Happy Easter Day #36: Motivation!
"This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends." (John 15: 12-13)
What is your motivation to act? Odds are, there are parameters.
What is your motivation to learn? Odds are, it involves promotion.
What is your motivation to love? Odds are, there are conditions.
Agapé love is a one-way form of love from God to people. This love does NOT have any parameters, nor does it guarantee any promotions. God's love is simply UNCONDITIONAL! (From the article "Agapao Leadership" - Regent University)
Agapaõ is the verb form of love that carries with it a sense of doing the right thing at the right time for the right reason, or in other words, loving someone like a friend. ("Agapao Leadership")
Combining the two allows us to use the motivation of BEING LOVED by God (Agapé) so as to fuel our ability TO LOVE one another (Agapaõ). But the obvious challenge comes with "laying down one's life for one's friend." This takes the unconditional trait of God's love and imposes it on us as we are called to serve one another as well.
So be motivated my friends to "love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself." (Luke 10:27)
Credit for "Agapao Leadership" - Regent University:
https://www.regent.edu/journal/inner-resources-for-leaders/agapao-love/#:~:text=The%20Greek%20that%20we%20translate,specifically%20for%20behavior%20between%20people.
Happy Easter Day #37: Mystery!
The call, the mission, the purpose and our place in the world all comes together by the power of the Holy Spirit. Christ unites us in this “great mystery” called Church (CCC 772) and empowers us in a way that can’t be explained, but is ultimately trustworthy.
His mysterious presence is within our hearts, especially when we must witness a Truth that eye has not seen, nor has ear ever heard.
“The Advocate, the holy Spirit that the Father will send in my name—he will teach you everything and remind you of all that [I] told you.” (John 14:26)
Happy Easter Day #38: Paraclete!
It’s one of those words that doesn’t get used much in the English language, but in light of our 50 Days of Easter, Paraclete (from the Greek parakletos) is the one thing we need at this point. It means advocate, intercessor, teacher, helper, and comforter; and today we must know that Lord showers all of this down upon us so that we might grow and glorify the Good News!
You see, the celebration of Easter is about to take a turn to get our attention, and hit a dramatic “pre-crescendo” before reaching its triumphant conclusion at Pentecost! Our Lord is preparing us for his departure of sorts.
+ He’s been with us so that we might know that his love is more powerful than death. (cf. John 3: 16-21)
+ He dwelt among us so that we might feed off of him (cf. John 6), and understand what it means to live and serve one another. (cf. John 13: 1-20)
+ He will prepare a place for us as we follow “The Way” back to him! (John 14: 1-6)
For Jesus said to his disciples… “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of truth, which the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows it. (John 14: 16-17) I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete. (John 15:11) When the Advocate comes whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth that proceeds from the Father, he will testify to me.” (John 15:26)
Happy Easter Day #39: Presence!
Easter is a time to recognize Christ’s real presence among us! Not only did he promise it in the breaking of the bread, or when two or three are gathered, he also appeared to us in peace as we hid in fear, showing us his hands and his feet… and we touched his side.
Just before he ascended into heaven, Jesus had some one on one time with the Apostle Peter (and each of us), when he asked this question three times: Do you love me? (cf. John 21: 15-19)
Like we might do, Peter answered each time, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you,” with Jesus responding differently to each “Yes” with a challenge on how we should be present to one another:
“Feed my lambs.”
If lambs are the little ones, then let us commit to being present to the younger generation behind us, teaching them all that they need to know, love and serve the God who loves them!
“Tend my sheep.”
If tending sheep means to watch over them with the care of a shepherd, making sure not to lose any one of them, then let us commit to being present to those around us, making sure that they never feel alone or abandoned!
“Feed my sheep.”
If food is the sustenance of life, and Jesus promised to feed us with his body and blood, then let us commit our whole selves to making sure that all are not only fed, but emboldened to truly live!
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“Teach me to do your will, for you are my God. May your kind spirit guide me on ground that is level.” (Psalm 143:10)
Happy Easter Day #40: Rise!
In the tradition of making this Easter journey, it’s Day 40. It’s the Feast of the Ascension. It’s officially time to RISE!
In a previous and very significant journey, the people of God left slavery behind and wandered 40 years, only to emerge from their desert to see and enter the promised land! They rose to the occasion and the journey continued!
Our own Lord spent 40 Days in his desert only to leave temptation behind and enter the mission field of bringing God’s promise of love directly to each of our hearts. He rose to the occasion to bring us with him towards everlasting life!
Today we reach our own 40th Day, and we are mindful that even though our Lord ascended into heaven, seemingly out of our sight, he followed through with his promise to send us his Holy Spirit. (cf. Acts 1: 1-11) So today, let us rise and get to the task of living with those promised gifts in this blessed life of ours knowing that his sweet song, the Good News, is with us!
Back on Day #26 I posted a link to a song called “Soul Sweet Song” by Tedeschi Trucks Band. The opening verse and refrain offers this…
“After the tears and the spate of lonely days
After the noon-born shadows slowly faded
After your heavy stone was rolled away (Rollin', rollin') That's when it finally came to me.
Now there's no use wishin' for your sweet return, 'cause I see you in the mornin' sun, and I hear you on the whispering wind, and I feel your rhythm movin' me… 'Cause your soul's sweet song's still singin'”
(https://youtu.be/SLFD135Ot8g?si=QoFzJYVqr93i_bA4)
Happy Easter Day #41: Soul!
Our soul is that mysterious part of us that is always connected with God. It’s the undefinable essence of our existence and our greatest value in being created in God’s image, for as our Lord rose on that first Easter morning, our soul will be “raised beyond all it deserves to communion with God.” (CCC 367)
In the meantime, it is our “heart” that feels and guides our day. It is there, at that the depth of our being, where we decide to act for or against God. It is there where we remain connected with the essential part of who we are (the soul), and it is there where we are in union with our Lord, who “ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.” (Nicene Creed)
So here’s my my simple logic at work again: If you are connected with God, the source of all creation, and I am connected to that same source, then it must be true… We ARE one!
(cf. CCC 362-368)
Happy Easter Day #42: 42!
The number 42 is, in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, the "Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything,” but what is the question?
All numerology aside, and in the context of our discussion over the past six weeks, the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything has to be “God.”
Now, all the “Hitchhiker” fans and math experts out there might argue that my answer misuses or over simplies the point of author Douglas Adams, or even hijacks the intricate work of mathematicians like Drew Southerland. But I might argue that throughout all of history, our collective human brain has always needed that ONE word or entity to define the Creator or the force that moves life, universe and everything that is.
With that being said, God is "WHO IS", from everlasting to everlasting, and as such remains ever faithful to himself and to his promises. (CCC 212) YHWH is the biblical pronunciation of the Hebrew name for God, which is revealed to Moses in the book of Exodus. The name is made up of four Hebrew consonants: yodh, he, waw, and he, which are written and read from right to left. The name may come from a verb that means "to be", "to exist", "to cause to become", or "to come to pass"… The first part of God's name in Hebrew, “Yah,” is feminine, and the last part, “weh,” is masculine. (Encyclopedia Britannia and World History)
And 42 = (-80538738812075974)^3 + 80435758145817515^3 + 12602123297335631^3 (MIT News - 2019)
“My soul thirsts for God, the living God.”(Psalm 42:3)
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