1746AFC111717 – The Answer is … 46
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Today I’m doing something a bit unusual. I’m taking excerpts from previous posts and combining them together. The Gospel for this Sunday is about the King who gave his servants large sums of money – talents of silver. In Israel, a talent of silver weighed about 100 pounds. That’s a lot of money! The men who received this were expected to invest it and return it to their master with the earnings of their investment. That has something to do with how I approached this post.
The Old Testament reading for this weekend is about the “Proverbs 31 Woman.” You may know a few women who fit that description – well, at least one, perhaps. There is also a very good description of the blessedness of a man who has a good wife in Sirach 26. As I thought of these two passages, I remembered writing about The Proverbs 31 Woman. I looked for it on my blog and found a lot of other things that also sparked my heart. I also thought of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and the number 42. Douglas Adams claimed he chose that number totally at random; I like that idea, so I looked at the index number for this post – 1746 – and then I got that familiar little murmur from the Holy Spirit and decided to pick 46 as my guide. Then the message went something like this: “Look for something in every #46 in the list.” This compilation is in response to that directive! I’ve converted each of the index numbers to links so you can go explore if you like what you see and want some more.
346AFC110203 – A Love Story
In Sister Act and Sister Act II, we saw Whoopi Goldberg and a gaggle of singing nuns take standard secular songs and turn them into hymns. That’s been happening in my head this morning, so I thought I’d share with you how it works. Remember the movie “Love Story?” And what about the theme song? “Where do I begin to tell the story of a love that could not be? A great love story that is older than the sea? Where do I start?” I kind of started hearing the melody first, then some of the lyrics drifted into my Swiss-cheese brain, and then it dawned on me that that’s the story of Jesus and me. It’s part of Thanksgiving, I guess, because I sure do feel thankful to have a message like that rolling around in my head. And today as I meditate on what that all means, I hope that lyric is the story of Jesus and you, too.
646AFC111706 – Coffee and God
“Now consider this: Life is the coffee, and the jobs, houses, cars, things, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain life, and the type of cup we have does not define nor change the quality of life we live. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee God has provided us.”
God brews the coffee, not the cups . . . enjoy your coffee.
“Being happy doesn’t mean everything’s perfect, it means you’ve decided to see beyond the imperfections.”
746AFC111607 – The kid said what?
- Where there’s smoke there’s – – – pollution.
- Happy the bride who – – – gets all the presents.
- A penny saved is – – – not much.
- Two’s company, three’s – – – the Musketeers.
- Don’t put off till tomorrow what – – – you put on to go to bed.
- Laugh and the whole world laughs with you, cry and – – – you have to blow your nose.
- There are none so blind as – – – Stevie Wonder.
846AFC111408 – Suffering
For me, in those times when God seemed farthest and I seemed most desperate, the only thing that made any sense was to keep doing what I knew to be “the right things:” To pray, to read the Bible, to serve, to give, and to expect healing. I also realized I had to be open to the help, the empowerment, and the encouragement given by others who might not have fully understood my despair, but who nonetheless held out helping hands and hearts. They were Christ for me when I could not be Christ for anyone. When JOY returned, it was different in texture, content, and context. I realized it was a rough trip, but well worth it. I also realize now that there are probably some other stretches of “25 miles of bad road” ahead. I’m OK with that. I would not have found JOY as readily, I believe, had I not persisted in the common things and accepted the many and varied gifts of family and friends, I would still be kicking at the darkness and wrestling with the drought caused by doubt.
947AFC112009 – The Most Beautiful Heart
(This is one of my favorites. I hope you will read the whole thing sometime this week. It says a lot about how I feel about you.)
I am very grateful for the pieces of your hearts I carry in my heart. Should the time ever come when the pieces of your hearts far outnumber the leftover pieces of my heart, then our heart will begin to look a little bit more like His heart. That is why I pray each day, “Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make my heart like unto your heart.”
1046AFC111210 – The Economics of Sin
We all know of persons who claim to be antireligious or irreligious, and still they are kinds and generous and do many things that benefit many people. God alone knows the depth and breadth of their faith. I still hold that whatever good they do is only done because “all good things come from above.” (James 1:16-18 16 Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. 17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. 18 He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first fruits of all he created.) The good we are able to do is possible because God put Good into the world through Jesus so we could understand how to worship God together. More and more the world is turning inward and worshiping confusion. Why worship God when you can worship yourself?
1146AFC111811 – A Handful of Seeds
Beloved, where is your crop? Where is your mustard-seed bush, your acres of wheat, your vineyard of grapes, your orchard of fruits of the spirit? You cannot expect a harvest if you do not commit to the stewardship of planting. […] When you plant the Word in the “good soil” of your heart, you have to plant more than one seed to get a harvest. You must also add to the stewardship of planting the stewardship of nurturing. And if you nurture the seeds, the crop they bear will require you to add the stewardship of harvest. It is from the harvest that the sower gets seed for the next crop and grain for the bread to feed himself and others.
1246AFC111512 – 3-D Discernment
Today I am thinking about discernment. Recently I received a Word from the Lord about discernment, and I want to share with you what I found. The Word came as “3-D Discernment.” 3-D Discernment is a Discernment that is Direct, Deliberative, and Descriptive. Direct in the sense that it is confrontational as when Jesus spoke directly to the demon that was oppressing someone. Deliberative because it weighs the evidence of Good Fruits versus Corrupt Fruits. Descriptive in that it lays out in no uncertain terms where the errors are and defines them so that only a demon or a fool would be unable to see the differences between Truth and error.
1346AFC111513 – The War rages on!
Do you believe in God? If you do, then you must also believe in Satan, because God is not a liar, so he would not warn us against him if he was not real. Do you believe in Angels? Then you must believe in demons, because Satan took with him many of the Holy Angels who joined him in his rebellion against God. Do you believe the souls of our Faithful and Obedient departed are with God? Then you must believe that the souls of the faithless and rebellious departed are with Satan. Think of all the people you know – not just the ones you hang out with – all the people in the news, all the people in the nations where war is happening right now, and all the people whose “spiritual ideologies” exclude any aspect of the reality of the Holy Trinity. Now think of all the people who claim to know God, to serve Christ, but whose words and actions contradict everything they claim. Next, think of all the people whose words match their lives, who can say with absolute certainty “Jesus Christ is Lord.” Run a quick tally in your head. Which of these three groups is the smallest? Which of these three groups is most likely to become allies when the battles intensify? Finally, if you know in your heart how to distinguish one group from the other, then you know how to “test the spirits.” In the end, we will all have to answer these questions, so it is best to answer them today – and every day – as we test the spirits we encounter. Paul refers to one of those spirits as the Spirit of the antichrist. (Read the rest of the article to see what “antichrist” really means.)
1446AFC111414 – I Ain’t Lyin’!
This Sunday, many of us will hear a reading from Proverbs 31. I have mentioned this section of scripture before when I wrote about the Virtuous Woman. Check that last link for a list of 10 Virtues of the Proverbs 31 Woman. I have known a number of women who are worthy of the title, Virtuous Woman – or Proverbs 31 Woman. If you look through that list of 10 virtues, you will perhaps think of someone who fits most, if not all, of those descriptions. For the passage about the Virtuous Woman in Proverbs 31, see Proverbs 31:10-31.
1546AFC111315 – What’s next?
How, then, can we get to heaven? It is only through the Grace of God who gives eternal Joy to all who will believe in the Christ of God. One must repent, believe the Gospel, be baptized, love God and Neighbor, and be a witness (testify) to the Salvation granted by our God through Christ Jesus. Outside of those criteria, only at the Day of Judgment before Christ will we know. I encourage you to follow this link to read Matthew 25:31-46. This is the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats, the division of the nations (all humanity) into two groups: The Righteous and the Unrighteous. Christ will judge. God will award. That is what’s next. All of us will go down to the dust of the earth. All of us will be raised up on the last day. Some of us will spend the rest of eternity with God and all the Angels and Saints. Some of us will not. What’s next for you? Is it Philippians 2:9-11? I sincerely hope so!!
1646AFC111116 – Can I get a Witness?
A witness (n.) is one who testifies. To witness (vt.) is to see personally in present reality. Martyr is one who gives up life for the sake of a promise to God. To martyr someone is to kill them because of their faith. In this day and age, in places around The World, hundreds – perhaps thousands or even tens of thousands – are responding to Jesus’ call, “Can I get a witness?” Stephen said yes. Paul said yes. Peter, Andrew, James, John, and Bartholomew said yes. Who among us can say yes? Who will shed her/his own blood for Christ? […] Our idea of being a witness for Christ, pretty much stops at getting up in a tent-revival meeting and answering the altar call. But there are remarkable exceptions. Many of us – whether Catholic or Evangelical fundamentalists, or Buddhists, or Jews, or you-name-it-faiths – are content to quietly go to services and live unmolested about our faith when in society. We often barely have courage to “Stand Up for Jesus.” (↔ Music Link). What’s that you say? You disagree? Where is your zeal?
Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever — at your service, Belovéd!
Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
