Fill me up

I was moved by Mother Teresa’s wise saying that Lynne Severance quoted last week in her sermon.
 
One day there springs up the desire for money and for all that money can provide — the superfluous, luxury in eating, luxury in dressing, trifles. Needs increase because one thing calls for another. The result is uncontrollable dissatisfaction. Let us remain as empty as possible so that God can fill us up.
 
As we approach the beginning of Lent, consider the last phrase, and ask yourself, “How, and with what, will God fill me up?”
 
St Paul, in his letter to the Galatians (5:22-23), lists the “fruits of the Spirit”: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. We all need at least one of these gifts to replace our empty “desires of the flesh” (v 19-21): immorality, idolatry, hatred, conflict, jealousy, anger, selfishness. Pray to turn away from desires that do not ultimately satisfy. Ask God to bless you with new life during this penitential season. And don’t be timid…pray your heart’s desire! We are born of God’s imagination; each one of us is a one-off invention. Our Creator longs to fill us up with spiritual health. Jesus is our role model, so read a section from the Gospel every day. Learn from him how to receive the freedom and courage from God to be your true and full self.
 
St PJs community longs to be in beloved relationship with Almighty God, and it’s up to each one of us. Meditate on the prayer attributed to St Francis:

Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there is hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. Grant that we 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; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.
 
 
God’s blessing on all of us,
Tudy, Minister of Pastoral Care