Priorities...Number Eight

Tobit 6:10-11; 7:1BCDE, 9-17; 8:4-9A ~~~ Psalm 128 ~~~ 

~~~ Mark 12:28-34 ~~~

“Which is the first of all the commandments?”

At last Sarah is wedded to husband number eight.

Seven times before she is to marry Tobiah her husbands 

have died on the wedding night.

We know love is the overarching theme of the readings.

The parents love their daughter and son.

Sarah's father believes he has finally found

 the proper husband for his daughter.

The angel Raphael was with Tobiah when they entered the town.

God  sent his messenger angel to accompany Tobiah.

We do not know why Sarah's previous husbands died,

but we clearly see things differently this time.

This time God chose Tobiah to Sarah's husband.

When we invite God to be a part of our life

his perfect plan is set into motion.

Tobiah arose from bed and said to his wife,

“My love, get up.

Let us pray and beg our Lord to have mercy on us

and to grant us deliverance.”

The greatest commandment is to love...

We are to love God with our whole mind, body, and soul.

We are to love our neighbors,

this includes our spouse, as ourselves.

This love God has for us and the love we have for God

must transform our whole notion about love.

If we do not invite God into our daily lives

 we have not set our priorities in the right order.

If our priorities are out of alignment things progress poorly.

Tobiah might have been afraid to marry Sarah,

and rightfully so.

For he could have become number eight.

But Tobiah took his wife into

 a time of prayer together first.

He invited God into their marriage before anything else.

His priority was to put God first.

Togther they invited God into their marriage union.

Together they invited the God of love...

the giver of life, to be first in their life.

...Call down your mercy on me and on her,

and allow us to live together to a happy old age.

After praying they went to bed confident 

that their prayers were heard.

Tobiah was blessed by the Spirit of God.

What are your priorities?

We cannot keep the commandments of love

unless our priorities are correct.

How do you begin your day?

What are your priorities?

The God of love blesses us as we move 

through each day of our life.

You are Blessed today...

put God first and the rest will follow accordingly.

~~~ Peace ~~~

Floods...Fire...Love...

~~~ 2 John 4-9 ~~~ Psalm 119 ~~~ Luke 17:26-37 ~~~

...not as though I were writing a new commandment
but the one we have had from the beginning:
let us love one another.

Whatever the situation God is all about love.
Nothing else really matters.
It seems so simple...
So why is it so difficult to practice every day?

God instructed Noah to build his ark out of love.
If there had been no ark God might have just let all things perish.
But God loves us too much to allow that to happen.
Had Noah not had great love for God he might have just ignored
the order from God to build a big boat.

Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!

Everyone and everything outside the ark the day the floods
 came was swallowed up in the waters.
God saw the need to cleanse the earth...a new beginning.
 Lot was allowed to leave his city before God
found it necessary to rain down the cleansing fire.

Oddly enough God proves his love through water and fire.
Today we would call these natural disasters.
We have witnessed the massive destruction from hurricane floods.
We have seen the consuming flames of a forest fire;
reducing everything in its path to heaps of black ash.

All that matters is love.
None of our earthly possessions hold
any value beyond this world.
When we are reunited with God in heaven
 all that is will be love.

Noah could not look out and lament what had been left behind.
He built the ark as God directed...it was God's plan.
The day Lot was allowed to safely leave Sodom
God directed he and his wife to not look back.
We know that Lot's wife was so distraught over
what she was leaving behind.
She could not stop herself from taking one last glance.

This last glance cost her her life.

Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it...

The day will come when it will be our turn to take our last breath.
On that day hopefully we will have the necessary grace
 to be able to release all attachments to this world.

God may not give us time to build an ark
 or to escape the burning city.

Keeping love alive in our heart now helps us to realize;
nothing we have here on earth has any true value.

Love is the golden rule
  it sums up all of our wants and desires.

The law of the Lord is only four simple letters...
L-O-V-E.
This is easy my friends...don't make it complicated.

~~~Peace~~~

Love Like Jesus: He Commands

~~~ Fifth Sunday of Easter ~~~

 

~~Acts of the Apostles 14:21-27~~Psalm 145~~Revelation 21:1-5a~~John 13:31-33a, 34-35~~

 

After Judas has left the group of men closest to Jesus...

after he had humbly washed their feet...

this is when he speaks of love.

 

Knowing that he was about to be betrayed by one from his inner circle...

one who had walked with him, broken bread with him,

 heard him speak words of healing and compassion;

this is the moment when Jesus commands us to love.

 

My children, I will be with you only a little while longer.
I give you a new commandment: love one another.
As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.

 

It is easy to give commands to those who are under your control.

Parents give their children commands.

Military personnel give commands to those under them.

You know some common commands...

come here, stand up, sit down, stop.

We are good at giving our dogs commands.

We expect them to obey;

giving them rewards for their prompt response.

 

Jesus gives us the command to love at a time in his own life

when most of us would hardly consider a time of love.

 

His message to his apostles seems to be no matter what

I am commanding you to love...even in the face of pain, sorrow,

and certain death.

 

But how does one command another to love?

Love is a strong emotion, given freely to others.

It is not as simple as sitting or standing.

Love is very complex.

Jesus led by his example; this is why he can command us to love.

 

 

The chemical emotion of love is strong stirring up passion,

but perhaps the love Jesus speaks of today is the love

through which we make a conscious deliberate

decision toward loving another.

 

This love is not driven by chemicals this love is driven by our intellect.

Jesus is commanding us to see the world as it is with all of its

shortcomings and love anyway.

This is the greatest commandment because it is precisely very difficult.

Loving those who would do us harm goes against our natural instinct to love.

 

Why would you want to feel love for someone

who wants to hurt or betray you?

 

I believe the message today is to love in spite

of not having the feelings of love.

Love even those who would wish harm to come upon you.

 

So many times we see Jesus exhibiting compassionate unconditional love,

but his love for Judas surpasses all.

Our society today is filled with many reasons not to love.

 

If we are to be true followers of Christ

then we must go beyond the emotions of love.

We must obey the command of Jesus to love others.

 

This is how all will know that you are my disciples,
if you have love for one another.

 

We must love when we do not feel love in our heart.

We must love when it goes against every fiber of our being;

this is the kind of love Jesus shows us in today's Gospel.

 

Love is not just for those for whom it comes easily;

love is for all including those we would rather not have in our life.

 

Ask God to show you how to love like him.

This may be one of the great blessings of Easter.

 

Pray for those you find difficult to love.

Pray for those you do not want to love.

 

The Saints are wonderful examples of how to love at all times.