Take a deep breath!
That breath you just took was by the Grace of God. The next one you just took was also by His Grace. Everything we have is by His Grace. And I shall put my spirit in you, and you will live, and I shall resettle you on your own soil; and you will know that I, the Lord, have said and done this – it is the Lord who speaks.”
One of my relatives will be homeless today unless the Lord steps into the mix and finds her and her eight-year-old son shelter. He just had his First Holy Communion. It is a long story and will not help us understand our Gospel message and readings to expand on her story. I have sent some money, but it is never enough. Those who have shelter tonight should give thanks to God and give Him the Glory. All this means that we all have a fragile existence and everything, everything we have comes from God. I ask your prayers for her that she finds a solution.
n‘Master, which is the greatest commandment of the Law?’ Jesus said, ‘You must love the hLord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second resembles it: You must love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang the whole Law, and the Prophets also.’
So, to connect our readings today. I can understand why we should love God with our whole being. Everything we have is by His Grace. So, why do I have to love my ex=brother-in-law who caused immense dissention and hurt to his family and y his marriage. He caused me hurt and when his daughter married she married someone with the same character. She is now divorced.
Why do I have to love him? I don’t like him.
Still, I have to love him. I am the only one in the family that still talks to him. Neither his son, daughter, ex-wife will speak to him. He is a very lonely man.
I get loving God because my very being is because of Him. Why others who I find less than loveable? Why? Simple, God made all of us. He made them and His Grace allows them their next breath because God loves them as much as He loves us.
This is the message for today. We owe our entire life to Him. We must love Him with our whole life and soul. We must love others as well. Not because they are loveable but because God created them and loves them as much as He loves us.
We know this but to act on it and believe it as God wants us to believe. This is not any easy message for those in our lives that have hurt us. Nonetheless, this is the message. We can only accomplish this by His Grace.
God Love You Always
Bob Burford
PS: Please Pray for Cancer victims and their caregivers. Pray for the conversion of Russia and the salvation of the Ukrainian and Russian people and their soldiers. Pray for the Holy Land. Pray for peace!
