stfranman Bible/Sacred Literature, Compassionate Living, Living Life, Spirituality/Religion

Yes, Friends, Love is Kind!

Today is National Love Is Kind Day. It’s a good day to think again about how important, how vital love truly is.

Love is what makes life worthwhile.

When love becomes the very foundation of our lives, we put ourselves on a path where the Divine One can bring others into our lives we can love. Friends whose love we can feel, lay ahold of and share.

Yes, love is kind. And it’s vital for our well-being. And for our very survival.

Here’s what St Paul said about Love in his Epistle to the Church at Corinth:

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears.

13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

I Cor 13:4-8, 13

Keep moving in Love’s direction. Look for Love, seek her out.

Let Love be the motive for all you do.

And share the Love today.

Brother Ben

© 2019 The Fellowship of St Francis, Inc.

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Friday Funny for July 26th

God is talking to one of his angels and says, “Let me tell you what I just did! I created a 24-hour period of alternating light and darkness on Earth. Isn’t that good?”

The angel says, “Yes, but what will you do now?”

And God said, “I think I’ll call it a day.”

I hope your Friday and your weekend are wonderful.

With some moments of mirth and hilarity!

Brother Ben

stfranman Bible/Sacred Literature, Compassionate Living, Spirituality/Religion

Faith in Action

If you’re reading this, the chances are very good that at sometime in your life, you’ve heard a sermon or read an article on this well-known passage from the Epistle of James:

14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? 15 Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

James 2:14-17

I’m thinking you’ve probably heard quite a few sermons or homilies from this passage.

And that’s as it should be.

I recently came across an article by Avery Phillips at ProgressiveChristianity.org that does such an excellent job of fleshing out this subject that I’m going to insert the link to the article here and recommend it wholeheartedly to anyone following my blog. His treatment of how the Church as a whole bears this responsibility is the heart of the article and it’s well worth the next few minutes of your day.

It’s always a good thing to give thought to how good and compassionate thoughts or sentiments help to lead us to good and compassionate actions. That’s just how it works.

May we examine our lives and priorities as we turn our thoughts in this direction. As we think about the relationship between our thoughts, sentiments and beliefs and the right, compassionate actions which follow.

These actions validate our faith as authentic, and can show us that we’re on the right path.

Brother Ben

© 2019 The Fellowship of St Francis, Inc.

stfranman Bible/Sacred Literature, Spirituality/Religion

Leadership Then and Now

The story of how David became King of Israel can be found in the sixteenth chapter of 1 Samuel.

God, as the story goes, found Saul to no longer be worthy of leading the people of Israel and had chosen David, a humble shepherd, instead.

This is the passage from the Old Testament that contains the well-known and oft-quoted verse:

“The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

From 1 Samuel 16:7

We can all be happy that we no longer have Kings who wield unfettered power over the people. But it is nevertheless true that in order for a leader to be effective, they must be worthy of leading, they must not merely have a surplus of political ambition or a lust for power.

They must care about the people they’re entrusted to lead and do so impartially, with the well-being of every citizen in mind and with an eye towards the common good.

David, for all his faults, was such a man.

Today, no one is surprised when our so-called leaders put on full display their pettiness, naked ambition and disdain for the citizens they’re supposed to be leading.

It’s no surprise at all. 

And it’s time to chose leaders who, like David, care more about the people whose lives and livelihoods are entrusted to their care than the results of their next campaign for re-election.

Brother Ben

© 2019 The Fellowship of St Francis, Inc.

stfranman Bible/Sacred Literature, Compassionate Living, Spirituality/Religion

Live in the Light

9 Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister[b] is still in the darkness. 10 Anyone who loves their brother and sister[c] lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. 

11 But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.

1 John 2: 9-11

Live in the Light, friends.

In this epistle from John the Apostle, he plainly states that we walk around in darkness when we hold hate in our hearts.

For anyone. Any brother or sister.

Do we want to walk around in the darkness?

There’s nothing for me there.

I choose Love.

Brother Ben

© 2019 The Fellowship of St Francis, Inc.