Categories
Catechism

Search and rescue

So that this call should resound throughout the world, Christ sent forth the apostles he had chosen, commissioning them to proclaim the gospel: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age.”4 Strengthened by this mission, the apostles “went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that attended it.”5

4 Mt 28:18-20 5 Mk 16:20

Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 2

In our age, the idea of “making disciples” is often met with a good deal of skepticism.  For good reason.

Conversion is too often coercion.

The “good news”, instead of resounding, too often amounts to irritating noise (at best) or really bad news.

Too often the good news is disconnected from the sheer goodness of God and amounts to no more than another avenue for human pride, prejudice, power, and greed.


God calls us to seek him because he is the best there is.

He has made a way for us to recognize and find him – Jesus. 

He sends search teams to find and rescue us, to bring us across the border into his kingdom, to foster and adopt us as children, family.

That is the good news, the really good news.

May that news resound throughout the world.

Grace and peace to you…

dw

Categories
prayer Scripture the real self

Losing so we can find

Then Jesus went to work on his disciples. “Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You’re not in the driver’s seat; I am. Don’t run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I’ll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self. What kind of deal is it to get everything you want but lose yourself? What could you ever trade your soul for?

Peterson, Eugene H.. The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language . The Navigators. Kindle Edition.
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May my plans defer to his plans,
  my ways to his ways,
  my words to his words,
  my life to his life,
  who is Life itself,
  who is the Word itself,
  who is the Way,
  who has plans for me,
  for you,
  for the world.

Amen.