Tuesday, May 5, 2025

READ ON CAC.ORG

James Finley reflects on the teachings of the twelfth-century mystic and monastic reformer Bernard of Clairvaux, one of the most prolific commentators on the Song of Songs: 

Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (1090–1153) was the abbot of the Cistercian monastery of Clairvaux. He was so enamored of the Song of Songs that he wrote eighty-six sermons about it over the last twenty years of his life. He went line by line. He thought of it as the supreme text of all Scripture because of its nuptial theme—the ultimate union of incarnate love. It’s personal for me because I lived in a Cistercian monastery with Thomas Merton, where I was steeped in this union and love mysticism.

The Cistercians were founded as a reform of the Benedictine monasteries. They felt the need to get back to the heart of Benedict’s Rule, which is also the heart of the gospel. In the opening sentences of the Rule of Saint Benedict, he said, “Listen, my child, to the words of the master, and if today you hear his voice, harden not your heart.” The master is Christ, so we’ve got to listen to hear the voice of Jesus calling to us in our hearts.

Through his sermons on the Song of Songs, Bernard was trying to help us understand what it means to obey God on a deep level. Basically, to obey God is to interiorly accept that the infinite presence of God is an ongoing self-donating act that is presencing itself and giving its very presence away as the gift of our very presence. Love is the fullness of presence. Infinite love is giving itself to us as the gift and the miracle of the immediacy of our very presence in our nothingness without God. To see that and to accept it is to obey God. Bernard is trying to reestablish the radicality of this infinite love, which is infinitely in love with us in our brokenness. He used the Song of Songs to do that because it’s a song about being in love. It’s romantic, sexual, erotic, mystical, and marital love. [1]

Bernard of Clairvaux comments on the opening lines of the Song of Songs:

Let Him kiss me with the kiss of His mouth (1:1). Who speaks? The bride. Who is she? The soul thirsting for God…. If one is a servant he is in dread of his lord’s face. If one is a hireling he hopes for pay from his lord’s hand. If one is a disciple he gives ear to his teacher. If one is a son he honors his father. But the soul who begs a kiss, is in love. Among the gifts of nature this affection of love holds first place, especially when it makes haste to return to its Origin, which is God. Words cannot be found so sweet as to express the sweet affections of the Word and the soul for each other, except bride and Bridegroom. [2]

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The All-Encompassing Ethic of Love. Skye Jethani

I recently read an interview where an influential pastor was asked why he and his congregation do not reflect the message and ethics of Jesus. Instead, they have become known for extreme political rhetoric that demonizes their cultural enemies, minorities, and even refugees. The pastor gave a two-word answer: “Under siege.”He believes conservative Christians in America are persecuted by a ruthless legion of militant secularists and threatened by an invasion of violent migrants. Under these perilous conditions, he explained, loving your enemies and turning the other cheek no longer makes sense. To follow the Sermon on the Mount would mean letting the forces of evil win and his country be destroyed. In other words, in his view, being “under siege” gives Christians permission to worship Jesus and not obey him. The stunning interview vividly illustrates a sentiment that’s not limited to Christian nationalists and culture warriors: nothing in the Sermon on the Mount makes people more uncomfortable than Jesus’ words against retaliation. His calls to not resist an evil person, to turn the other cheek, to walk the second mile, and to give more than what is demanded all seem like nonsense to those who feel threatened or who recognize the perils of our world. Anyone who actually lived what Jesus said, we are told, will never get ahead in the real world. For this reason, some, like the pastor in the interview, boldly dismiss Jesus’ words while still claiming to follow him as their Lord. Many more have simply tried to reinterpret Jesus’ teaching in light of practical realities; to make his counter-intuitive commands appear more conventional or, at least, less costly. Behind this is really a desire to justify ourselves. We desperately want to rationalize our hatred and anger. We want to retaliate and resist those who interfere with our desires. We want to believe our selfishness and devotion to self-preservation are not only acceptable but admirable Christian qualities. Jesus, however, leaves no room for such convolutions of his words. The ethic of love that dominates his kingdom is all-encompassing. Our call to self-sacrificial love must override and restrain our instinct for retaliation. Rather than reading these statements in the Sermon on the Mount as commands to be obeyed, twisted, or dismissed, we ought to see them as illustrations of what a life shaped by God’s kingdom looks like in practice. They are examples of what happens when we consider what is best for the other person rather than ourselves, even if that other person is our enemy. DAILY SCRIPTURE MATTHEW 5:38–42 1 PETER 2:18–25 WEEKLY PRAYER. John of the Cross (1542 – 1591) I no longer want just to hear about you, beloved Lord, through messengers. I no longer want to hear doctrines about you, nor to have my emotions stirred by people speaking of you. I yearn for your presence. These messengers simply frustrate and grieve me, because they remind me of how distant I am from you. They reopen wounds in my heart, and they seem to delay your coming to me. From this day onwards please send me no more messengers, no more doctrines, because they cannot satisfy my overwhelming desire for you. I want to give myself completely to you. And I want you to give yourself completely to me. The love which you show in glimpses, reveal to me fully. The love which you convey through messengers, speak it to me directly. I sometimes think you are mocking me by hiding yourself from me. Come to me with the priceless jewel of your love. Amen.

Group Discussion — choose one:

• Where in your life are you tempted to “worship Jesus and not obey him”?
• What does it stir in you to hear that God is “infinitely in love with us in our brokenness”?
• Which messengers or doctrines are you ready to set down in your hunger for direct presence?

Love Song of the Soul

In the CAC’s Essentials of Engaged Contemplation course, James Finley and Mirabai Starr describe how the Song of Songs in the Old Testament expresses the soul’s longing for God as well as God’s longing for us. Core faculty member James Finley says:  

The Song of Songs is one of the poetic works of the Wisdom literature in the Old Testament, along with the Torah and the Prophets. It’s a poem about two people who are very erotically and intensely in love with each other. They also have a deep reverence for each other, which is the gift of such love. The text’s inclusion in the Bible is interesting because it makes no mention of God.

The scholar Bernard McGinn points out that there’s an understanding of this poem that is relevant to faith communities. The Jewish community viewed it as a poem of God’s love for the Jewish people and of the people’s love as a community for God, but it’s also about each Jewish person’s love for God and God’s love for each person. That understanding carried over into the Christian tradition, where it’s read as God’s love for the church as well as God’s love for each Christian and their love for God. The central imagery reveals a deepening interplay of communion between God and humanity, collectively and personally.

CAC guest faculty member Mirabai Starr continues: 

The Song of Songs is our soul’s quintessential blueprint. We often have this sense that to be born is to be separated from our source. The path of this life, then, is a path of return and homecoming—and it’s characterized in many ways by longing, yearning, and remembering in our bones that we come from Love. The desire beyond all other desires is to return to Love. That spiritual longing is often expressed or mirrored in our human relationships. I don’t see that as a problem. Our human relationships are not illusions that stand in for the real thing, the spiritual longing of our spiritual selves. Rather, our human relationships are the field on which this love dance plays out in this life.

Finley concludes:

Anyone who’s ever been smitten by love doesn’t need to explain why the Song of Songs is sacred. In other words, love’s the best thing going. It’s way up there with hummingbirds and sunsets. It’s one of God’s better ideas, because a life rich with love is a life rich with meaning. God is the infinity of love; therefore, our love for each other is an incarnate manifestation of that infinite love, which is incarnate in our love for each other.

The Song of Songs expresses this love song of the heart. The rhythms of the poet’s voice are the rhythms of love itself. The language is so poetic because it’s evocatively incarnating the nonlinear realizations of love. That’s why, when we read Scripture this way, it affects us at such a deep level.

The Holy of Holies

Monday, May 4, 2025

If a dream of God is a delicate thing, how much more so a dream of God the Lover.
—Ellen Davis, Getting Involved with God

The Old Testament scholar Ellen Davis shares the history of the Song of Songs’ inclusion in the Bible: 

Here is a book that barely (no pun intended) made it into the Bible, and with good reason. It never mentions God, at least not explicitly, and it mentions a lot of other things we would not expect to find in the Bible. The scriptural status of the Song of Songs is so questionable that the Talmud actually records the great debate…. It was the declamation of Rabbi Akiba, the great teacher, scholar, and martyr of early Judaism, that finally carried the day:

Heaven forbid! No Jew ever questioned the sanctity of the Song of Songs; for all the world is not worth the day when the Song of Songs was given to Israel. For all the writings are holy, but the Song of Songs is the Holy of Holies! [1] …

Akiba’s view of the Song’s unique holiness carried not only that day, but well over a millennium of biblical interpretation among both Jews and Christians. The eight chapters of the Song of Songs have generated more commentary than almost any other book of the Bible…. In the thirteenth century, Bernard [of Clairvaux] wrote eighty-six sermons on the Song of Songs, and he never got beyond chapter three, verse one!

In recent years, however, this tide of interpretation has turned…. The present consensus is that the Song of Songs is a celebration of human sexuality that was included in the canon of scripture by mistake, because the ancient rabbis thought it was about the love of God and Israel….

If the Song is solely a celebration of human love, then nowhere within the covers of the Bible is there a truly happy story about God and Israel (or God and the Church) in love…. If the Song has nothing to do with the story of God and Israel after all, then there is nowhere to turn to hear one partner say, “I love you,” and the other answer right back, “Yes, yes; I love you, too.” For this is the only place in the Bible where there is a dialogue of love.

Davis describes how the Song of Songs overcomes the separation that began in Genesis between God, humanity, and the earth: 

The poet of the Song has a dream, and in that dream all the ruptures that occurred in Eden are repaired…. Following carefully and imaginatively where the words of the Song lead, we can share the poet’s and God’s dream of the original harmony of creation restored…. A woman and a man, equally powerful, are lost in admiration of each other—or more accurately, in admiration they truly find themselves and each other. And the natural world rejoices with them.

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Individual Reflection

Where does the two-way dialogue of love — “I love you” answered by “I love you, too” — feel most alive or most absent in you right now?

Group Discussion — choose one:

1. Starr says our human relationships are “the field on which this love dance plays out.” What does that stir as you sit with your own?
2. Davis writes that the Song’s poet dreams the ruptures of Eden repaired. What in you longs toward that dream?
3. What would it mean to receive the Song of Songs as written to you — not about someone else’s love, but God’s love song to your own soul?

Morning Has Broken – Cat Stevens

Father Richard teaches that a practice of contemplation carries us into the “Big River” of God’s love, enabling us to release our fears.  

Grace and mercy teach us that we are all much larger than the good or bad stories we tell about ourselves or one another. Our small, fear-based stories are usually less than half true, and therefore not really “true” at all. They’re usually based on hurts and unconscious agendas that persuade us to see and judge things in a very selective way. They’re not the whole You, not the Great You. It’s not the great river and therefore not where Life can really happen. No wonder the Spirit is described as “flowing water” and as “a spring inside you” (John 4:10–14) or as a “river of life” (Revelation 22:1–2).  

I believe that faith might be precisely that ability to trust the Big River of God’s providential love, which is to trust its visible embodiment (the Christ), the flow (the Holy Spirit), and the source itself (the Creator). This is a divine process that we don’t have to change, coerce, or improve. We just need to allow it and enjoy it. That takes immense confidence in God, especially when we’re hurting. Often, we feel ourselves get panicky and quickly want to make things right. We lose our ability to be present and go up into our heads and start obsessing. At that point we’re not really feeling or experiencing things in our hearts and bodies. We’re oriented toward making things happen, trying to push or even create our own river. Yet the Big River is already flowing through us and each of us is only one small part of it. 

Faith does not need to push the river precisely because it is able to trust that there is a river. The river is flowing; we are already in it. This is probably the deepest meaning of “divine providence.” So do not be afraid. We have been proactively given the Spirit by a very proactive God.  

Ask yourself regularly, “What am I afraid of? Does it matter? Will it matter in the great scheme of things? Is it worth holding on to?” We have to ask whether it is fear that keeps us from loving. Grace will lead us into such fears and emptiness, and grace alone can fill them, if we are willing to stay in the void. We mustn’t engineer an answer too quickly. We mustn’t get settled too fast. We all want to manufacture an answer to take away our anxiety and settle the dust. To stay in God’s hands, to trust, means that we usually have to let go of our attachments to feelings—which are going to pass away anyway. People of deep faith develop a high tolerance for ambiguity and come to recognize that it is only the small self that needs certitude or perfect order all the time. The true self is perfectly at home in the River of Mystery.

Reference:
Adapted from Richard Rohr, Everything Belongs: The Gift of Contemplative Prayer, rev. ed. (Crossroad Publishing, 2003), 142–144.

Jesus Calling -Sarah Young

    Come to Me with all your weaknesses: physical, emotional, and spiritual. Rest in the comfort of My Presence, remembering that nothing is impossible with Me. 

    Pry your mind away from your problems so you can focus your attention on Me. Recall that I am able to do immeasurably more than all you ask or imagine. Instead of trying to direct Me to do this and that, seek to attune yourself to what I am already doing.

    When anxiety attempts to wedge its way into your thoughts, remind yourself that I am your Shepherd. The bottom line is that I am taking care of you; therefore, you needn’t be afraid of anything. Rather than trying to maintain control over your life, abandon yourself to My will. Though this may feel frightening–even dangerous, the safest place to be is in My will.

RELATED SCRIPTURE: 

Luke 1:37 NLT

37 For the word of God will never fail.”

Daily devotional book

Ephesians 3:20-21 (NLT)

20 Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. 21 Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.

Additional insight regarding Ephesians 3:20-21: This doxology – prayer of praise to God – ends Part 1 of Ephesians. In the first section, Paul describes the timeless role of the church. In Part 2 (chapters 4-6), he will explain how church members should live in order to bring about the unity God wants. As in most of his books, Paul first lays a doctrinal foundation and then makes practical applications of the truths he has presented.

John Chaffee Five on Friday

1.

“Lord, teach me to be generous,
to serve you as you deserve,
to give and not to count the cost,
to fight and not to heed the wounds,
to toil and not to seek for rest,
to labor and not to look for any reward,
save that of knowing that I do your holy will.”

– A Prayer from St. Ignatius of Loyola

For several months now, I have been working through the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola.

Ignatius was a 16th-century Spanish infantryman who left his sword and shield behind after taking a cannonball to the legs.  During his recovery, they had to rebreak his legs to help them to heal better, and it left him with a limp for the rest of his life.  These were some of the most formative years of his life, and during his life, he founded the Jesuits and wrote the Spiritual Exercises (something like a military-style manual for spiritual formation).

Over the years, I have found Ignatius of Loyola’s life and wisdom to be quite helpful.  This prayer has recentered me more than once, and is doing so for me again this week.

2.

“Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.“

– Saul of Tarsus in Romans 6:7-9

Just before Easter, I was able to go to St. Paul’s Basilica in Rome to pray, where the Apostle’s bones are buried beneath the altar.

Actually, it is more that I tried to pray.  I couldn’t quite do it.

Not because of some lack of reverence, but because of some surplus of it.

Something within me glitched as I knelt in that massive church.

I could not comprehend what was in the bone box right in front of me.

The bones of St. Paul?  Really?

Sure, there is plausible deniability, but if there is deniability, then there is also a plausible possibility!

I had studied the life and letters of Paul for literal decades of my life.  I was even given the opportunity to learn ancient Greek in seminary and read about his life and letters in their original language.  What a privilege!

Since that day of visiting St. Paul’s bones, I read his words in a different way.  I can’t quite pinpoint it, but his words now resonate as if on a new frequency for me.

It is fascinating how ancient words we know so well can suddenly take on a new freshness we could not make happen ourselves.

3.

“The vast majority of people walking away from Christianity in America are not rejecting the person and work of Jesus.  They are rejecting faulty biblical interpretations that lead to bigotry, oppression, and marginalization.  This rejection isn’t unchristian.  It is Christlike.”

– Zach Lambert, Texan Pastor of Restore Church

I have said this in other ways, but this is pretty well to the point.

It is actually a form of devotion to true Christianity to reject and walk away from a false one.

4.

“Emotionally immature people have a poor sense of personal history and resist being accountable for their past actions or future consequences.”

– Lindsay C. Gibson in Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents

Thanks, Mark.  This book you bought for me (and for Mike) is kind of rocking me.

Fortunately, I believe my parents were/are emotionally mature and healthy people who did a great job in our household.

That said, this book is doing much to help me understand people in general.  As someone who pastors and gives spiritual direction, anything that helps me better understand how we cope and how we respond to one another is enormously helpful.

The human person is infinitely complex, and with so many nuances and exceptions to the rule that it can be disorienting, and so I admit that a book like this is enlightening.

When I see immaturity in myself or in others, it irks me terribly.

I firmly believe that a healthy Christian spirituality helps us to “clean up, grow up, wake up, and show up” to our own lives.  Authentic faith helps us take accountability for ourselves and puts us back “on the hook” to become the best versions of ourselves.

I firmly believe that we have an ethical and spiritual responsibility to those around us to be the most virtuous, whole, and loving versions of ourselves.  The world already has enough trauma from our general immaturity and vices that I actually believe Jesus is in favor of whatever helps us to grow more fully into human beings who help one another to heal and be well.

5.

“The only hope, or else despair
Lies in the choice of pyre of pyre- 
To be redeemed from fire by fire.”

– TS Eliot, British Poet

It is either one fire or another.  That is the choice.

Do I want the fires of my own self-created hell?  Do I want to be in the midst of the conflagration of my own vices?

Or…

Would I prefer the purifying fires of my own conscience leading me into repentance and into reformation/transformation?

Pyre or pyre?

Will I consent to the fires of God’s purifying Love that will redeem me?

Or, will I avoid that holy fire and choose to be painfully subject to the terrifying flames of my own self-destruction?

The question is not, “Will I be burned?”

The question is, “Which fire do I consent to be burned by?  The holy one or the unholy one?”

Holding Steady in Prayer

Thursday, April 30, 2026

I said to the Lord, I’m going to hold steady on to you, and I know you will see me through.
—Harriet Tubman, Scenes in the Life of Harriet Tubman

Spiritual director Therese Taylor-Stinson offers Harriet Tubman as a model of spiritual courage:

Harriet [Tubman] made three attempts to freedom but returned each time because of fear. The fear of being alone. The fear of dying. The fear of never seeing her family again or being part of a vital community…. Fear can be debilitating. Overcoming debilitating fear brings a new sense of freedom and a focus to accomplish your goal, though the struggle that ensues may seem like only a first step for some. To escape your enslavers is to take ownership of your own life. That is not just a physical or intellectual achievement. It is an emotional achievement that changes how you view yourself and how you allow others to view you. [1]

Taylor-Stinson describes how Tubman’s faith has inspired her own reliance on prayer in times of crisis:

Throughout [Harriet’s] life of approximately ninety-three years, she returned to God again and again, asking for protection, insight, and the ability to lead her family and others to freedom. Despite the many close calls and her own fragility, she would breathe deeply and present herself to God through prayer and song and faith, believing in her call to freedom. [2]

Later in life, she would say that she always knew when danger was near…. She said God would tell her when to stop, when to leave the road, or when to turn in another direction. She was always in prayerful discernment: “’Twasn’t me, ‘twas the Lord! I always told Him, ‘I trust you. I don’t know where to go or what to do, but I expect You to lead me,’ an’ He always did. I prayed to God to make me strong and able to fight, and that’s what I’ve always prayed for ever since.”…

Reflecting on the way Harriet faced uncertain times, times of need, even as she sought to help others, I think of a time in my own life—a time of great trial, a time I was unable to pray, a time I felt silenced by others; I fell silent myself, except for one name I repeated again and again: “Jesus.” I did not know what significance the name held, but it was all I had. As the saying and the song go, “There’s something about the name of Jesus!” I found that my silence was prayer. My willingness to trust the unknown was prayer. My desolation was prayer. My intention for a Presence surely greater than me was prayer. I would say, like Jacob, “I will not let go until you bless me.” Though uncertain about what the blessing might be or how the blessing would be delivered, I walked in trust. I trusted that something greater than myself lived in me and would see me through. [3]

References:
[1] Therese Taylor-Stinson, Walking the Way of Harriet Tubman: Public Mystic & Freedom Fighter (Broadleaf Books, 2023), 99–100.

[2] Taylor-Stinson, Walking, 27.

[3] Taylor-Stinson, Walking, 117, 119.

Jesus Calling – April 1st, 2026

Jesus Calling – Sarah Young

I am calling you to a life of constant communion with Me. Basic training includes learning to live above your circumstances, even while interacting on that cluttered plane of life. You yearn for a simplified lifestyle, so that your communication with Me can be uninterrupted. But I challenge you to relinquish the fantasy of an uncluttered world. Accept each day as it comes, and find Me in the midst of it all.
Talk with Me about every aspect of your day, including your feelings. Remember that your ultimate goal is not to control or fix everything around you; it is to keep communing with Me. A successful day is one in which you have stayed in touch with Me, even if many things remain undone at the end of the day. Do not let your to-do list (written or mental) become an idol directing your life. Instead, ask My Spirit to guide you moment by moment. He will keep you close to Me.

RELATED SCRIPTURE:

1st Thessalonians 5:17 (NIV)
17 pray continually,

Proverbs 3:6 (NIV)
6 in all your ways submit to him,
    and he will make your paths straight.

Today’s Prayer:

Heavenly Father,

Today, I come before You seeking constant communion. Help me to rise above life’s clutter in order to embrace each moment as it comes while finding You amidst it all. Grant me the wisdom to surrender the idea of a perfect world and instead, to engage fully with Your presence in every day in every way.

Guide me, Lord, to communicate with You openly, sharing my joys and struggles without reservation or hesitation. Teach me to release the need for control, understanding that true and fulfilling success lies in staying connected with You, regardless of what remains unfinished.

May Your Spirit lead me moment by moment, day by day, shaping my path according to Your will. Let my heart be ever attuned to Your presence as I submit all my ways to You. 

In Jesus’ name, amen.

Breathing in Love, Breathing out Fear

Wednesday, April 29, 2026

READ ON CAC.ORG

Author Diana Butler Bass recounts how fear continued to accompany the disciples well after the resurrection:

If you remember back several weeks, you might recall the reading for the first Sunday of Easter:

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”… Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you….” When he had said this, he breathed on them…. [John 20:19–22].

…. The end of the Easter season is also the end of the first half of the Christian year. The cycle of Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, and Easter focus on the story of Jesus—the promise of his coming, his birth, the light he brings to the world, the seriousness of his mission, his execution, and the mystery of his resurrection….

And here’s the odd thing, something I never really noticed until this year. Fear is foundational to the first half of the year. It isn’t just that the disciples were afraid after Jesus died. The story began—way back in Advent—with the angel telling Mary, “Fear not!”…

Six months later in the church year, Jesus’ story ends with “Peace I leave with you … do not let your hearts be afraid”.…

As the author of 1 John later wrote, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear” [1 John 4:18]. I think that is the point of Jesus’ life, the story we retrace in the first half of the Christian year, the culmination of which is the Easter season: Perfect love casts out fear.

Butler Bass acknowledges that fear is a biological response and universal experience, but that Jesus’s assurance is also true:

“Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you….’ When he had said this, he breathed on them…”

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.”

The door opens toward love—the love of God, the love of neighbor.

I can’t explain it. All I know is that it is right. And I feel it. When I’m scared, I breathe. My breath. Sacred breath. Spirit breath. The in, out, in, out, in, out of life. My heart slows and opens, making room for the other, giving space to love. In, out, in, out. Breathe in peace. Breathe out love.

Peace, love. Peace, love.

Fear abates.

Perfect love casts out fear.

I think of the first words of scripture, how “in the beginning” there was nothing but chaos. Then, God breathed. Chaos was transformed by that breath into a world of beauty and sustenance.

Easter began in confusion and terror behind a locked door. Now, it comes to a quiet conclusion in the breathing … the promise and possibility of new creation. Peace, love.

Perhaps that’s what is meant by resurrection. Being raised from the deadened weight of fear to love.

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From Bradley Jersak

THIS SHEPHERD 

Brothers, sisters,
Siblings in Christ
(and who isn’t?).

We’re all the sheep of his pasture,
and Jesus is truly our good, good Shepherd.

This Shepherd Good,
whose birth to earth,
whose great descent
into our Hades—
saved and saves us
(not least from ourselves).

This Shepherd Great
sought and found me
tangled in thorns,
gorging on blackberries,
(blood-sweet, in tears),
lips stained red with guilt.

This Shepherd Gentle,
whose clarion voice I knew,
called and called 
and called until I lay down.
(Did he make me?
Or did I break me?).
Yes. In him we rest.

This Shepherd Guide
leads me on right paths,
to quiet waters,
if I consent,
when I don’t resist
as soon as I surrender
(one day at a time).

This Shepherd Kind
so gentle, ever attentive,
and woah! Oh so severe,
this Mama Bear,
in the shadowy gulch,
warding off darkness and dread 
even in death’s false victories.

This Shepherd Strong
who never, ever
breaks a little lamb’s leg—
no shepherd has or does.
But the serpents’ skull…
hangs crushed,
a trophy above his hearth.

This Shepherd Love—
If harm were his way to save us,
he is not good at it. No good at all.
And though long-suffering stings,
the whispers of wise Love 
gently persuade us home.

This Shepherd’s Love
takes time—
wades through mess—
then pours rivers of oil,
of mercy,
of gladness,
of life
through our parched souls.

This Shepherd Host,
at whose table wide
we dine and wine 
(or whine)
with enemies
until they’re not
(pass the salt,… friend?).

This Shepherd King
cross-shaped throne,
thorny crown,
leads us
through hell,
through bed,
through bath,
and beyond.

Into his house,
where we dwell.
At his table,
we feast.
In his flock,
we gather
without lack,
souls restored…
or will be soon.

All our days
all our nights,
every dusk and dawn
of our lives,
of his life
forever.

WELCOME TO HIS TABLE

So, my friends, takeaways…

He’s a good, good Shepherd,
He knows you so well,
calls you by name,

You do know his voice, 
you have followed his lead,
even through deep, dangerous gulleys,
sometimes co-suffering with you,

But always I hear him promise,
”I will never abandon you,
I know the way through,
back to the Table,
My Table.
Where you and all are most welcome.”

Sunday, April 26, 2026

Jesus said to his disciples, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Have faith in God. Have faith also in me.”
—John 14:1

Father Richard Rohr reflects on the relationship between anxiety, fear, and faith:

Our time has been called the age of anxiety, and I think that’s probably a good description. We no longer know what or where our foundations are. When we’re not sure what is certain, when the world and our worldview keep being redefined every few months, we’re going to be anxious. Understandably, we want to get rid of that anxiety as quickly as we can. I know I do. Yet, to be a good leader of anything today—a good pastor, manager, parent, teacher, or even a good citizen, we have to be able to contain and patiently hold a certain degree of anxiety and fear. Greater levels of leadership require leaders who are capable of holding greater anxiety. Leaders who cannot hold anxiety will never lead us any place good or new.

That’s probably why the Bible says “Do not be afraid” almost 150 times! If we cannot calmly hold a certain degree of fear and anxiety, we will always look for somewhere to expel it. Expelling what we can’t embrace gives us an identity, but it’s a negative identity. It’s not life energy, it’s death energy.  

Can we recognize how different the alternative of faith and trust is? Faith can only build on a totally positive place within, however small. God just needs an interior “Yes” to begin, a mustard-seed-sized place that is in love—not fear—that is open to grace.  [1]

One could sum up the Bible, and our lives, as an interplay of fear and faith. In general, people are obsessed and overpowered by fears; they fear what they cannot control. God is one of our primary fears, because God is totally beyond us and totally beyond our control. The good news is that God has breached that fear and become one of us in Jesus. Through Jesus, God says, in effect, “You can stop being afraid. It’s okay. You don’t have to live in chattering fear of me.”

The opening chapter of Luke’s Gospel presents Mary as the archetypal Christian because God comes into her life and proclaims the divine presence within her, immediately telling her through the angel, “Do not be afraid” (Luke 1:30). Through the same divine Spirit, God comes into our lives and announces the divine presence within each of us. All we are asked to do is be present and open. Only after God calls Mary beyond her fear does God give the message of her calling. 

Fear can keep us from hearing what is really being said. Mary’s spirituality is focused on trusting. She said, “Let what you have said be done to me” (Luke 1:38). She doesn’t try to explain or understand. She just says, “I trust you, God. Do with me what you will. Let it be.”

Calming Our Fears

Monday, April 27, 2026

Father Richard responds to the question, “Why was Jesus not afraid?”:

Jesus seemed to know from an early age that we cannot build on fear. We can build only on life; only life leads to life. Jesus went to the deepest source of life. He gazed long and hard into God’s eyes; there, somehow, but most assuredly, he overcame fear. He did not find assurance that he would “win,” because humanly speaking, he didn’t. And I don’t believe that he found assurance that he was right, either, although we tend to think he knew it all.

His only assurance was knowing he spoke only what he had first heard (see John 8:28). He handed over the vision that he had seen in God’s eyes: a love that overcomes fear, and offers a terrible, wonderful courage, allowing us to release our life, to let it fall and go where it might. Jesus’s trust was not in himself but in who he knew he was before God.

When Jesus preaches, he tells others what he first heard: “Do not be afraid.” He learned that well from his own tradition. Those words were communicated again and again, through God, other people, and in prayer: To Abraham and Sarah, God said, “Do not be afraid.” To Moses, “Do not be afraid.” To Joshua and Gideon, “Do not be afraid.” To Samuel and Hannah, “Do not be afraid.” To Judith, “Do not afraid.” To David, in the prayers of his heart, “Do not be afraid.”

To the people of Israel, throughout the prophets again and again, and in every type of cataclysmic situation: “Do not be afraid.”  Through Isaiah, “Do not be afraid.” To Joseph, the father of Jesus and husband of Mary, “Do not be afraid.” And, of course, to Mary who said yes, the angel said, “Do not be afraid, Mary.”

Why this word over and over again? Because we’re afraid! We’re wrapped and sometimes even trapped in our fear. We want to go beyond it and yet somehow it controls us. We fear what we do not know and do not understand. We fear that what we are afraid of will control us, while we long to control our own lives.

Deep down, we long for freedom, but if we want to be free from fear, we must be willing to gaze into God’s eyes as Jesus did. We must be willing to ask the same questions Jesus was asking. It’s not important that we get answers. I don’t think Jesus got that many answers, but we need to be asking the right questions: What is it that we desire? What is it that we’re trying to protect? What is it that we’re afraid is going to overtake us and control us?

We can’t attack fear head on. We can’t simply say to ourselves, “Don’t be afraid” because it doesn’t work. It isn’t that simple. We have to go deeper, be curious about where the fear is coming from, and trust God with it. 

Individual Reflection

Where do you most need to hear “Do not be afraid” today?

Group Discussion — choose one:

1. What is your fear trying to protect, and what would it mean to bring it into God’s gaze rather than expel it onto someone or something else?
2. Mary’s response was “let it be done to me.” Where in your life are you being invited to that posture right now?
3. Rohr says we cannot attack fear head-on — we have to go deeper and get curious about where it’s coming from. What might “going deeper” look like for you this week?

Hospitality on Our Earth Home

Friday, April 24, 2026

We can begin to heal that rift between our love and actions, our values and our daily lives, by turning our attention to whatever patch of ground we have been given to tend, even if it is a potted planter on a balcony in the city.
—Ragan Sutterfield, Watch and Wonder

An avid bird watcher, Anglican priest Ragan Sutterfield reflects on what it means to practice hospitality to nature in its many forms: 

Hospitality, in the Christian understanding, is at the heart of all existence, the creation itself. Nothing exists of necessity, all is an extravagance—a gift of the God who made room for the creation…. What if part of what that means is that we too are meant to make room—that part of being fully human is to open up space for other creatures? [1]

Sutterfield suggests ways we can disrupt the commodification of nature and act hospitably: 

To plant a garden, to create a wetland—these seem like small acts in the face of our world of concrete, our obsession with never-ending economic growth. What difference can it make? I think of G. K. Chesterton’s comment, in his wonderful economic critique, The Outline of Sanity, which takes aim at industrial capitalism’s takeover of small shops and farms:

Do anything, however small, that will prevent the completion of the work of capitalist combination. Do anything that will even delay that completion. Save one shop out of a hundred shops…. Keep open one door out of a hundred doors; for so long as one door is open, we are not in prison. Ahab has not his kingdom so long as Naboth has his vineyard [1 Kings 21]. Haman will not be happy in the palace while Mordecai is sitting in the gate [Esther 5:9–13]…. [2]

Hospitality is more than resistance, however; it is also a sacramental practice—a way by which we learn to recognize the holy in the wild lives around us. “There are no unsacred places,” writes Wendell Berry, “there are only sacred places and desecrated places.” The practice of reconciliation ecology is an act in which we relate to the world in its sacredness, keeping ourselves from seeing it as a mere landscape or an interchangeable abstraction for our desires.

I think here of the Orthodox churches of Ethiopia, many of which preserve a belt of forest around their buildings to resemble a renewed Eden. Those sacred forests are now providing the seeds for restoration in the larger landscape, which has been decimated by extractive agriculture. What if we kept alive our yards, the marginal places in the midst of our cities, our places of worship and work, as sacred—not only as places of hospitality for the wild now but also as sources of hospitality for the future? What if each yard could host the future of the planet by holding onto the life needed to reseed the world when we finally wake from the delusions of our extractive ways of life? [3]

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John Chaffee 5 On Friday

1.

“Emotionally immature people don’t step back and think about how their behavior impacts others. There’s no cringe factor for them, so they seldom apologize or experience regret.”

– Lindsay C. Gibson in Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents

For the record, I have not read this book yet.  However, I heard about it from a good friend, and it has been enlightening.

So this week I googled some quotes from it, and this was one of the standout ones.

Emotionally healthy/mature people are able to meaningfully reflect on their own behavior and “cringe.”    It is from this moment of self-accountability that mature people apologize and make a conscious change to their behavior.

As I think back over my life, I realize I have encountered people who seem to have an invincible wall against their own “cringe moments.”  And, if I am being honest, those types are the most difficult for me to stay in a relationship with… but you can go far with someone who knows how to apologize and make amends.

2.

“Is not the person who strips another of clothing called a thief?  And those who do not clothe the naked when they have the power to do so, should they not be called the same?”

– Basil of Caesarea, 4th Century Early Church Father & Bishop

Basil of Caesarea is one of the Cappadocian theologians of the 4th century.  The other two were Gregory of Nazianzus and Gregory of Nyssa (who also happened to be Basil’s younger brother).  Together, they were titans of theology and contributed much to the discussion of orthodox theology at a time when the creeds of the early church were just beginning to be formalized.

Fascinatingly enough, Basil and Gregory came from a very rich, aristocratic family.  They held enormous esteem in their region, and their large family produced many notable figures who later became considered saints.

That said, Basil was deeply struck by the account of the young rich man who came to Jesus asking about eternal life, and walked away saddened when Jesus told him to sell all of his possessions and give them to the poor.

Here it is, in full:

“Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”

“Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.”

“Which ones?” he inquired.

Jesus replied, “‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’”

“All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?”

Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.” (Matthew 19:16-22)

No doubt, this deeply impacted Basil, who came from a wealthy family and was likely a young man himself when he heard or read that passage of Scripture.  In response, Basil became an outspoken preacher against materialism and how greed and avarice come at the cost of caring for our neighbors with less.

For Basil, being rich was not a problem.  The problem was storing all that accumulated wealth and not using it to benefit those around you.  In this way, Basil connected the issue of wealth directly with the command to “love your neighbor as yourself.”

If you would like to read Basil’s sermons on the topic, I highly recommend this one by the Popular Patristics Series.

3.

“As a handful of sand thrown into the sea, so are the sins of all humanity in the ocean of divine mercy.”

– Isaac of Nineveh, 7th Century Ascetic

Not only is the love and grace of God unconditional, but it is also infinite.

4.

“Psychologically, as long as we are criticizing, diagnosing, passing judgment, we will at some level be bracing for counterattack, where if we lead with empathy, we remain secure and grounded.  We give and receive mercy through the same opening.”

– Isaac Slater in Do Not Judge Anyone: Desert Wisdom for a Polarized World

Isaac Slater is a Cistercian monk, a member of a Catholic order known for its cloistered life of silence, ora et labora (prayer and work), and an intense practice of poverty, chastity, and obedience.

I have been reading this book because I realized how dang judgmental I am.  I am excruciatingly judgmental in my head, and I am certain it sometimes leaks out.  So why not hit the nail on the head and intentionally get a book of wisdom about the very topic?

Do Not Judge Anyone is full of references to the New Testament and figures from the early Desert Monastics (whom I am a fond admirer of).  It is not a flashy book, but it packs a punch, and I am finding myself underlining whole paragraphs.  It is such a good read, it is making me realize how prevalent judgment is in our world, and that it is so much easier to talk about anything else but how we want to feel better about ourselves by finding someone else to look down on.

My goodness, we are such a wreck, aren’t we?  Lord, have mercy.

5.

“Love needs no cause beyond itself, nor does it demand fruits; it is its own purpose.  I love because I love; I love that I may love.”

– St. Bernard of Clairvaux, 12th Century Cistercian Monk

Meister Eckhart said something similar.

Love does not need a why.

Love just loves.

Love has no desire to manipulate or force a particular outcome.

Love loves with freedom and without strings attached.

If Love ever loves for the purpose of being reciprocated, to control, to effect a particular outcome, to be seen as loving, or for any other reason than simply to Love… then it isn’t Love; it is a mutation or a malformed mode of relationship.

Recognizing God’s Grace

Thursday, April 23, 2026

Father Richard, drawing on the wisdom of Scripture and tradition, urges respect and recognition of God’s presence in the natural world:

Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), a Doctor of the Church, wrote: “Grace does not destroy nature, but perfects it.” [1] Grace brings nature to a sense of its own sanctity, and it evokes this sacredness within the human heart.

This is the reason St. Francis could speak of animals as “brother” and “sister.” This manifold and diverse world is held together in a uni-verse, which means a reality turning around one thing. Our common name for that one thing is “God,” but the word is not necessary to appreciate the reality. Aquinas explained this theologically; Francis knew it experientially.

Aquinas continues with “The whole universe in its wholeness more perfectly shares in and represents the divine goodness than any one creature by itself.” [2] Paul said the same thing long before Aquinas: “What can be known about God is perfectly plain, since God has made it plain. Ever since God created the world, God’s everlasting power and divinity, however invisible, has been there for the mind to see in the things that God has made” (Romans 1:19–20).

How could humans think we were the only or even the main event? Not only did we think that Earth was the center of the universe; we were certain our human species was the only one that God really cared about. All of creation was just a stage set for the human drama. Normally that is called narcissism. We extracted the soul from everything else. Nature was simply here for our utilitarian purpose, to be used for our consumption. With this belief system, we entered into a state of profound alienation from our own surroundings. We no longer belonged to this world because there was nothing worth belonging to. It was no longer naturally sacred, deserving our reverence or respect. We could rape, plunder, and misuse the earth. We could torture animals and destroy ecosystems because we thought they had no inherent value. We acted as though we were fully in charge.

Every day we have opportunities to reconnect with God through an encounter with nature, whether an ordinary sunrise, a starling on a power line, a tree in a park, or a cloud in the sky. This spirituality doesn’t depend on education or belief. It almost entirely depends on our capacity for simple presence. Often those without formal education and “unbelievers” do this better than many educated, religious people. I have met many like this who put me to shame.

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Sarah Young Jesus Calling

Jesus Calling: April 23rd

     Keep your eyes on Me, not only for direction but also for empowerment. I never lead you to do something without equipping you for the task. That is why it’s so important to seek My will in everything you do. There are many burned out Christians who think more is always better, who deem it unspiritual to say no.
    In order to know My will, you must spend time with Me–enjoying My Presence. This is not an onerous task but a delightful privilege. I will show you the path of Life; in My Presence is fullness of Joy; at My right hand are pleasures forevermore.

RECOMMENDED BIBLE VERSES:

Psalm 141:8 NLT
8 I look to you for help, O Sovereign LORD. You are my refuge; don’t let them kill me.

Psalm 16:11 (NLT)
11 You will show me the way of life,
    granting me the joy of your presence
    and the pleasures of living with you forever.

Additional insight regarding Psalm 16: 8-11: This psalm (16:10 – “For you will not leave my soul among the dead or allow your holy one to rot in the grave.”) is often called the messianic psalm because it is quoted in the New Testament as referring to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Both Peter and Paul quoted from this psalm when speaking of Christ’s bodily resurrection (see Acts 2:25-28, 31; 13:35-37).

https://youtu.be/ICnct8THNag?si=Uc0VYOsgDMmGr_mx

Click hyperlink above for today’s song

Wednesday, April 22, 2026

Earth Day

The earth was entrusted to us in order that it be mother for us, capable of giving to each one what is necessary to live.… The earth is generous and holds nothing back from those who safeguard it. The earth, which is mother of all, asks for respect, not violence.
—Pope Francis, Our Mother Earth

We can learn to drop down into the sweet current of deep grief that helps us appreciate—to know, to praise, and more fully to love—all that we are losing, all that may soon be lost.
—Brian McLaren, Life After Doom

Brian McLaren describes a favorite place in nature from his childhood. He honors the grief that arises when the places we have known and loved change:

I think of a wetland I used to explore as a boy growing up in Maryland, part of the Rock Creek watershed. I spent hours exploring that wetland in every season, sometimes barefoot, sometimes in boots that nearly always overflowed and filled with cold water because I ventured in a little too deep. How could I stay dry when trilling toads and wriggling tadpoles moved among cattails in the spring? How could I stay away in summer and miss a chance to see that single great blue heron or mammoth snapping turtle who both hunted there, resident dinosaurs to my boyhood imagination? How could I not search for newts and crayfish in its cold waters in autumn, its sky-mirroring surface dappled by yellow tulip poplar, red maple, and orange-amber sweet gum leaves?… How could I not return again as soon as the ice melted to search among the brown soggy layers of decomposing leaves where spotted salamanders gathered for mysterious, slow-motion mating rituals, while red-winged blackbirds called conk-la-ree! from the nearby willows?

Several years ago, I was in the old neighborhood again…. The trail was still there, but now it was broad and paved for bicycles. The wetland had disappeared…. As I sat on one of the benches and looked around, I was overcome by sweet grief for the delight I once enjoyed as a boy, a lost magic boys and girls today will never know, at least, not there….

I’m returning to this precious place in my memory, this sacred swampy ground. I’m appreciating it, praising it for what it was, all the more because it has been lost…. You have your lost places unknown to me. I have mine unknown to you. We could not protect them. But we do not let these good creations disappear only to be forgotten, unappreciated, unpraised, unlamented. Our love for them outlasts their existence. So together, we remember them in grief. We feel them more fully revealing themselves to us in their passing away….

Stay with grief long enough to feel its sweetness, long enough for the sweetness and grief to deepen our sensitivity to the exquisite agony and ecstasy that we call appreciation, praise, love … and life.

Jesus Calling: February 24

    Be still in the Light of My Presence, while I communicate Love to you. There is no force in the universe as powerful as My Love. You are constantly aware of limitations: your own and others’. But there is no limit to My Love; it fills all of space, time, and eternity.

    Now you see through a glass, darkly, but someday you will see Me face to Face. Then you will be able to experience fully how wide and long and high and deep is My Love for you. If you were to experience that now, you would be overwhelmed to the point of feeling crushed. But you have an eternity ahead of you, absolutely guaranteed, during when you can enjoy My Presence in unrestricted ecstasy. For now, the knowledge of My loving Presence is sufficient to carry you through each day.

RELATED SCRIPTURE: 

1st Corinthians 13:12 NLT

12 Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.

Ephesians 3:16-19

16 I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. 17 Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. 18 And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. 19 May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

A Special Note from Father Richard: Healing for a Hurting World

Tuesday, April 21, 2026

Dear Friend,

Lately, I’ve been reflecting on something so simple that it almost feels obvious: Nearly everything that Jesus does in his ministry is to heal broken people.

He did not heal people so they could go to heaven; he healed people so they could live fully in this world now. It’s obvious. How did we miss that?

The healing focus of the gospel became corrupted when we made it about securing a “ticket” for the next world, rather than experiencing aliveness in this one. Many of us are tempted to seek an escape from this moment instead of trusting that God’s healing is possible for us now — that even this moment can be good. We have treated “repentance” as the price of our heavenly ticket, when it actually means “a change of mind” — a transformation for the better.

We are living in a time that is crying out for healing. We see the tears of personal and collective grief flowing. We see the anger over injustice, understandably boiling. We see people tempted toward despair and cynicism. At the same time, we see so many people meeting this moment with courage and compassion, as instruments of God’s universal ministry of love, healing, and peacemaking. Geri, a Daily Meditations reader, shares her own story of healing with us:

I had my world fractured last year after my husband passed away from cancer. I have been grieving his loss and at the same time grieving what’s been going on in our country. Sometimes the sadness and anger I feel are overwhelming. But every day, I pray for healing for myself and the world around me. I want to be an instrument of Christ’s peace, whatever that entails. Thank you, Father Richard Rohr, and staff of CAC, for helping me through these uncertain and painful times!

At the Center for Action and Contemplation, we are committed to sharing Christian contemplative wisdom that heals lives for today and inspires action now. Everything we offer is designed to nurture authentic spirituality that brings divine love, healing, and justice into the present world.

The CAC’s work is primarily funded by the support and participation of people like you who give freely and joyfully to support it. We are deeply grateful for each and every one of you.

Twice per year, we pause our usual Daily Meditations and ask for your financial support. If the CAC’s work has been meaningful to you, including the Daily Meditations, please consider making a gift. Every gift, no matter the amount, helps bring the gospel’s message of healing to a world that desperately needs it.   

If you are able, please consider making a monthly gift as a member of the Bonaventure Circle of Support, the CAC’s monthly giving community. Monthly gifts help expand our programs, provide scholarships to students, and carry this transformative wisdom forward for a new generation of seekers.

Tomorrow, the Daily Meditations will continue exploring this week’s topic of “For Love of the Earth.”

Thank you for being part of this community of people who are willing to face the suffering of the world, while trusting that healing is still possible if love remains at the center. 

Peace and every good,

______________________________________________

Sarah Young

Heaven is both present and future. As you walk along your life-path holding My hand, you are already in touch with the essence of heaven: nearness to Me. You can also find many hints of heaven along your pathway, because the earth is radiantly alive with My Presence. Shimmering sunshine awakens your heart, gently reminding you of My brilliant Light. Birds and flowers, trees and skies evoke praises to My holy Name. Keep your eyes and ears fully open as you journey with Me.
     At the end of your life-path is an entrance to heaven. Only I know when you will reach that destination, but I am preparing you for it each step of the way. The absolute certainty of your heavenly home gives you Peace and Joy, to help you along your journey. You know that you will reach your home in My perfect timing; not one moment too soon or too late. Let the hope of heaven encourage you, as you walk along the path of Life with Me.

RECOMMENDED BIBLE VERSES:
1st Corinthians 15:20-23 (NLV)
  20 But it is true! Christ has been raised from the dead! He was the first one to be raised from the dead and all those who are in graves will follow. 21 Death came because of a man, Adam. Being raised from the dead also came because of a Man, Christ. 22 All men will die as Adam died. But all those who belong to Christ will be raised to new life. 23 This is the way it is: Christ was raised from the dead first. Then all those who belong to Christ will be raised from the dead when He comes again.

Additional insight regarding 1st Corinthians 15:20: Jesus as the first part of the harvest was brought to the Temple as an offering (Leviticus 23:10-44). Christ was the first to rise from the dead and never die again. He is our forerunner, the proof of our eventual resurrection to eternal life. 

Additional insight regarding 1st Corinthians 15:21: Death came into the world as a result of Adam and Eve’s sin. In Romans 5:12-21, Paul explained why Adam’s sin brought sin to all people, how death and sin spread to all humans because of the first sin, and the parallel between Adam’s death and Christ’s death.

Hebrews 6:19 (NLV)
19 This hope is a safe anchor for our souls. It will never move. This hope goes into the Holiest Place of All behind the curtain of heaven.

Additional insight regarding Hebrews 6:19: God embodies all truth; therefore, he cannot lie, and we can be secure in his promises. We don’t need to wonder if he will change his purposes and plans. Our hope of heaven stands secure and immovable, anchored in God, just as a ship’s anchor holds firmly to the seabed. To someone truly seeking who comes to God in belief, God gives an unconditional promise of acceptance. When you ask God with openness, honesty, and sincerity to save you from your sins, he will do it. If this truth gives you encouragement, assurance, and confidence, grasp it. Don’t let go no matter what happens around you.

Today’s Prayer:

Lord,

As I journey with You, I’m reminded of heaven’s nearness. Your presence fills me with Peace and Joy, reassuring me that You’re leading me to my heavenly home. Help me keep my eyes and ears open to Your guidance along the way. Amen.