A Reflection for the Third Sunday of Advent- Henri Nouwen

Keep your eyes on the prince of peace, the one who doesn't cling to his divine power; the one who refuses to turn stones into bread, jump from great heights and rule with great power; the one who says, "Blessed are the poor, the gentle, those who mourn, and those who hunger and thirst for righteousness; blessed are the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers and those who are persecuted in the cause of uprightness" (see Matt. 5:3-11); the one who touches the lame, the crippled, and the blind; the one who speaks words of forgiveness and encouragement; the one who dies alone, rejected and despised. Keep your eyes on him who becomes poor with the poor, weak with the weak, and who is rejected with the rejected. He is the source of all peace.

Where is this peace to be found? The answer is clear. In weakness. First of all, in our own weakness, in those places of our hearts where we feel most broken, most insecure, most in agony, most afraid. Why there? Because there our familiar ways of controlling our world are being stripped away; there we are called to let go from doing much, thinking much, and relying on our self-sufficiency. Right there where we are weakest the peace which is not of this world is hidden.

Bonhoeffer on the Praxis of Churches

The church is only the church when it exists for others. To make a start, it should give away all its property to those in need. The clergy must live solely on the free-will offerings of their congregations, or possibly engage in some secular calling. The church must share in the secular problems of ordinary human life, not dominating, but helping and serving. It must tell men (sic) of every calling what it means to live in Christ, to exist for others (Letters and Papers from Prison).

Juan J Sarmiento (@juanjsarmiento) has shared a Tweet with you:

"bobhyatt: Muslim world is largely closed to Xn evangelism. What if God is bringing millions of Muslims to the US so we can love them towards Jesus?"
-http://ping.fm/mtIMH

Enjoying the attention to the dynamics of migration and multilingual during Jesus' upbringing in Anne Rice's "Out of Egypt"

According to the latest Census data, one in four US chidren is Hispanic

Preaching three times this weekend.

Thinking of Patrick, a humble Scottish saint whose obedience forever impacted the destiny of Ireland, western civilization and many nations

Enjoyed the play "Beneath the Veil" at Glendale's Alex Theatre.

Memento, homo, quia pulvis es, et in pulverem reverteris.

Our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. C.S. Lewis in "The Weight of Glory"