So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God.
New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.
“Love is shown more in deeds than in words.” When we hear this phrase from the Fourth Week of the Spiritual Exercises, we are usually filled with great energy. We get fired up to do great things for God. But there is a second part to this not often referenced: that love is a mutual exchange between the loved and the beloved. It’s a relationship, first and foremost. There is no ‘you’ or ‘me’ unless we understand we have no identity apart from a relationship with Jesus Christ. On this feast of St. Thomas, who tried to distance himself from the others by his doubts of the Risen Lord, may we remember that we cannot flee from one another. Or from God. For it’s only when we love, and feel the love of God, that we can rise above our words and begin to live in our deeds.
What doubts are alive in you today? Covid 19? Racial injustice? How will you allow God to heal you?
—Deacon Chuck Thompson is the Director of Adult Ministry at Saint Ignatius College Prep in Chicago.
Loving God, we come to you today
no longer strangers and sojourners,
but now feeling the embrace of Your compassionate love,
holding us together here in the streets,
the poor, the black, the brown, the sick.
Holding us. Blessing us. Together.
May we build a dwelling place for You,
working hand in hand with Your passion and mercy,
always keeping our eyes on You,
remembering where we came from,
And knowing in our hearts where we are called to go.
—Deacon Chuck Thompson
Please share the Good Word with your friends!
