Well hello friends this is Mark Gladman also known as Brother Frederick James,
Your friendly neighborhood monk in docks.
Welcoming you once again to another Lectio Divina Contemplation Audio.
And today in our Lectio we'll be contemplating the words of Saint Paul as recorded in his letter to the Romans,
Chapter 13,
Verses 8 to 10.
Jesus was famously asked once,
What is the greatest commandment?
And in typical Jesus fashion,
Jesus gives the questioner two of them.
He starts off by saying,
The first and greatest commandment is this,
Love the Lord your God with all your heart,
With all your soul,
And with all your strength.
This is the first and greatest commandment,
But Jesus follows up,
There is a second that is like it.
That word like in the Greek means on a level with,
On a par with.
So there is a second commandment that is on a par with the first,
And that is to love your neighbor as yourself.
Keep in mind that Jesus didn't say as much as yourself,
But to love them as an extension of who you are,
Because in Christ we are all one.
When you love your neighbor you are in the process of loving yourself and loving God.
Jesus then says,
All of the law and the prophets is summarized in those two laws.
That's a very powerful statement,
That by loving God and by loving our neighbor as we would love ourselves,
Is simply an act of fulfilling the law and the prophets.
Later in the letters of the Second Testament,
Saint John would write in his first letter that God is love,
So he could love.
So we could very well say that in these acts of love,
Not only are we loving God,
But we are letting God be expressed in and through us.
It's no surprise then that Saint Paul wants us to focus on how we too might love others,
And remind us that in doing so,
As Jesus said,
We fulfill all of the commandments that might have been put before us,
Simply through those acts of love.
And so I invite you to sit,
Find a comfortable position,
Let your body rest,
Breathe deeply,
In and out.
Find an initial sense of calm,
And I invite you to pray with me as we begin to reflect on these words of Saint Paul.
God,
We thank you for the gift of love.
As we hear these words today,
May you open our ears to hear them clearly as you might be speaking them to us.
Open our minds to think carefully and deeply about what these words might be saying to us in this moment in our lives and in our circumstances.
May these words sink deeply into our hearts that we will open them to receive these words like seed sinking down in good soil.
That beautiful fruit that will last might come from them.
Be with us in this time.
May we be mindful and awakened to your presence.
Be with us now.
Amen.
Let's begin.
Owe no one anything except to love one another,
For the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.
The commandments,
You shall not commit adultery,
You shall not murder,
You shall not steal,
You shall not covet,
And any other commandment are summed up in this word.
Love your neighbour as yourself.
Love does no wrong to a neighbour.
Therefore,
Love is the fulfilling of the law.
Owe no one anything except to love one another,
For the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.
The commandments,
You shall not commit adultery,
You shall not murder,
You shall not steal,
You shall not covet,
And any other commandment are summed up in this word.
Love your neighbour as yourself.
Love does no wrong to a neighbour.
Therefore,
Love is the fulfilling of the law.
Owe no one anything except to love one another,
For the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.
The commandments,
You shall not commit adultery,
You shall not murder,
You shall not steal,
You shall not covet,
And any other commandment are summed up in this word.
Love your neighbour as yourself.
Love does no wrong to a neighbour.
Therefore,
Love is the fulfilling of the law.
Gracious God,
As we rise from this time of contemplation and prayer,
May we go with hearts that are eager to find that we owe no one any debt except simply to love them.
Help us to live in a way where love becomes naturally flowing through our lives.
Help us to be open to your love,
Help us to be open to your love,
That we'll receive it not selfishly,
But in doing so be conduits for your love as we return that love in our own lacks of love to the world around us.
As we go from this space,
May we go in peace to love and serve God,
And may peace,
Love,
Joy,
And hope go with us every step of the way this day and all days.
Amen.
Go in peace,
My friend.
Owe no one anything Owe no one anything except to love one another.
Peace be with you.
Amen.
