Ordinary Time

Pause

Start by placing your feet firmly on the ground
and placing your palms facing up on your lap
like you’re ready to catch something.

When you breathe in, receive God’s love into every inch of your body, mind, and heart.

When you breathe out, share God’s love into a world which desperately needs that love.

Take a deep breath—in and out.
And another one—in and out.
And one more—in and out.

Be at peace.

Listen

The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”

The Lord replied, “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.”

Luke 17:5-6

Think

One of the wisest and most inspiring people I know is a nun named Sister Mary Margaret, who has devoted more than sixty years of her life to living in relationship with the poor and the marginalized. Sister Mary Margaret is the kind of person who drops little bursts of beauty and wisdom into every conversation. Once when I was questioning whether or not I was good enough or smart enough to go to seminary, Sister Mary Margaret looked me right in the eyes and said, “You may not be enough for yourself or anybody else, but you are enough for God. And that’s enough.” Another time, Sister Mary Margaret said at a retreat, “You are locked in mutual enough-ness with God. God is enough for you and you are enough for God.”

Sister Mary Margaret’s personal theology of “enough-ness” is grounded in today’s verses. Jesus assures us that faith the size of a mustard seed is enough to do the impossible. He doesn’t demand that the disciples become something other than what they are, but, like Sister Mary Margaret, invites them to dwell in their “enough-ness.”

Cody Maynus

Pray

God of abundance, you created me and love me just as I am. When I am tempted to doubt my worth, remind me that I am enough for you and you are enough for me. Amen.

Go

“Why must people kneel down to pray? If I really wanted to pray I’ll tell you what I'd do. I'd go out into a great big field all alone or in the deep, deep woods and I'd look up into the sky—up—up—up—into that lovely blue sky that looks as if there was no end to its blueness. And then I'd just feel a prayer.”

Lucy Maud Montgomery in Anne of Green Gables (1908)

As you move into the realities of your daily life, go into the deep woods of your imagination, look up, up, up into the sky of your heart, and feel a prayer.