First Seek God, Then “Inner Peace”

Scripture Reading:  2 Corinthians 8:9

For you know the gracious act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that for your sake he became poor although he was rich, so that by his poverty you might become rich. 

Reflection:  by Sr. Jackie Bates, r.c.

  I’m starting to wonder about the air I breath.  The spiritual air, this is, the air that’s drifting around my culture’s definition of what the spiritual life is all about.  Because in that air is an assumption that my spiritual life is essentially about me:  about finding peace, a space where I feel accepted and comfortable.

But when I actually go back to the sources – to, say, Paul writing here to the Christians in Corinth to encourage them to pour out more of themselves in love, because their redemption came as Christ poured himself out for them – I have to think again.  It almost seems to be a different language sometimes.

Joy and peace are the fruit of this journey, but the name of the journey might be something different from what some of us think.  It might not be so much, “The way to inner peace,” but simply, “Discipleship.”

Lord Jesus, fill me with your love, so that I might share it with others. 

How To Pray, How To Live

Scripture Reading:  Matthew 6:9

This is how you are to pray:  Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name…

Reflection: by Sr. Jackie Bates, r.c.

In any bookstore or library, shelves are filled with books about prayer:  how to pray, how to get the most out of prayer, how to have a fulfilling spiritual life.  We all have a lot of questions about this most important part of life.  Good for us that Jesus has already answered them – briefly and simply.

For these words – what we call the Lord’s Prayer – aren’t just phrases for us to repeat in our own prayer.  They are just what Jesus says:  a model for how to pray.

And notice who’s front and center:  is it me and my problems?  My hard decisions and regrets?  Is this the time for trying to convince God to be reasonable and see things my way?

It’s really no surprise.  Jesus’ lesson in prayer begins with acknowledging and praising God and then praying that God’s will be done.

That’s how to pray, but even more, how to live.

Our Father, who art in Heaven……