding strength and calmness of heart amid the feverishness of life. But on too many days I turn from the plentitude of your provision and quickly am trapped in anxiety about my want of skill and time, insight and ability. My incompetence and inadequacy for the tasks of your calling mock me.
In abject need, I turn and fall again into the fullness of your love, and my soul is enveloped in a cloud of knowing assurance. I am certain again, not of me, but of you, of the constant presence of your love, of the infinitely abundant reality that I dwell in the atmosphere of a love that will never abandon me to my own devices.
My heart is filled my life, eternal life, which is to say, with you. And I live. Oh, that I could always live like this. This alone is life, a life you give to sinners and wanderers like me. Pour your loving nearness on all of us this day that we may glow with a glory not our own. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
1 John 5:16
“If you see your brother or sister committing what is not a mortal sin, you will ask, and God will give life to such a one--to those whose sin is not mortal.”
Prayer
I know sin all too well. My heart is not singular and pure. My soul does not shine with the crystalline clarity of your divine heart. Each intricate facet of your Being glimmers with the unsullied, undiluted purity of the Love whom you are. Who can gaze into light so pure, so piercing?
I am nothing like this. My sin is the source of most of my pain and sadness, my weakness and worry. I would love and trust you, finding strength and calmness of heart amid the feverishness of life. But on too many days I turn from the plentitude of your provision and quickly am trapped in anxiety about my want of skill and time, insight and ability. My incompetence and inadequacy for the tasks of your calling mock me.
In abject need, I turn and fall again into the fullness of your love, and my soul is enveloped in a cloud of knowing assurance. I am certain again, not of me, but of you, of the constant presence of your love, of the infinitely abundant reality that I dwell in the atmosphere of a love that will never abandon me to my own devices.
My heart is filled my life, eternal life, which is to say, with you. And I live. Oh, that I could always live like this. This alone is life, a life you give to sinners and wanderers like me. Pour your loving nearness on all of us this day that we may glow with a glory not our own. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
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