Sometimes a person we love passes away when there are unhappy or unresolved issues between you and that person. We can never make that up in the material world, but I truly believe that the Lord can help us make in right in Spirit. Nevertheless, how much more lovely it can be to be reconciled to someone we love face to face.
There is nothing more important in the whole universe than love in action.
Several times in my life I have lost touch with friends in very sad ways and nothing I have tried to do has been able to fix whatever has been wrong. Too often I have been speaking and acting according to the way I think about our relationship, but the other person thinks about me and how we know each other in a very different way. To a great extent there is mostly only our reality and we really can't totally understand where the other person is coming from in the least.
Has that happened to you? There is a solution. We can pray and ask the Lord to help us mend what is broken and make right what is wrong or difficult.
What makes it so difficult to face the people we have wronged in some way?
Why do we often hold on to hurts or mistakes instead of confessing them and asking for forgiveness?
We are human beings and our hearts and emotions are finite and flawed. Not so with the Lord. His knowledge of each person's heart and circumstances is complete. At one and the same time, the Lord knows the past, the present and the future. He understand why you feel the way you feel better than you do.
According to St. Matthew's Gospel, there are two solutions to problems between people. Jesus explains by suggesting a situation when you go to the altar to ask God's forgiveness for your sins, but as you kneel before Him, you remember that someone is holding something against you. Maybe you didn't even intentionally hurt that person. But you know that there are bad feelings and that the person hurts because of something you have done or said or not done or haven't said.
Jesus says that in those circumstances we must leave or gift at the altar and go to the person and ask his or her forgiveness. Even if the person cannot or will not forgive you, you can leave that in the Lord's hands, go back to the altar, and complete the sacrifice to ask God's forgiveness. Matthew 5:24-25
The other situation the Lord talks about concerning forgiveness Jesus presents in the context of those who have made a commitment to the Lord and to one another in the fellowship of believers. If another believer, one of your brothers or sisters in Christ has done something to hurt you, or stolen something from you or in any other way has sinned against you, you must go to that person and tell him or her about the sin or transgression.
This gives that brother or sister an opportunity to ask your forgiveness. If he or she denies the wrong against you, the Lord says that you must bring one or two witnesses with you and go back with you to accuse the person of the sin against you again. This is based on the requirements to seek forgiveness in the Hebrew Bible, that no one can be accused and then convicted of a crime or a sin unless one or two witnesses are present when the perpetrator comes before a judge at the gates of the city which is the person's ancestral home.
If the person still refuses to take responsibility and ask your forgiveness, you have done all that the Lord requires and can receive the peace of the Lord. Matthew 18:15-17
All of this has to do with being in right relationship with God and with the people you know and love.
So I would like to ask you these questions just for your own individual "examination of conscious":
Is there someone you love who is holding something against you?
Have you not forgiven someone who has hurt you?
Both of these situations can cause a rift or a block that keeps you from being able to receive God's love and the good, peaceful fellowship of the people in your life. Please don't allow these blocks or walls remain between you and the people in your life.
Please act to make peace so that you are able to receive God's love and blessings.
And please open your heart to the possibility that even if the person you have hurt or the person who has sinned against you has passed away, the Lord is able to help you find His peace, mercy and grace.
Through prayer you can ask the Lord to forgive you even if you are no longer able to be in touch with the person because of time, distance or even death. A witness may be someone who knows both you and the person who sinned against you. The witness may also be a family member, a friend, a pastor, or a therapist who believes you. Again, through prayer the Lord can help you be released from the bonds that keep you connected to another person in an unhealthy way.
There is one more important concept and activity I want to make sure I tell you. In the Lord's prayer Jesus makes it very clear that we can only receive forgiveness if we give forgiveness. When we are not able to forgive or when we choose to continue to hold something against a person, we prevent the Lord from helping us to receive the divine forgiveness that is ours.
When Jesus left the Garden of Gethsemane in order to suffer, to die on the Cross, and to resurrect Himself to return all of creation to its original pristine goodness and to make possible the reconciliation of each person who has ever lived or who will ever lived, He not only destroyed sin and death. He also took down every possible barrier between each human being and Himself.
This is a great and wonderful mystery and beyond our comprehension in many ways. The first important part of the mystery is that God loves each one of us.
The second part of the mystery that is very marvelous is that the Lord did not give each one of us our lives and our time on Earth for our own sakes. He created each one of us for His sake.
Love cannot exist in a vacuum. Love cannot exist by itself. Love must be active.
In John 3:16 Jesus says, "For God so loved the world that he GAVE His one and only begotten Son, that whoever BELIEVES in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
The actions intrinsic in this promise have to do with giving and with the response to the gift -- believing.
This is another devotion I have written to ask you again, do you believe God loves you?
If not, why not?
Will you give the Lord a chance to answer questions and satisfy doubts about faith?
I promise you that if you truly open your heart to Him He will satisfy you. His love is always flowing out and always available to you. If you are willing to give God a chance, He will help you not only receive His love and blessings, you will become an instrument of His peace, love, mercy and forgiveness.
My most fervent prayer for you is that you will open you heart to the Fullness of Love. And if you have already done that, my prayer for you is that you will continue to open your heart. There is no limit to the Love of God. One of the most important spiritual directors and pastors in my life loved to say that God is the God of surprises.
The Lord takes great joy in showing us how He delights in us. And the more we share His love, the more He continues to bless us. Because you can't out-give God. As Jesus says in Luke 6:37-38, "Do not judge, and you will not be judged; and do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; pardon, and you will be pardoned. "Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure-- pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return."
Again, if you do not know this in your own life's experience, please give the Lord a chance to show you. I promise you He will answer all your questions and take away your doubts if you only give Him a chance.
May the Lord continue to bless and keep you and everyone you love, now and always.
There is nothing more important in the whole universe than love in action.
Several times in my life I have lost touch with friends in very sad ways and nothing I have tried to do has been able to fix whatever has been wrong. Too often I have been speaking and acting according to the way I think about our relationship, but the other person thinks about me and how we know each other in a very different way. To a great extent there is mostly only our reality and we really can't totally understand where the other person is coming from in the least.
Has that happened to you? There is a solution. We can pray and ask the Lord to help us mend what is broken and make right what is wrong or difficult.
What makes it so difficult to face the people we have wronged in some way?
Why do we often hold on to hurts or mistakes instead of confessing them and asking for forgiveness?
We are human beings and our hearts and emotions are finite and flawed. Not so with the Lord. His knowledge of each person's heart and circumstances is complete. At one and the same time, the Lord knows the past, the present and the future. He understand why you feel the way you feel better than you do.
According to St. Matthew's Gospel, there are two solutions to problems between people. Jesus explains by suggesting a situation when you go to the altar to ask God's forgiveness for your sins, but as you kneel before Him, you remember that someone is holding something against you. Maybe you didn't even intentionally hurt that person. But you know that there are bad feelings and that the person hurts because of something you have done or said or not done or haven't said.
Jesus says that in those circumstances we must leave or gift at the altar and go to the person and ask his or her forgiveness. Even if the person cannot or will not forgive you, you can leave that in the Lord's hands, go back to the altar, and complete the sacrifice to ask God's forgiveness. Matthew 5:24-25
The other situation the Lord talks about concerning forgiveness Jesus presents in the context of those who have made a commitment to the Lord and to one another in the fellowship of believers. If another believer, one of your brothers or sisters in Christ has done something to hurt you, or stolen something from you or in any other way has sinned against you, you must go to that person and tell him or her about the sin or transgression.
This gives that brother or sister an opportunity to ask your forgiveness. If he or she denies the wrong against you, the Lord says that you must bring one or two witnesses with you and go back with you to accuse the person of the sin against you again. This is based on the requirements to seek forgiveness in the Hebrew Bible, that no one can be accused and then convicted of a crime or a sin unless one or two witnesses are present when the perpetrator comes before a judge at the gates of the city which is the person's ancestral home.
If the person still refuses to take responsibility and ask your forgiveness, you have done all that the Lord requires and can receive the peace of the Lord. Matthew 18:15-17
All of this has to do with being in right relationship with God and with the people you know and love.
So I would like to ask you these questions just for your own individual "examination of conscious":
Is there someone you love who is holding something against you?
Have you not forgiven someone who has hurt you?
Both of these situations can cause a rift or a block that keeps you from being able to receive God's love and the good, peaceful fellowship of the people in your life. Please don't allow these blocks or walls remain between you and the people in your life.
Please act to make peace so that you are able to receive God's love and blessings.
And please open your heart to the possibility that even if the person you have hurt or the person who has sinned against you has passed away, the Lord is able to help you find His peace, mercy and grace.
Through prayer you can ask the Lord to forgive you even if you are no longer able to be in touch with the person because of time, distance or even death. A witness may be someone who knows both you and the person who sinned against you. The witness may also be a family member, a friend, a pastor, or a therapist who believes you. Again, through prayer the Lord can help you be released from the bonds that keep you connected to another person in an unhealthy way.
There is one more important concept and activity I want to make sure I tell you. In the Lord's prayer Jesus makes it very clear that we can only receive forgiveness if we give forgiveness. When we are not able to forgive or when we choose to continue to hold something against a person, we prevent the Lord from helping us to receive the divine forgiveness that is ours.
When Jesus left the Garden of Gethsemane in order to suffer, to die on the Cross, and to resurrect Himself to return all of creation to its original pristine goodness and to make possible the reconciliation of each person who has ever lived or who will ever lived, He not only destroyed sin and death. He also took down every possible barrier between each human being and Himself.
This is a great and wonderful mystery and beyond our comprehension in many ways. The first important part of the mystery is that God loves each one of us.
The second part of the mystery that is very marvelous is that the Lord did not give each one of us our lives and our time on Earth for our own sakes. He created each one of us for His sake.
Love cannot exist in a vacuum. Love cannot exist by itself. Love must be active.
In John 3:16 Jesus says, "For God so loved the world that he GAVE His one and only begotten Son, that whoever BELIEVES in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
The actions intrinsic in this promise have to do with giving and with the response to the gift -- believing.
This is another devotion I have written to ask you again, do you believe God loves you?
If not, why not?
Will you give the Lord a chance to answer questions and satisfy doubts about faith?
I promise you that if you truly open your heart to Him He will satisfy you. His love is always flowing out and always available to you. If you are willing to give God a chance, He will help you not only receive His love and blessings, you will become an instrument of His peace, love, mercy and forgiveness.
My most fervent prayer for you is that you will open you heart to the Fullness of Love. And if you have already done that, my prayer for you is that you will continue to open your heart. There is no limit to the Love of God. One of the most important spiritual directors and pastors in my life loved to say that God is the God of surprises.
The Lord takes great joy in showing us how He delights in us. And the more we share His love, the more He continues to bless us. Because you can't out-give God. As Jesus says in Luke 6:37-38, "Do not judge, and you will not be judged; and do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; pardon, and you will be pardoned. "Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure-- pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return."
Again, if you do not know this in your own life's experience, please give the Lord a chance to show you. I promise you He will answer all your questions and take away your doubts if you only give Him a chance.
May the Lord continue to bless and keep you and everyone you love, now and always.
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