Word to the Wise
Thursday, May 18, 2017 - 5th Week of Easter - Thurs
[Acts 15:7-21 and John 15:9-11]"As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy might be in you and your joy might be complete." [John]
Last month, I preached a retreat for persons who were completing a three-year program in spirituality. Some of them took additional training to become "spiritual directors." Courses of this kind are being offered around the country in various dioceses because the demand for this kind of ministry is considerable. This is due in part to shortage of clergy and in part to the broadening of the concept of ministry in the church as well as a sense in many people that our secular society is more and more spiritually bankrupt! A good spiritual director can help a person recover that sense of a personal relationship to the Lord that may have been lost for whatever reason.
Jesus speaks to that relationship in the "Farewell Discourse" at the Last Supper. He uses that important word, "remain," over and over. If we respond to his offer of love and live in accord with it, remembering how he washed the feet of the disciples, we will experience the joy of his presence in our lives even in the midst of difficulties and trials. To "remain" in Christ requires a continual desire to do so. When I recall the wonderful longtime friendships I have with former parishioners, some of them of more than 40 years duration, the word "remain" makes a lot more sense to me. It is more than loyalty. And it brings a wonderful and complete joy. It is an "abiding" presence of those friends in my life. The old hymn comes close when it says, "What a friend we have in Jesus - all our sin and grief to bear. What a privilege we cherish, to take it all to God in prayer." AMEN
config
view
logs
4096.0 KB
90 ms
4
