Saturday, November 24, 2018

John 6:27

Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.

Soul food

Eternity kisses the soul in moments when love floods our inmost being. Surety fills heart and mind as we know the One who made us living within, filling us.

This is eternal life, the life of eternity … now.

We cannot give ourselves this life of joy and hope. It comes as a gift Jesus is pleased to give as we draw near and feast on his words, as we open our hands to receive the blessed sacrament of his body and blood, as we pray knowing our hearts are heard, and as we live the love he awakens in our souls.

His singular invitation is for us to know him, know the truth and the life in his words and actions. In knowing Jesus, the life he is awakens in us, filling us with the wonder of the divine life in him.

Seek this every new day. Set aside time to listen to him, to imagine him as he speaks and walks among his disciples and as he reaches out in compassion for the broken.

Do not let the busyness of life distract you from seeking what your heart most needs. For what we most need is to know him.

Simply sit and imagine his face looking at you, his eyes filled with desire to give you everything that is in him. Such is his desire, his love for you.

Find your private space, your holy place and just be with him. He will give you food that endures.

Pr. David L. Miller

Friday, November 23, 2018

Philippians 4:4-5

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near.

Knowing joy

Joy arises from the presence of knowing love within the heart.

The warmth of joy is not the rush of emotional energy that fills us in a moment of victory or success, nor even when good fortune surprises us in some way. Joy is not dependent upon outward circumstances. It is deeper, rooted in the soul.

It rises when the heart is warmed by the presence of the Love … of God … living within us. This Love is there, always. It is our truest self, as we are made in the image of an immeasurable love.

We live far from this awareness most days, which is why prayer needs to be a daily, hourly, moment-to-moment experience. Turing again and again to speak to the One who is always near, friend-to-friend, moments come when we are filled with the simple joy of being. For we know the One who is Love living within, filling us as water fills a glass to overflowing.

In such moments no one needs to tell us how we are to live, for all cynicism and fear, boredom and low esteem, all greed and guilt and bitterness are washed away.

All that remains is the gentle joy of being alive and knowing the Love who is, the Love who shines for each of us in the face of Christ, the Love who is always near.

Pr. David L. Miller

Wednesday, November 21, 2018

Revelation 22:20

The one who testifies to these things says, ‘Surely I am coming soon.’ Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!

With eager expectation

The prophet, John of Patmos, was surely wrong … and always right.

He expected the immanent return of our Lord Jesus to call down the curtain on human history and make all things new. But it did not happen.

History wends its weary way with no end in sight, and still we pray “Come Lord Jesus,” just like those who first received the book of Revelation. We do so because our Lord is always coming to us.

God is love and love always comes, seeking to touch and grace and walk with the beloved. The Lord Jesus is always near to accompany us throughout our journey. We experience the return of Christ each time we open our heart to him in prayer and extend our hands to receive him in the sacrament.

He comes each time we cry out from the depth of our longing for the Lord to heal the hunger and hurts and hatreds of our world, each time we plead for him to come to the injustice and destruction that destroys the lives of millions.

Jesus is always coming near because he is love and love needs to give itself away.

So we do not fall asleep or into apathy. We do not live in doubt or sorrow but with eager expectation, knowing our Lord comes not only at the end of time, but here, now, today, to bless us with the presence of the Love for which our hearts long.

Pr. David L. Miller

Tuesday, November 20, 2018

Revelation 21:5-6

And the one who was seated on the throne said, ‘See, I am making all things new.’ Also he said, ‘Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.’ Then he said to me, ‘It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life. 

Only your love

I am making all things new. There is only one thing that can make the world truly new—the Love God is.

All things in heaven and earth are to be filled with fullness of divine love. This is why we pray. This is what we pray for. This is what we most need for the world and for ourselves—to know the love that has neither beginning nor end flowing through our world and our hearts.

We ache to feel a wave of immeasurable love swelling up within, lifting us above our burdened selves into the freedom of truest joy. But the tired, old world weighs leaden on our hearts.

Wildfires rage in California. Mass shootings spill the blood of innocents, again. Political infighting roils the nation. Refugees are denied the mercy they so badly need, and the pathetic images of starving children stare blankly amid the rubble of war in Syria and Yemen.

We hear such litanies day-after-day, but we do not settle for life as it is. We want more because the Spirit of God within us always aches and cries out for the Holy One to deliver our world from death and disease, war and famine, from ancient hatreds of racism, sexism, terrorism and every other ism that wounds the world.

Look and see. There are signs of new life even now, for the Holy One never ceases to pour divine love into our tired, old world ... and us.

So we pray, “Come, Lord Jesus, make all things new. Stir us to live in love that we may make your holy dream come true. We ache for the newness only your love can give.”

Pr. David L. Miller