Forgot your password?
  • Increase font size
  • Default font size
  • Decrease font size
  • default color
  • green color
  • red color

MabuhayRadio

Friday
Sep 22nd
Home Sections The Daily B.R.E.A.D. March 27, 2009 - Friday Meditation (Break His Heart Again?)
March 27, 2009 - Friday Meditation (Break His Heart Again?) PDF Print E-mail
User Rating: / 1
PoorBest 
Sections - The Daily B.R.E.A.D.
Monday, 23 March 2009 03:38
E veryday Christ has his heart broken.  Every moment of every day, Christ desires to be with us and yet we turn away.
  
Wis 2:1a, 12-22
Ps 34:17-18, 19-20, 21 and 23

John 7:1-2, 10, 25-30  After this Jesus went about in Galilee; he would not go about in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill him. (2) Now the Jews' feast of Tabernacles was at hand. (10) But after his brothers had gone up to the feast, then he also went up, not publicly but in private. (25) Some of the people of Jerusalem, therefore, said, "Is not this the man whom they seek to kill? (26) And here he is, speaking openly, and they say nothing to him! Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Christ? (27) Yet we know where this man comes from; and when the Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from." (28) So Jesus proclaimed, as he taught in the temple, "You know me, and you know where I come from? But I have not come of my own accord; he who sent me is true, and him you do not know. (29) I know him, for I come from him, and he sent me." (30) So they sought to arrest him; but no one laid hands on him, because his hour had not yet come. 
 
 
 
* Meditation by Miriam Thorn
 
 
In today’s readings, we encounter a fairly typical Lenten pattern of Scripture.  The first reading speaks from the Old Testament of the foreshadowing of the Messiah’s passion and death at the hands of those who were unwilling to experience the true message of God.  Likewise, the Gospel of John has begun to express the tension that was building up between Jesus and the hierarchy of the temple and Jerusalem that would eventually lead to his arrest.  Now while these readings, and ones similar, are critical to help prepare us for the road to Calvary, for me personally, the outreach of God’s love comes through today’s responsorial psalm. 
 
About a month ago, I had my heart broken for the first time, and I mean really and truly broken.  I was beyond devastated and quickly sunk deep into desolation.  No phrases of God’s great plan, or trusting in God’s will were helpful.  Nothing made me feel at ease with the situation.  Even trying to pray with the different ways in which Christ had his heart broken throughout the Gospels appeared useless.  I was more than frustrated and angry with life and God’s providence.  And then a few weeks after the break up, through the grace of God, it hit me. 
 
Everyday Christ has his heart broken.  Every moment of every day, Christ desires to be with us and yet we turn away.  He has given everything, he sacrificed his entire being out of his love for each one of us, and more often than not, we look at him and we say, sorry Jesus, you are great but my heart is just not in it today.  Christ is not just close to the brokenhearted, Christ is the brokenhearted.  
 
And that is exactly what the response in today’s psalm calls out to us.  God is more than just near us in our broken heartedness, God is continually going through that pain with us.  And just as the Father did not elevate the suffering from Christ, He is not here to quickly remove the pain from us, to make us numb to the world and what we experience. 
 
What God does is in these moments is walk with us and hold us up, just as Simon held up Christ.  He knows the strength we have through the Holy Spirit to persevere through the desolation, and He challenges us to give into that, to give into His grace and strengthen our dependence on Him. 
 
Many of us, myself included, will turn away, we will not want the challenge, and the confusion of it all will over take us.  Yet through the prayers of the communion of saints and just by the sheer pull of the Holy Spirit within us, we will return. 
 
It will not be an easy journey, the pain and confusion will not magically disappear.  But each step forward, each day we continue on and give into the love of God, things will become a little bit lighter, our hearts will gradually begin to mend.
 
The darkness that surrounds us will slowly fade into the background, and the ever-luminous light of God will grow more apparent.   Let us pray today that the Holy Spirit will constantly be at work to remind those that suffer from a broken heart, whether it be ourselves or another, that God is close, He is holding us up, and He is gently picking up the pieces of our shattered hearts.
 
 
* Supplementary Reading

A Family of Faith 
 
 

All were one in heart and mind . . . And God's grace was so powerfully at work in them all – Acts 4:32-33

 
 
As firstborn of the Schuller children, I'm enough older than Carol and Gretchen to be their "para-mom." One summer, our parents were in Korea for a conference and my sisters were visiting family in Iowa. I had remained in California to work. I was newly engaged. My sisters couldn't wait to see my ring.
 
But the night before I was to pick them up at the airport, a call came: "Carol's been in a motorcycle accident and is in surgery. They can't save her leg."
 
Schullers convened at Carol's bedside from around the world. We held each other, prayed, and shared Scripture to find desperately needed strength, thankful that Carol had lost her leg, not her life!
 
These were some of the most difficult days we ever faced. But we got through them together—a family of faith, holding each other up.
 

* * *

Where do you turn when faced with life's difficult situations? Have you burned bridges with any family members in the past? Why not make a point of rekindling those family relationships today.

* * * 
 
Note: This excerpt was taken from the "Power for Life Daily Devotional"
 
 
 
GOD BLESS US ALL!
PRAY as if everything depended on HIM. ACT as if everything depended on YOU.
 
 

 

< Prev   Next >
Related news items:
Newer news items:
Older news items:
Last Updated on Friday, 27 March 2009 07:41
 

Add your comment

Your name:
Your email:
Subject:
Comment (you may use HTML tags here):
MabuhayRadio Comments

Quote of the Day

"I have such poor vision I can date anybody."--Garry Shandling