Peter Mommsen said: “Jesus redefined the bonds of kinship: “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?… Whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother, and sister, and mother.” The biological family, evidently, matters greatly; but in the order of our loves, it should come a distinct second. The care we owe our relatives remains, but now we’re called to extend it to a vast new throng of siblings – a family of many ethnicities…
In Proverbs 20:12, God has given people the remarkable ability to see and comprehend their general surroundings. Our capacity to hear and see ought to be for us passages to shrewdness. Tuning in and noticing are significant characteristics of a decent pupil, I mean, a good disciple and the sage routinely calls upon him or her to employ them to peruse and hear his instructing. The Lord has made them both: Since our hearing and our sight are endowments from…
Have you ever heard that Jesus, the Son of Man died for you? In Mark 8:29-31 and I qoute: “What about you?” he asked them. “Who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.” Then Jesus ordered them, “Do not tell anyone about me.” Then Jesus began to teach his disciples: “The Son of Man must suffer much and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the teachers of the Law. He will be put…
Thomas Merton said: “In Louisville, at the corner of Fourth and Walnut, in the center of the shopping district, I was suddenly overwhelmed with the realization that I loved all these people, that they were mine and I theirs, that we could not be alien to one another even though we were total strangers.… I suddenly saw the secret beauty of their hearts, the depths of their hearts where neither sin nor desire nor self-knowledge can reach, the core of…
Thomas Merton said: “In Louisville, at the corner of Fourth and Walnut, in the center of the shopping district, I was suddenly overwhelmed with the realization that I loved all these people, that they were mine and I theirs, that we could not be alien to one another even though we were total strangers.… I suddenly saw the secret beauty of their hearts, the depths of their hearts where neither sin nor desire nor self-knowledge can reach, the core of…
In Proverbs 20:15 – “There is gold and a multitude of rubies, But the lips of knowledge are a precious jewel.” Solomon exemplifies the picture of a large pile of gold and precious stones. We think of this pile and are impressed at its value. On the other side, Solomon presented another treasure, the precious jewellery of wise words, that is, the lips of knowledge. We immediately discern the significance of the pile of gold and rubies, but we need to comprehend and thus enjoy the value of…
Yes, in worship, stones talk; mountains and hills shout for joy; the voice of joy to rejoice gives the stones the ability to speak about the glory of God. Listen: “As he was drawing near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives—the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!…
Annie Dillard said: “On the whole, I do not find Christians, outside of the catacombs, sufficiently sensible of conditions. Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely invoke? Or, as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it? The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning. It is madness to wear straw hats and velvet to church; we…
In Proverbs 20:4; the Lazy will not plow for various reasons. Charles Spurgeon said: “Suppose it were not cold; do’ you know what he would say? ‘Oh, it is so hot! I cannot plow; the perspiration runs down my cheeks. You wouldn’t have me plowing this hot weather, would you?’ Supposing it were neither hot nor cold, why, then he would say, I believe, that it rained; and if it didn’t rain, he would say the ground was too dry,…
Yes, by the passage of repentance, Valley fills with the joy of Salvation! Yeah, mountains and hills rejoice in the goodness of God. Indeed, crooked ways straightened to the glory of God!!! Listen to this, “Every valley must be filled up, every hill and mountain leveled off. The winding roads must be made straight, and the rough paths made smooth. The whole human race will see God’s salvation!’” (Luke 3:5-6 GNT)