- Exodus 17: 3-7
- Psalms 95: 1-2, 6-7, 8-9
- Romans 5: 1-2, 5-8
- John 4: 5-42
- Where is God?
- All of us have wanted to know what the future would bring at one time or another, so that we would have a better idea of how to respond to the present.
- Have you ever felt abandoned by God, left totally to your own devices, without any way out of the predicament that you were in?
- How did you get through that period?
- What did you learn from it?
- Do you ever tell that story to others?
- Why?
- God's intentions
- God doesn't seem to be in the business of revealing what He's about. When we ask for reassurances, we get them, but most of the time those assurances are: "fear not, for I am with you."
- What do you fear most?
- Do you ever pray about those fears?
- What would you rather have, the thing that you fear to go away, or that you find the strength to work through that tough time?
- Which do you think that God is most likely to give you?
- What does God see in me?
- Sometimes, the hardest thing to believe is that God can somehow love us in spite of ourselves. When a loved one hurts us, we tend to withdraw because we don't want to be hurt again. But God appears not to fear pain, He keeps reaching out to us, time and again.
- Imagine that you are across the table from God, the two of you looking into each other's eyes.
- What do you see there? Compassion, joy, acceptance?
- What does God see on your face?
- How does your appreciation of God change over time as you continue to gaze at Him.
- Finding the way
- Catholics consecrate the worship space for that one purpose, nothing else. Sacred spaces, sacred times, sacred words all weave in and out of our lives, reminding us that it all belongs to God. Jesus' bold statement that soon "you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem...But the hour is coming, and is now here, when true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth" must have scandalized many.
- Do you find that a particular place, or time is easiest to pray?
- When you pray, do you do anything external to make that time special? Light a candle, close the blinds, play soft music?
- If you were deprived of that routine, would you still pray?
- Preparation for Reconciliation
- Where is God calling me to greater trust in Him?
- Is God's presence in my life enough for me?
- Do I believe God when He tells me that he takes joy in me?
- Is my relationship to God more than rituals worked out at scheduled times and places?
What in the world?
I've decided that we just cannot leave Jesus alone for even a few hours.
We all had gone into town to procure provisions, and came back,
To find the Master talking with a Samaritan woman.
They looked pretty intense to me, as though much had been said already,
And their sharing had just begun.
What could He have been thinking?
Then, as we approached, we heard Him telling her that we would all worship together,
Samaritans, Judeans, all God's people,
As though we somehow had anything to do with a cursed Samaritan.
Our people have been through so much through the centuries
To keep our blood lines pure, to be true children of the Covenant.
Not like the Samaritans who muddied their blood with the Canaanites around them.
To worship with such is unimaginable.
And to worship outside of Jerusalem, the holy city,
Why would we ever resort to that?
The Temple is the core of all of our history, the great works of God,
The events that forged us into a people, and made us great in this land.
To leave all of that behind is to turn our backs on something essential to our identity.
And yet, Jesus has told us that He's here to fulfill the Law and the Prophets,
To bring to fuition all that God has labored over with us, His People.
Too much to process, too much to understand, only time will make sense of this.
I feel shaken, uncertain, and yet, excited.
That maybe larger horizons are just ahead,
And freedom to be all that God meant for us from the beginning,
Is now becoming visible.
We all had gone into town to procure provisions, and came back,
To find the Master talking with a Samaritan woman.
They looked pretty intense to me, as though much had been said already,
And their sharing had just begun.
What could He have been thinking?
Then, as we approached, we heard Him telling her that we would all worship together,
Samaritans, Judeans, all God's people,
As though we somehow had anything to do with a cursed Samaritan.
Our people have been through so much through the centuries
To keep our blood lines pure, to be true children of the Covenant.
Not like the Samaritans who muddied their blood with the Canaanites around them.
To worship with such is unimaginable.
And to worship outside of Jerusalem, the holy city,
Why would we ever resort to that?
The Temple is the core of all of our history, the great works of God,
The events that forged us into a people, and made us great in this land.
To leave all of that behind is to turn our backs on something essential to our identity.
And yet, Jesus has told us that He's here to fulfill the Law and the Prophets,
To bring to fuition all that God has labored over with us, His People.
Too much to process, too much to understand, only time will make sense of this.
I feel shaken, uncertain, and yet, excited.
That maybe larger horizons are just ahead,
And freedom to be all that God meant for us from the beginning,
Is now becoming visible.
Shalom!
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