Image by Lawrence OP via Flickr
Gift: Fear of the Lord (Wonder and Awe) – With the gift of wonder and awe (fear of the lord), we are aware of the glory and majesty of God. A person with wonder and awe knows that God is the perfection of all we desire: perfect knowledge, perfect goodness, perfect power, and perfect love.
Reading: Through him the whole structure is held together and grows into a temple sacred in the Lord;in him you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:21-22)
Observation: If the structure of the church was held together by us, it would have fallen before it was even established in the early church. However, because of the fact that Jesus is the cornerstone and the foundation is the apostles and prophets who were chosen by Him, we have a structure that will last. I am thankful today, for the structure of the church not being founded on me, because the walls would have fallen down a long time ago. I am thankful that the church I belong to is made sacred by the growing together of believers who, hopefully including me, have been made into dwelling places for God in the Spirit.
Personification: Peace On this day that we celebrate the lives of two Saints, who were not the most well-known members of the apostles, I hope that I can display the peace that comes from following the will of God in my life. Even though, I have made mistakes in the past, my hope is that God will continue the work he began in me and see it through to completion by ridding my life of all my past sinfulness.
Prayer: (Saint Francis Prayer) Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love. Where there is injury, pardon. Where there is doubt, faith. Where there is despair, hope. Where there is darkness, light. Where there is sadness, joy. O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console; to be understood, as to understand; to be loved, as to love. For it is in giving that we receive. It is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life. I ask this, as always, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit. Amen.
The Divine Life 