Arrowhead Marina & RV Park in Schenectady, NY. Picture by Patsey Kreider
Our blog is inspired by the Holy Spirit.
Blessed are they who have kept the word with a generous heart
and yield a harvest through perseverance.
Luke 8:15
As we were reading the readings for March 29, I was drawn to the reading before the Gospel, which was interesting because the First reading and the Gospel reading are also fascinating.
The First reading has King Nebuchadnezzar demand that everyone bow down and worship a god he has erected. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refuse and are thrown into a white-hot furnace, stating that God will either save them or not; it makes no difference.
God saves them, and an Angel plus the three brothers are seen dancing in the white-hot furnace, and they are not affected in any way.
King Nebuchadnezzar ends the reading by Blessing the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
In the Gospel reading, Jesus says, “If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Jesus goes on the say that they, the Jews, are slaves to sin, and Jesus is here to free them,
and
Jesus ends by saying, “If God were your Father, you would love me,
for I came from God and am here; I did not come on my own, but he sent me.”
Now back to; Blessed are they who have kept the word with a generous heart and yield a harvest through perseverance.
That seemed a long way around to get to the start of this blog.
The question raised in my mind, Holy Spirit, was the word Perseverance.
Why?
In Maine, we have three-Hundred Thousand Catholics, and only Thirty Thousand are active. My information comes from a past annual report by the Diocese of Portland.
Why?
I now believe it’s because the message being put out is a message about rules, and not a message about Love, Joy, and Peace, nor of Living in the “Spirit World,” and doesn’t include examples of healings and lives being changed by believing in a God Of Outrageous love.
We do not talk about a God of Outrageous Love or that when we receive communion, we are touching God.
We individually do not thank God for ALL God has and is doing for us.
Perseverance is easy when you start thanking God for everything because you soon realize your life is God’s, and upon further reflection, you also realize that’s what you have been searching for all of your life.
In the NRSV C.S. Lewis Bible, C. S. Lewis said; Indeed if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires not strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures. Fooling around with drink, sex, and ambition when infinite Joy is offered to us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.
For seventy years, I made mud pies in the slums, and it wasn’t until I lost a fight with The Holy Spirit that I found a new life rich in Love, Joy, and Peace, which in itself is interesting because I believed I was living in Love, Joy, and Peace before my conversion.
Imitate Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego by claiming the Triune God is “MY God’ and know and believe “MY God” will take care of you, and along with that statement of faith, fully believe you have been set free by the Life, Death, and Resurrection of your Brother Jesus.
If you want to join Team Jesus, pray. Thank you, Father, for the difficulties (Name the difficulty……………) you have ALLOWED in my life; I know you will take care of me. Pray this until you smile, and that smile tells you, you are back with the Holy Spirit living in the “Spirit World.”
Sidebar:
He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it, yet he could not keep his presence secret. In fact, as soon as she heard about him, a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an impure spirit came and fell at his feet. The woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter.
“First let the children eat all they want,” he told her, “for it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.”
“Lord,” she replied, “even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”
Then he told her, “For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter.”
Mark7: 24-29
In the NRSV C.S. Lewis Bible, C.S. Lewis said concerning the Syrophenician woman:
I think myself that the point of the shocking reply to the Syrophenician woman (it came alright in the end) is to remind all of us Gentile Christians – who forget it easily enough & even flirt with anti-Semitism – that the Jews are spiritually senior to us, that God did entrust the descendants of Abraham with the first revelation of Himself. To “put us in our place.”
I am reading the Gospel of Mark, and the above quote from the bible always concerned me, and I couldn’t figure out where Jesus was coming from. C.S. Lewis gives a very interesting answer to my difficulty.
Picture:
Arrowhead Marina & RV Park in Schenectady, NY. The beauty of nature is a gift to all of us from God. I felt God’s love pour out in this sunrise. Picture by Patsey Kreider
Please keep Snapping!
Remember, if you want to submit a picture, no people, please, because we have to get permission from that person to use their photograph; in the comments section at the bottom of our blog, tell me you want to submit a picture, and I will send you my email address in our reply on Thursday. By sending your picture, you consent to allow us to reprint that picture in our next book, God Thoughts 2023, with your name and any comments in the Blog.
