October 2020
Reflections of God's Goodness
Keep your eyes on how God’s glory has shown through the sickness and fear, through the scarcity and confinement of these past months. God’s light shines bright through every doctor and nurse who tend the sick. In parents and teachers and those who have lost their jobs, who are using their time to help others, in neighbors who care for neighbors.
Jesus said,
“No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”
That, dear friend, is what we are seeing in so many self-giving people.
Here in Ohio, as the season changes to fall and the trees begin their annual hibernation, we are reminded once again that life is a journey of dying and rising. Transformation is possible.
We look to Jesus to learn how that can happen. He was never too busy to help others, to heal their pain, or invite them into the Kingdom of God. Jesus wants to be our friend! He said,
“You are my friends if you do what I command you. I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father.”
These are powerful words! In each of our lives, we have a choice. We can see constraint or quarantine, or we can see time to focus on our inner life with God: Time for seeking to know Jesus better through the Scriptures, time to pray and express our gratitude for blessings received, and time to intercede for the people around us. No excuses! We have ‘time’ now.
If we are to do what Jesus did, then not only will we spend more time with Him, but we will seek out and find opportunities to be a friend to others. Who in your family or neighborhood needs your time today? Practice being present to the person you are with, because so many crave a listening ear. Most of all, love everyone. Pray for those you disagree with and those who disagree with you.
Pope Francis says, Christian life is a school of humility which opens us to grace.
May the coming days and weeks open our eyes and ears to recognize and act on the graces we are given.
Blessings,
Sister Mary Ann Barnhorn, SNDdeN
“It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain. . . .”
