Happenings (page 9)

We are created as people built for community. We are not intended to be isolated in our living or our faith. 

Speak with love and care when you and another have something that separates you. Be honest and try to journey together to a place of peace.

The bottom line is Satan is alive and well. He is slick and wily. Satan disguises himself in the most innocuous places and people in our lives.

Forgive and be forgiven, hold bound and be held bound. From the depth of Jesus’ humanity, He knows forgiveness is complicated and calls his disciples to this very high standard. Forgiveness is hard when we are sinned against and broken by the hurt.

This story is God’s way of reminding us that He doesn’t want to see those qualities in us either. He doesn’t like it when we are close-minded and dismissive of others. He doesn’t appreciate it when we are sharp-tongued or short-tempered.

Doubt is the striving of the soul for truth. We must dig deeply into our souls to name the winds of doubt that haunt us. 

Eucharist is not meant to simply make us more reverent or holy. It is intended to transform us— to transfigure us —into the living Body of Christ.

The purchase price of the treasure is the same for us as it was for the farmer and the merchant. The price is all that we have. And selling is hard.

We are all both wheat and weeds. God’s unconditional love cannot cast out the good for the sake of the bad.