Posts Tagged: Loyola Publishing
The following is a “3-Minute Retreat” from Loyola Press. (You can sign up for these yourself, if you would like. They are free, though you can also buy some books and keep Loyola in business, if you wish to do that.)
“This is my commandment: love one another as I love you.” (John 15:12)
“How familiar to us are these words of Jesus? Perhaps too familiar, that they have lost their meaning. Jesus shared with his disciples the same love he received from the Father. What is clear to Jesus can at times be vague to us. We are able to love others because we have first been loved by God. It’s one thing to know that in our heads. It’s quite another to be convinced of it in our hearts. The key is to make time in our busy lives to stop and allow God to love us, to actually feel God’s love for us personally. Loving others will flow naturally from our deep belief in God’s personal love for us.”
“How can I open myself more fully to God’s love today?”
“Is my experience of God based more on knowing or on feeling? How might I begin to merge the two?”
Do I allow myself to be loved by God? Or am I too busy?
Too busy to be loved! Is that crazy or what?!?
The correct answer is that, of course, it is crazy. And yet, it is always possible to make time for craziness. But do I carve out time to be loved?
It isn’t just about God, either. My wife and little dog want to give and receive love. Do I make time for them? A friend and I got together for coffee and breakfast this morning. Important to let myself be loved by my friend and to love him. (He picked up the tab, which is a very loving thing to do, by the by.) A 12-step friend just called. Again, a chance to be loved and to love someone else.
All day long, I have opportunities to be loved and to love others. Slow down, self! Slow down, and let God and others love you! Slow down, and let yourself love others. Slow down.
“No Reason to Fear”
I enjoy doing a daily devotional exercise from Loyola Publishing. I particularly enjoyed this morning’s meditation. You can do the same by accessing the entire meditation—free of charge—at https://www.loyolapress.com/retreats/the-lord-goes-before-you-start-retreat/. (It takes about three minutes to go through the retreat. Just saying.)
Here is the Scripture on which today’s “3-Minute Retreat” was based. “It is the LORD who marches before you; he will be with you and will never fail you or forsake you. So do not fear or be dismayed.” (Deuteronomy 31:8)
So, what has Deuteronomy 31:8 got to say to us? A lot!
The Israelites were about to enter the promised land, after wandering in the wilderness for forty years. They had gotten lost, because they had lost their GPS, their “God Positioning System.”
Or rather, their parents had lost their GPS. Their parents, even after seeing God’s miracle-working power in rescuing them from slavery in Egypt and preserving them in the wilderness, had come to the very edge of the promised land forty years earlier. But they decided that they were not able to enter the land. Best to go back to Egypt! Best to go back to slavery.
God said to them, “No, you can’t go back to Egypt. But you won’t go into the promised land either. You will die in the wilderness since you refuse to trust me.”
And now the children of these needless wanderers are themselves standing on the brink of the Promise. Like any of us who are standing on the brink of a major unknown, they needed some reassurance.
I looked at Deuteronomy 31:8 in Hebrew. There were several fascinating things that are difficult to put into an English translation. This gets a bit technical but hang with me; it is worth the effort!
First, God emphasizes that He—God—will be with them. In Hebrew, as in many languages, the verb does not need to be expressed for simple, short statements. Therefore, if the independent pronoun is included, it is often for emphasis. The independent pronoun that stands in for God (“he”) occurs twice in this little verse, even though grammatically it is not needed for making sense of the sentence. God is underlining the fact that He, their God, will go before them. God does not lead from the rear. God goes in on the first wave of this battle.
Second, God will not only go ahead of them. God will be with them. God is not simply a God who leads. God is also a God who accompanies.
Third, Go encourages the Israelites not to fear or be dismayed. In fact, the Hebrew word that is translated “dismayed” in many English translations is quite a bit stronger than our word “dismay” suggests. The Hebrew word is used (sometimes literally) for something or someone who is broken. In a more metaphorical sense, it connotes panic. If God is God and if God is with us, then panic is always premature.
The retreat from Loyola connects Deuteronomy 31:8 with the New Testament in an interesting manner.
“We have every reason to trust in God. The Book of Deuteronomy promises that the Lord goes ahead of us and will never abandon us. Jesus is the fulfillment of this promise. By his Incarnation, Jesus accompanied us in our human experience. When we call Jesus Emmanuel, which means “God is with us,” we are reminded that we are not alone. After the Resurrection, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to be with the disciples and to remain with us always. There is no reason to fear.”
No reason to fear! That is always a good thing to remember.
“Gnawing Hungers”
One of my recent online readings challenged me in the following manner: “List your gnawing hungers. How can they best be satisfied?” https://www.loyolapress.com/retreats/are-you-hungry-start-retreat, accessed 03-17-2019.
So I did list them—or at least the ones I could identify! I will not embarrass you or myself by printing my entire list. Some of my “gnawing hungers” neither can nor should be satisfied. Addictive, sinful hungers will never be fulfilled until the addict/sinner is completely consumed. I think that is another name for “Hell.”
Jesus, according to the Sermon on the Mount, said that those who hunger and thirst after righteousness will be filled. Indeed, they will be blessed (Matthew 5:6). So, it would appear that not all hungers gnaw on us. There are blessed, fulfilling hungers too.
But what is the meaning of this “righteousness” for which we are to hunger?
Righteousness means many things in the Bible. Here is a partial list:
- Right behavior, which includes treating other people with fairness and generosity.
- Right relationships with God and other people.
- God declaring us righteous, because of Christ.
- God making us righteous, once we have been declared righteous.
All of that seems to be a worthy form of hunger.
It is interesting that, in the Greek, the word “hungering” is in the present tense, which may suggest that this hunger is a continual or ongoing hunger. This is hunger that satisfies, just by being there. It does not cease, but it is filled, even as it continues. A strange hunger, this!
I like sweets and other junk food. I like them a lot, and I like a lot of them. Perhaps my gnawing “hungers” (or, more accurately, “appetites”) would gnaw less if I were to have a continual hunger for righteousness.
Let the Hunger Game begin in earnest!
DOWN TO EARTH BELIEVER
- “Even a Sliver of Light” April 9, 2024“For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” (2 Corinthians 5:6, English Standard Version) I missed the total eclipse yesterday. There were a number of good reasons for this, but […]
- “The Process in Miracles and the Miracle of Process” March 11, 2024“2 Kings 5:1 Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master and in high favor, because by him the LORD had given victory to Syria. He was a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper. 2 Now the Syrians on one of their raids […]
- “The Power of Encouragement—Even for Old People” March 10, 2024“But encourage each other every day while it is ‘today.’ Help each other so none of you will become hardened because sin has tricked you.” (Hebrews 3:13, New Century Version) Yesterday, I was walking at a nearby park. There was a large group of young people some of whom were running while other young people […]
- “Endurance” March 10, 2024“For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.” (Hebrews 10:36, English Standard Version) “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us […]
- “The Limits of Non-Judgmentalism” February 24, 2024“Matt. 7:1 “Judge not, that you be not judged. Matt. 7:2 For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.” (Matthew 7:1-2, English Standard Version) This morning, in my virtual 12-step meeting, we discussed the topic of judgmentalism. There were many wise […]
- “Delighting in Being Told What to Do?!?” February 23, 2024“Psa. 112:1 Praise the LORD! Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who greatly delights in his commandments! 2 His offspring will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed. 3 Wealth and riches are in his house, and his righteousness endures […]
- “Character is the Real Lesson” January 19, 2024I am often confused about what lesson I’m really supposed to be learning. For example, this morning I was trying to knock out several Spanish lessons. My intentions were a lot better than my internet connection. I’ve done three lessons. Or rather, I’ve done two lessons. One of them I did twice because the internet […]
- “The Year of Becoming Un-Planked” January 1, 2024Each year, I try to come up with one word or a short phrase for what I intend to work on in the upcoming year. 2024 is “The Year of Becoming Un-Planked”. What?!! What does that even mean? So glad that you asked! Jesus said to his disciples, “Why do you look at the speck […]
- “Searching for the Noble One” December 26, 2023My wife and I were reading Luke, chapter 2 on Christmas Day. Luke 2 talks about the shepherds being told to look for this very special child—in fact, this King—in a stable. I prefer the word “barn”. I grew up on a farm. I know what a barn is. A stable is entirely too biblical […]
- “That Don’t Impress God Much” December 14, 2023DTEB, “That Don’t Impress God Much” “That Don’t Impress Me Much” (Song by Robert John Lange and Shania Twain) Micah 6:8 (MSG) “But he’s already made it plain how to live, what to do, what God is looking for in men and women. It’s quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbor, be […]
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