Christian Reflection and Prayer

Scripture:

16 But Jesus said, “That isn’t necessary—you feed them.”
17 “But we have only five loaves of bread and two fish!” they
answered.18 “Bring them here,” he said.
 Matthew 14 New Living Translation (NLT)

Reflection:

The kicking out of suffering immigrant families and
unaccompanied children is not the answer,” Bishop
Minerva Carcaño, the United Methodist Bishop in Los
Angeles, said in a news release. “Immediately stopping
the deportations and extending due process to children
escaping the violence of drug cartels, gangs, and poverty
is the just way to respond."

Could Loaves and Fishes Change The Immigration
Dilemma? What might happen if we were to look at the
two goods of protection and hospitality not as competing
goods in a world of scarcity, but as complimentary goods
in a world of abundance? I think we might come up with
new solutions that no one has yet imagined.

Central American Refugee Crisis at the Border—How You
Can Help  The need is urgent, overwhelming, and large in
scope but ultimately requires that these vulnerable children
be treated with love and compassion. It’s crucial that each
child be offered adequate resources by trained professionals
that will help preserve their dignity and protect them from
further harm.

Deported: A View From the 'Other' Side
With each story, the layers of isolation, dehumanization,
and misunderstanding began to be peeled back. We had all
heard the stories of deportation in the headlines, but none of
us had come face to face with the humans behind the story.

Jesus Is at the Border
The good news is that it’s not too late to change. We can
repent. We can change our hearts and minds so that we can
follow Jesus in breaking down the barriers between “us” and
“them.” We can embrace our differences and become one with
God and our fellow human beings. We can join in God’s
economy of abundant love and set things right by healing the
world and trusting that there is enough room, enough wealth,
enough food, and enough housing for “us” and for “them.”

JESUS IS AT THE BORDER!!!!!!!

Scripture:

 Romans 13:9-10 (NLT)

9 For the commandments say, “You must not commit
adultery. You must not murder. You must not steal.
You must not covet.”These—and other such
commandments—are summed up in this one
commandment: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
10 Love does no wrong to others, so love fulfills the
requirements of God’s law.

Reflection:

Like every other high school senior, Courtney Barich
dreamt of her prom night. She would wear a magnificent
dress and dance the night away like Cinderella. However,
as Courtney searched for a gown, something in her changed.

Courtney had found the perfect dress with a $700 price tag
that was within her budget. The store asked Courtney to
return the next day for alterations. On the way home,
Courtney couldn’t help but feel wrong about spending so
much money on a dress that she would wear for one evening.
As she second-guessed her choice to her mom, Courtney’s
mom replied, “You’d look good in anything, even a potato sack.”

That off-the-cuff remark set off a light bulb in Courtney’s head.
In a few months, Courtney was headed to the Philippines on a
school mission to help out a poor orphanage in need. Courtney
pledged to wear a burlap potato sack to prom if she could raise
$10,000 for the orphanage. On prom night, she made good on
her promise and wore a burlap dress fashioned by a designer
who donated her time to help Courtney out. As her other friends
displayed glitzy and glamorous gowns, Courtney glowed with
the joy of knowing that she had made a positive difference in the
lives of those in need.

It’s true — none of us can fix everything, but all of us can do
something. Just as Courtney did, with a little creativity and
determination, we, too, can make a significant impact on the
lives of our brothers and sisters in need. Remember, if God shows
us a problem, we must ask how we can help. How might you
contribute to God’s purposes today?

(Reflection section by Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein)

"You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God"
(Matthew 16:16).

So listen closely. There once was a very learned philosophy
professor who had earned not one, not two, but three post-
graduate degrees. And his head was crammed full of just
about everything philosophers of every Age had to say about
happiness. Still, he pondered the subject incessantly. He
was so obsessed with the question that he decided to set
out in search of the wisest and happiest person in the world,
wherever it took him, and at whatever cost. After years of
travel to distant places, and at great expense, he finally was
told of a woman who fit the description of the person he was
looking for. And so he set out on a rugged journey to the top
of a high mountain where this wisest and happiest of all
persons lived.

The woman greeted him with a warm smile and a sympathetic
ear. She listened patiently for hours as he described his
pursuit of happiness through years and years of study and
research. At the conclusion of his long discourse, he begged
the wise woman to let him in on the secret of happiness -- the
secret that has eluded him all his life. "Tell me now," he
demanded, but the wise woman would not be hurried. "I
suggest we have some tea," she said. Unhurriedly, she began
the tea ceremony and slowly poured the brew into the
professor's cup. She poured until the cup was overflowing. And
she continued to pour until, finally, the professor asked her to
stop. "Just tell me the secret," he shouted. "This I cannot do,
" said the wise woman. "Like this teacup that is full to
overflowing, your mind is so full of your own knowledge and
your own thoughts that you have no room for anything more.
If I tried to tell you the secret of happiness, it would only spill
 out. You must first empty yourself!"

I'm now going to tell you my secret of happiness. This secret
was given to me by my mother.  It took me a long time to
understand this secret and there still a wonderful mystery to
this secret. There's a lot of people who know this secret and
live by it.  There's a lot of people who know the secret and
don't care.  And finally there is a lot of people who don't know
the secret at all.

This secret has changed my life, it has given me love and
happiness. The Secret is This, "JESUS CHRIST IS THE
SON OF THE LOVING GOD!"