OPreach
Dominican Preaching through Word and Image
A Sunset Is a Reminder
Friday’s Responsorial Psalm from Psalm 19 reminds us:
The heavens declare the glory of God;
and the firmament proclaims God’s handiwork.
Day pours out the word to day,
and night to night imparts knowledge.
When We Come Face to Face with Ourselves
On those days when we are face to face with our own failures – when we feel weak and defeated – we can take heart and reflect on these words from Friday’s reading is from 1 Corinthians 15:
“By the grace of God I am what I am; God’s grace to me has not been ineffective.”
These are the words of a man, the apostle Paul, who saw his failing and who had to reconcile with his intolerant and murderous past. These are the words of a man who saw God working through his weaknesses. So we, like him, need to be patient; it is not always clear to us what God is about.
May each of us also be able to look beyond our failures and near-misses, and see God at work.
True Love Is . . .
Wednesday’s first reading is from a favorite passage for many:
1 Corinthians 12.
“Love is patient,
love is kind.
It is not jealous,
love is not pompous,
it is not inflated,
it is not rude,
it does not seek its own interests,
it is not quick-tempered,
it does not brood over injury,
it does not rejoice over wrongdoing
but rejoices with the truth.
It bears all things,
believes all things,
hopes all things,
endures all things.
Love never fails.”
One Flower Includes Everything
If you can just appreciate each thing, one by one, then you will have pure gratitude. Even though you observe just one flower, that one flower includes everything.
-Shunryu Suzuki Roshi
Be Alert . . . to Find God
Here is some fine advice from Henry David Thoreau:
My profession is always to be alert, to find God in nature, to know God’s lurking places, to attend to all the oratorios and the operas in nature.
The Source of Happiness
Happiness is not what makes us grateful.
It is gratefulness that makes us happy
– David Steindl-Rast
(from www.gratefulness.org)
May we always live in Zion!
Finding God – Finding Beauty in the Ordinary
Holiness comes wrapped in the ordinary. There are burning bushes all around you. Every tree is full of angels. Hidden beauty is waiting in every crumb.
– Macrina Wiederkehr, OSB
Some Wisdom from Teresa of Avila
(Statue from the Detroit Airport . . . with some post-processing)
When we were in our chapel at morning prayer, I noted how the reading in our breviary (Thursday, Week III) complemented the Gospel reading for the day in which we are admonished to give, forgive, and to not judge.
Let us look at our own shortcomings and leave other people’s alone; for those who live carefully ordered lives are apt to be shocked at everything and we might well learn very important lessons from the persons who shock us. Our outward comportment and behaviour may be better than theirs, but this, though good, is not the most important thing: there is no reason why we should expect everyone else to travel by our own road, and we should not attempt to point them to the spiritual path when perhaps we do not know what it is. . . It is better to attempt to . . . live in silence and in hope, and [God] will take care of [God’s] own.
-St. Teresa of Avila (from People’s Companion to the Breviary)
You Can’t Beat God Giving!
Thursday’s Gospel reading is from Luke 6
Forgive and you will be forgiven.
Give and gifts will be given to you;
a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing,
will be poured into your lap.
For the measure with which you measure
will in return be measured out to you.
I am reminded of words from a Gospel song:
You cant’ beat God giving, no matter how you try!
The more you give the more God gives to you.
So keep on giving, because it’s really true;
You cant’ beat God giving, no matter how you try!
The Power of our Thoughts
If you realized
how powerful
your thoughts are,
you would never think
a negative thought.
– Peace Pilgrim
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