Presence

Dear Lord, help me to be open to You
for this time, as I put aside the cares of the world.
Fill my thoughts with Your peace, Your love.

Freedom

By God’s grace I was born to live in freedom,
free to enjoy the pleasures He created for me.
Dear Lord, grant that I may live as You intended,
with complete confidence in Your loving care.

Consciousness

Heavenly Father, thank You that Your love never fails and that Your mercies are new every morning. May I never fail to turn to You with my needs, with my love.

The Word of God

¹He left that place and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. ²On the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astounded. They said, “Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands! ³Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him. ⁴Then Jesus said to them, “Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown and among their own kin and in their own house.” ⁵And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them. ⁶And he was amazed at their unbelief.

Then he went about among the villages teaching.

Inspiration

• Most likely, this was the last time Jesus set foot in his home village after they took offence at him out of jealousy or hardness of heart. He had brought the treasure of the Good News to them, and no doubt he had hoped for a welcome from them and that he would cure the sick. In my own blindness, do I thwart God’s plans to give himself to me?
• The surprise of his former fellow villagers at this ‘new’ Jesus speaks volumes about how ordinary his growing up in Nazareth as the son of the carpenter had been. For most of us, our lives will be ordinary, but in God’s eyes, each one is precious and unique. We thank him for the wonder of our being.

Conversation

I imagine now one of the Persons of the Trinity before me, Father, Son or Holy Spirit, whoever comes to my imagination most naturally, and I have a heart-to-heart conversation about what I have just read or what I am feeling and experiencing in my life today.

Conclusion

Filled with the loving presence of God,
I ask Him to bless me and guide my steps
as I go to do His work in my daily life.

Amen