Faith – SSJE

Jesus comes personally with mercy. Asking, listening, and freely giving. God comes amid our loss and grief, ravaged in exile. Br. Luke Ditewig meditates on the vision of healing and restoration granted to Ezekiel, and asks how that reminder of God's healing mercy can help us live now.

I know that my own will and agency are ultimately insufficient to rise above not only the systemic evil that we all swim in, but even, and especially, my own little sins. Br. Lain Wilson reflects on the invitation to surrender and trust in the mercy of God.

It seems to me, that Thomas’s charism, his particular gift of the Spirit, was to ask the questions most of the others would not or could not ask. On the feast of the Apostle Thomas, Br. Jonathan Maury explores how questioning and doubt can a path of freedom from the fear which binds us corporately and individually.

My experience of the eclipse of God’s light is, I think, an invitation into the heart of God. It must be very difficult to be God. Br. Curtis Almquist invites to enter into the heart of God by praying our lamenting and clinging to hope despite the injustice that surrounds us.

We are urged today by Jesus, Paul, and Isaiah as well, to wake up, to wake up to a new way of being, a new world, a new reality. On the first Sunday of Advent, Br. James Koester reflects on his own experience of waking up, and reminds us that God’s promise of peace, salvation, and renewal draws near.

"God’s word of hope spoken to us, the Word-made-flesh in Jesus, is the hope of a world that cries out for justice." Br. Lain Wilson invites us to see the widow from Jesus' parable as a model for persistent faith and advocacy for justice.

Jesus’ work and that of his disciples marks the beginning of the end for the forces of evil. There will continue to be skirmishes between good and evil, but there is a sure and certain hope that Satan will be conquered in the end. Br. David Vryhof reminds that in challenging times when evil seems to be so hard at work, we can put our trust in God’s strength and God’s assurance of victory.

The fear of God offers us a path of freedom from fear so we may respond in faith, so we may act with justice, so we may be courageous in speaking truth. On the feast day of Saint John the Baptist, Br. Lain Wilson invites us to meet the fears that we encounter in our daily life with the conviction of God's abiding faithfulness.