"Take Courage, It Is I, Do Not Be Afraid" Have Faith!

Jesus said: "Take courage, it is I. Do not be afraid" struck me as the key line in today’s Gospel. It drew my attention to two areas that all young or elderly Christians could reflect upon in our journey as we travel through this world.

The Fire within the Night is a song we listened to back when I took a Hebrew Scripture class. In my opinion this would be a great song to play at the Easter Vigil, a celebration of Baptism, Confirmation or possibly a funeral. It reiterates Exodus to include God saving his people, Moses leading the people through the desert, celebration, Gods judgment, Israel’s sins, idols and repentance. It is dark when we sin and light when we are living in Gods presence. Life is tears and laughter, peace and disruption, miracles, visions and dreams. This song is about life, but, more important, it is about afterlife. It‘s telling us not to grow weary with our troubles, God will put us first. Although we live in a sinful world of false gods, idols and dark times the Light will save us if look within. We all have those storms, I hear God best in the calm times of my life.

Jesus also said, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?" This was another area that made me think of the book written by Richard P. Johnson, PH.D titled The 12 Keys to Spiritual Vitality: Powerful Lessons on Living Agelessly: It lists twelve foundational principles of aging and spirituality.

1) Transform your attitudes about aging,
2) Seek love everywhere,
3) Delight in connectedness,
4) Live in the "Now"
5) Accept your true self,
6) Forgive others and self,
7) Let go of anger and inner turmoil,
8) Give yourself to others,
9) Celebrate your faith,
10) Discover personal meaning in life,
11) Make your feelings work for you, and
12) Achieve balance in your life.

I have no idea why I was thinking of these after reading the Gospel for today, however, now that I’ve written about them, I need to pull the book off the shelve and re-read it and sit back and enjoy the song of life. This would be a great shot in the heart for more faith, don’t you agree?

Have a blessed day, Mike

Christian Ministry is Universal and Diverse:

Ministry is for each baptized person. It is a community and service, not an object or title. Ministry is a function given by the Holy Spirit by means of chrisms, gifts, and talents that are to be used for the benefit of the community. (This could mean the world or a small community). Ministry is public action. Wow! I never looked at myself as a minister until I had the opportunity to learn more about what my faith was really about. Rademacher brings it out in his book on Lay Ministry, which I found to be very enlightening. In today's world we can me ministers of the Gospel by acting, praying and giving to the sick, elderly, homeless, our neighbors, our church and all sorts of other challenges that face society.
In other wowrds, get out of our own head and do something for someone else. Maybe today, my ministry will be to just be a good listener, offer no advive what so ever, and pray for the person I heard out. What do you think?