May Christ open your eyes
that you may see the light of creation.
May Christ open your ears
that you may hear the song of the earth.
May Christ open your heart
that you may give and receive love.
- Sam Hamilton-Poore
Earth Gospel: A Guide to Prayer for God’s Creation
Self-denial means knowing only Christ,
and no longer oneself.
It means seeing only Christ,
who goes ahead of us,
and no longer the path
that is too difficult for us.
Again, self-denial is saying only:
He goes ahead of us; hold fast to him.
- - Dietrich Bonhoeffer
God of wilderness and water,
your Son was baptized and tempted as we are.
Guide us through this season,
that we may not avoid struggle,
but open ourselves to blessing,
through the cleansing depths of repentance
and the heaven-rending words of the Spirit.
In a culture built on consumption -- especially of food -- it is easy to forget the poor that Jesus cared so much about. We get caught up in the acquiring, buying and eating. Yet as wierd as it sounds, the more stuff we consume, the more our spirits wither and starve.
Each time anyone comes in contact with us
they must become different
and better people because of having met us.
We must radiate God’s love.
We must know that we have been created
for greater things not just to be a number
in the world, not just to go for diplomas
and degrees, this work and that work.
We have been created in order to love
and be loved.
Love does not measure, it just gives!
Mother Theresa
