Wednesday, August 8, 2007

Today’s text

Luke 12:13-15

Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” But he said to him, “Friend, who set me to be a judge and arbitrator over you?” And he said to them, “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.

Prayer

You are not judge or arbitrator, are you Jesus? With the wave of a hand, you dismiss such nonsense and misunderstanding. You refuse any course that leads away from the desire that animates your every word and deed, the desire that is your identity. You know who are, what you are to do, and in utter freedom you reject every invitation to do or be something else, something less than the burning fire of divine love whom you are.

I admire your clarity and tenacity, your self-possession and assurance. I envy your reflexive refusal to undertake anything disconnected from the core of your being. I wish I were so single minded, so simple-hearted and clear about being that which the Loving Mystery has made me. For I, too, am fashioned to be and to bear that Love which has no name, that mystery to whom you are so utterly transparent.

Thank you for this transparency, for in you I taste the Love who refuses to be anything else, a taste that tells me Love will not let me go.

But I would be truer and more simple than I am. I long to be as clear and set upon living in and from the Love who enfolds and fills me, so that I, too, may not be so much less than you, blessed Jesus, intend. May it be so, at least for today. We’ll talk about it again tomorrow.

Pr. David L. Miller