Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father. Colossians 3:16-17.

If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit. Galatians 5:25.

One of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray.” Luke 11:1.

God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God. Matthew 5:9.

And continuing our 351 Old Testament prophecies, promises of God, fulfilled in Jesus Christ, we come to number 126: The Savior given and smitten by God. Psalm 69:26: For they have persecuted him whom You Yourself have smitten, and they tell of the pain of those whom You have wounded. And, John 17:4; 18:11: “I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do.” So Jesus said to Peter, “Put the sword into the sheath; the cup which the Father has given Me, shall I not drink it?”

The morning in our Friday Zoom retreat, we talked about community and a quote from the Catholic author and theologian Ronald Rolheiser: “We go to church so as not to be alone…in our joys and in our sufferings.” The full quote: “We go to church so as not to be alone – alone in our joys, alone in our sufferings, alone in the everydayness of our lives, alone in the important passages of our lives, alone on our birthdays, alone on a Sunday morning, and alone on Christmas, Easter, New Year’s and Mother’s Day. We go to church for the ointment.” We were led to speak aloud to one another in sequence the words of 5 different Scripture verses where God speaks to us; and we spoke the name of our person spoken to in the appropriate place in each verse. There was something special when it was our turn to hear the person speaking our own name knowing that is how God speaks to us, all of us. And how we are in need of that understanding, that God is with us and is for us, each and every one of us in this world we all inhabit, and how good it is to be in community together.

The fourth Scripture verse cited above was in Devotions for Women by Ann Spangler, and I loved how she shared 4 quotes by Mildred Lisette Norman, a woman who walked across the country for peace not once but several times: 1) This is the way of peace: Overcome evil with good, falsehood with truth, and hatred with love. There is nothing new about this message, except the practice of it. 2) You have much more power when you are working for the right thing than when you are working against the wrong thing. 3) Only outer peace can be had through law. The way to inner peace is through love. 4) Since steps toward spiritual advancement are taken in such varied order, most of us can teach one another.

Can we see that every single problem in our world today stems from our not doing the right thing? Choosing selfishness, hate, greed, hurting others. And we wonder why we are so unhappy, this community of us living on our beautiful planet created by our Creator God for us. I was so angry last night hearing that our President in his hubris took it upon himself to direct federal agencies to change the name of one of this country’s Great Lakes. My anger was fed by utter helplessness that has always been experienced by people living in every age of mankind under the leadership of flawed human beings – and not in the guidance of Creator God who is working always for our good and not for our harm or anyone’s harm. And God reminded me in prayer to pray for His love to do its needed work for good in those choosing wrong – and in me – as I am overcome with anger and hate and disdain leading to judging. His love spoken to me is also for them. God’s love is good and needed in every single one of us flawed human beings. The goodness of His truth is astounding and gives hope that is real for all of us. I can’t change the leaders of our world but I can pray for them. I can remember the Psalms written in anguish for the wrongs being committed and that they were given to God crying out for His help. Can we remember and be in mind of God’s love that is working always for good and not for harm and pray for those lost in sin that God’s love will do its needed work in them and in us? A work so astonishingly good we can scarcely take it in but can begin to with His help.

***MY WHOLE WILL – Take, O LORD, and receive my entire liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my whole will. All that I possess You have given to me. I surrender it all to You, O LORD, to be disposed of according to Your will. Give me only Your love and Your grace; with these I will be rich enough and will desire nothing more. Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556).***