Showing posts with label Bread of Life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bread of Life. Show all posts
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Genesis Ministries
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But a shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse, and from his roots a bud shall blossom. Isaiah 11:1
The poetic and vivid imagery of this passage in Isaiah serves to illustrate the wonder of God, that from this stump, he called forth a new shoot of life, and not only just a shoot, but one from which a delicate flower would bloom and blossom. When we see a stump in a field or yard, we hardly think "oh! I wonder what will grow there..." A stump is usually what's left of a tree that will be no more, and if you're camping, can serve as a great table or chair!
Yet, in this passage, it is precisely from a stump that this new life springs. God can pull forth life out of things that we never could. Perhaps that is why so many people, drowning in their own humanity, simply choose to give up. It is so easy to think "no more can come of this", when something seems "over and done with." That is not the mind of God. There is no end, only new beginnings. With God, new life springs forth from what seems to be the deadest tree, if only a vine to wrap around it and reach new heights.
As the old saying goes, "When God closes a door, He opens a window." I myself like to add a wee bit more to that - when God closes a door, He opens a window, but we still have to jump out. Do we look for those windows and take the plunge or spend so much time looking back at the door we don't feel the fresh new breeze blowing into our lives?
The poetic and vivid imagery of this passage in Isaiah serves to illustrate the wonder of God, that from this stump, he called forth a new shoot of life, and not only just a shoot, but one from which a delicate flower would bloom and blossom. When we see a stump in a field or yard, we hardly think "oh! I wonder what will grow there..." A stump is usually what's left of a tree that will be no more, and if you're camping, can serve as a great table or chair!
Yet, in this passage, it is precisely from a stump that this new life springs. God can pull forth life out of things that we never could. Perhaps that is why so many people, drowning in their own humanity, simply choose to give up. It is so easy to think "no more can come of this", when something seems "over and done with." That is not the mind of God. There is no end, only new beginnings. With God, new life springs forth from what seems to be the deadest tree, if only a vine to wrap around it and reach new heights.
As the old saying goes, "When God closes a door, He opens a window." I myself like to add a wee bit more to that - when God closes a door, He opens a window, but we still have to jump out. Do we look for those windows and take the plunge or spend so much time looking back at the door we don't feel the fresh new breeze blowing into our lives?
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Genesis Ministries
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So be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and handed himself over for us as a sacrificial offering to God for a fragrant aroma. Ephesians 5:2
The bread that I give is my flesh for the life of the world. John 6:51
Live in love... The word "love" has been so abused over the years, this simple instruction becomes more confusing. What is it to live in love? As we continue to meditate on the image of bread, Jesus gives us an even stronger image of what it means to love. His love is to give up his flesh, so that we may live and have hope of reconciliation with God. If we are to imitate God's love, then love is no less than sacrifice. Love is living in the Truth of God. Love is not just butterflies and rainbows and the happy thought that everyone is okay.
I once heard a priest brilliantly define an issue that plagues our current culture. He said that we all go around afraid to speak out, because we are taught that we're all okay - "I'm okay, you're okay." The truth, if we are to live as authentically in Christ as we can, is quite the opposite. We are none of us "okay" - we are all plagued by something, but Jesus, the Bread of Life, offers his flesh as food for healing. So it is more accurate to say, "I'm not okay, but in You I am made well, Lord."
If we are to truly live in love, we must be willing to live in the truth that each of us is somehow suffering. Out of love, we must lead each other to the only one who can make us "okay," to the Divine Healer, to the Bread of Life who came that we too may live.
Do we humble ourselves before Christ to admit our failings and allow Him to heal us through Reconciliation and the Eucharist? If we do not, pray this weekend that the Holy Spirit may reveal and heal what it is that keeps us away from the new life we are promised.
The bread that I give is my flesh for the life of the world. John 6:51
Live in love... The word "love" has been so abused over the years, this simple instruction becomes more confusing. What is it to live in love? As we continue to meditate on the image of bread, Jesus gives us an even stronger image of what it means to love. His love is to give up his flesh, so that we may live and have hope of reconciliation with God. If we are to imitate God's love, then love is no less than sacrifice. Love is living in the Truth of God. Love is not just butterflies and rainbows and the happy thought that everyone is okay.
I once heard a priest brilliantly define an issue that plagues our current culture. He said that we all go around afraid to speak out, because we are taught that we're all okay - "I'm okay, you're okay." The truth, if we are to live as authentically in Christ as we can, is quite the opposite. We are none of us "okay" - we are all plagued by something, but Jesus, the Bread of Life, offers his flesh as food for healing. So it is more accurate to say, "I'm not okay, but in You I am made well, Lord."
If we are to truly live in love, we must be willing to live in the truth that each of us is somehow suffering. Out of love, we must lead each other to the only one who can make us "okay," to the Divine Healer, to the Bread of Life who came that we too may live.
Do we humble ourselves before Christ to admit our failings and allow Him to heal us through Reconciliation and the Eucharist? If we do not, pray this weekend that the Holy Spirit may reveal and heal what it is that keeps us away from the new life we are promised.
Come Lord Jesus!
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Genesis Ministries
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Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal." John 6:27 (NRSV)
We continue from last week on the central image of food, of bread. Jesus is the Bread of Life. Just as God sent down manna from the heavens for the Israelites to nourish them while they were lost, he sends us Christ for our eternal and spiritual nourishment. More than simply food, the Bread of Life nourishes our souls, transforming them into a new creation in Christ. One cannot authentically encounter Jesus Christ and recognize him as Lord without being somehow changed. Every instance of such encounters in the Gospels lay evidence to that.
We not only encounter Christ, but in the Mass, he makes Himself one with us in the Eucharist. By consuming Christ, He is at work within us, helping to restore us into God's original image, holy and blameless in His sight.
How is the Lord calling you to change this week?
We continue from last week on the central image of food, of bread. Jesus is the Bread of Life. Just as God sent down manna from the heavens for the Israelites to nourish them while they were lost, he sends us Christ for our eternal and spiritual nourishment. More than simply food, the Bread of Life nourishes our souls, transforming them into a new creation in Christ. One cannot authentically encounter Jesus Christ and recognize him as Lord without being somehow changed. Every instance of such encounters in the Gospels lay evidence to that.
We not only encounter Christ, but in the Mass, he makes Himself one with us in the Eucharist. By consuming Christ, He is at work within us, helping to restore us into God's original image, holy and blameless in His sight.
How is the Lord calling you to change this week?
