Christian Reflection and Prayer

Scripture:
   
Their only suggestion was that we
keep on helping the poor, which I have
always been eager to do.
Galatians 2:10, NLT    

Reflection:

The apostles were referring to the poor
of Jerusalem. While many Gentile converts
were financially comfortable, the Jerusalem
church had suffered from the effects of a
severe famine in Palestine and was
struggling. So on his journeys, Paul had
gathered funds for the Jewish Christians.
The need for believers to care for the poor
is a constant theme in Scripture. But often
we do nothing, caught up in meeting our
own needs and desires.    
Perhaps we don't see enough poverty to
remember the needs of the poor. The world
is filled with poor people, here and in other
countries.
WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP?

(Life Application Daily Devotion)

For any who feel wordless, even in their
attempt to pray, I offer this story.

A young boy, age five or six, was impressed
by the Russian Army,  As he grew older, he
retained a simple cognizance of his
Jewish heritage, despite Russian urging to
forget.  In his teens, the spark in his soul
ignited, filling him with the desire to
return to Jewish tradition.  He found a synagogue,
in which men wrapped in prayer shawls cried
out to God even into the late afternoon. 
Childhood memories returned, and reflecting over
his years of separation, the adolescent began to
weep.  He entered the synagogue and opened
a prayer book,  The letter seemed familiar, but he
couldn't put them together into words.  Turning
his eyes toward heaven, he cried, "God, all I
remember is the Hebrew alphabet.  I will read
the letters; You put them into words.  And
forgive me,"  AND GOD DID.

Didn't St. Paul say something like this to us?

"Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness;
for we do not know how to pray as we ought,
but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too
deep for words".  (Romans 8:26)

(C. John Weborg)

Scripture:

"I was hungry and you gave Me food. I was thirsty
and you gave Me drink. I was a stranger and you
welcomed Me. I was naked and you clothed me.
I was sick and you visited Me. I was in prison and
you came to Me ... I tell you solemnly, as you did
it to one of the least of these brothers of mine, you
did it to Me" (Mt. 25:35-37,40).

Reflection:

The weak and the helpless and the lonely and the
disenchanted and the dispossessed are His brothers
Can you even imagine that?  These are the people
who are his brothers and sisters?  This Jesus Christ
is the person that so many claim to love and believe. 
This is the Son of God!   Then why DON'T WE CARE?

HOW ABOUT YOU!     ARE THEY YOUR BROTHERS
AND SISTERS?    .

Paul tells us "Give courage to those who are
apprehensive,care for the weak and be patient with
everyone," the Apostle Paul exhorts us (1 Thes. 5:14).

ASK YOURSELF, DO YOU CARE FOR THE WEAK?
ARE YOU PATIENT WITH EVERYONE?

Their are so many people in need.  You and I need
to love them, we need to serve them, we need to
help our brothers and sisters NOW!

Prayer:

Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace.
Where there is hatred . . . let me sow love
Where there is injury . . . pardon
Where there is doubt . . . faith
Where there is despair . . . hope
Where there is darkness . . . light
Where there is sadness . . . joy
O, Divine Master,
Grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled . . . as to console
To be understood . . . as to understand,
To be loved . . . as to love
For it is in giving . . . that we receive,
It is in pardoning, that we are pardoned,
It is in dying . . . that we are born to eternal life.