Presence

“Come to me all you who are burdened and I will give you rest”. (Matthew 11:28). Here I am, Lord. I come to seek Your presence. I long for Your healing power.

Freedom

Fill me with Your Holy Spirit, Lord,
so that I may have inner freedom.
Let Your Spirit instil in my heart
a desire to know and love You more each day.

Consciousness

As I spend this time with You, Lord,
I am aware of how blessed I truly am.
I think of the love and graces in my life,
and I feel grateful.

The Word of God

²⁸One of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well he asked him, “Which commandment is the first of all?” ²⁹Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; ³⁰you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ ³¹The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” ³²Then the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that ‘he is one, and besides him there is no other’; ³³and ‘to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength’ and ‘to love one’s neighbor as oneself’—this is much more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” ³⁴When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” After that no one dared to ask him any question.

Inspiration

It is very rare in the gospels to find our Lord praising one of the Scribes. It can be said that our Lord reduced all the commandments to two, namely, love God and love neighbour.  They are really two parts of the one great commandment to love, as it is out of a loving heart that we love both God and neighbour. In the order of things, God must always come first.  Do I always put God in the first place in my life? He can never take second place.

Conversation

Your own words, Lord, taught me how to pray.
The beautiful “Our Father”
contains all I would wish to say.

Conclusion

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning,
is now and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen.

Amen