John 8: 21-30
Jesus said to the Pharisees: "I am going away and you will look for me, but you will die in your sin. Where I am going you cannot come." So the Jews said, "He is not going to kill himself, is he, because he said, 'Where I am going you cannot come'?" He said to them, "You belong to what is below, I belong to what is above. You belong to this world, but I do not belong to this world. That is why I told you that you will die in your sins. For if you do not believe that I AM, you will die in your sins." So they said to him, "Who are you?" Jesus said to them, "What I told you from the beginning. I have much to say about you in condemnation. But the one who sent me is true, and what I heard from him I tell the world." They did not realize that he was speaking to them of the Father. So Jesus said to them, "When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I AM, and that I do nothing on my own, but I say only what the Father taught me. The one who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, because I always do what is pleasing to him." Because he spoke this way, many came to believe in him.
Dawg's thought:
Today's prayer intention - for those who are entering the Church this Easter.
"Because he spoke this way, many came to believe in him ... "
Today I had a chance to think about the Dawg's Thought writing process. In looking at this process, something stood out: I normally start typing on a theme, and what comes out is an act of the Holy Spirit. I never really write these reflections as an act of my own intellect alone, but rather as an opportunity to cooperate with God, Who is Creator.
I have been blessed for many years that this ministry was not solely what I thought. It has been my prayer that what comes through is God's grace ... God speaking through my limited understanding.
These "thoughts" have been a response how God has "spoken" to me. He has spoken to me through the mercy of His faithful. He has spoken to me through the Sacraments. He has spoken to me in the poor and broken.
"When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I AM ... "
God's invitation ... God's "speaking" ... came through an opportunity when I was humbled. When I was humbled, I started to see how Our Beloved Lord was humbled ... obedient to death on a cross.
When they lifted Him up, it wasn't a radiant, triumphant Man Who was elevated. It was a broken Man. We will come to believe in Him not because of HIs dominion over us, but rather His humility to love us.
Let us be imitators of Christ in our humility, allowing HIs ways to speak through our submission. In doing so, let us allow Him to speak so that many can come to believe in Him.
Take care and God Bless.
P.S. - I will be heading to Rome, and I would love to have your prayers. As such, I am not certain when I will have an internet connection. Please keep me in your prayers. Also, I submitted the "Dawg's Thought" website for review to a meeting at the Vatican for bloggers (I would have to change my flight plans, but it would be a great reason to do so). Please keep that in prayer as well, that the Lord's will be done.
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