Ordinary Time

Pause

What authority does Jesus have in our lives? What role do we play in granting that authority? And how might it change us to acknowledge it more completely?

Listen

Therefore, my loved ones, just as you always obey me, not just when I am present but now even more while I am away, carry out your own salvation with fear and trembling. God is the one who enables you both to want and to actually live out his good purposes.

Philippians 2:12-13

Think

I often wonder how my kids will act when I’m apart from them. Will they behave for the babysitter? Will they be kind to their friends when they’re on a play date and be polite to their friends’ parents? I hope that they try to follow my instructions both when I’m present and when I’m not.

The writer of the letter to the Philippians is a leader of a new church community and has been away for some time. He urges this group of new Christ followers to continue in their faith in his absence just as they have when he was present.

But then he offers something even more encouraging, telling them that God is actually the one that helps them to live the way that God wants them to live. They’re not alone! And neither are you! In what ways do you feel God enabling you to live and act?

Chad Senuta

Pray

Present God, thank you for being near me at all times. Help me to wake up to your presence, becoming more conscious that you are living in and with and through me. Amen.

Go

May your knowledge of Jesus and the way you live your life draw nearer and nearer until both become one.

Go in peace, inviting and seeking that unity.