without words

Have you ever experienced a time when you wanted to say something but could not find the words? have you ever felt that sometimes your heart just does not seem to connect to that part of your brain responsible for processing your thoughts and feelings into words thus you are unable to express yourself no matter how hard you try?

It is when we feel intense emotions - when we are taken by surprise; when we are nervous; hurt or weighed down by our own anxieties, worries and fears that the mind just cannot seem to grasp the gravity and plethora of emotions we are in that our lips are silenced.

Incidents like this are not limited to conventional social situations but can occur during our personal prayer times as well.  We pause and say our prayers but they somehow feel uninspired and routinary.

Quite ironic isn’t it? Just when we desperately need to commune with God are we unable to reach out to Him. We falter with hearts feeling disconnected with what we are saying that our personal prayers seem like empty words as we struggle to tell God how we feel.

We often think of prayer as a verbal conversation with God but it does not have to be.  Without words we can commune with God by listening to worship songs and just getting lost in the music and lyrics; by offering our daily tasks for His glory; by reading inspirational books and the scripture…

… by simply spending sometime alone, finding beauty in our surroundings and focusing only on Him – by using all our other senses to connect with Him because drawing close to God means reveling in His presence, feeling comforted by His warm embrace and finding peace in silence.

When we stumble with the words of our prayers may we learn to pause and rest in knowing that God hears the silent cries of our hearts and before long, mouths will again proclaim God’s greatness and glory.

For all of this May God be Praised.

unity not uniformity

Striving to preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace – Ephesians 4:3

We all have different personalities and yet we are all together in peace and unity in the SFC Community. What binds us together? Our father, St Agustine, wrote, the members of Christ are united among each other by the charity of unity, which at the same time unites them with their Head, who is Jesus Christ.”

From our formation, we are taught that it is an act of love to keep our unity with each other. It is love that unites us. Unity, not uniformity, is the name of the game.

Reflection: do you belong to a Christian community? How do you practice loving each other?

Prayer: Lord Jesus, make us one as You and the Father are one. Only Your grace and Your Holy Spirit can do this in us, Lord, and we pray that You will be with us always. Amen

Nobody is perfect... despite being in the SFC community for a couple of years now, there are still times that our own shortcomings, flaws and emotions get the better of us. Despite all these may we all look past each others’ imperfections without judgement but with genuine care and love as we continue praying for each other to be guided, empowered and molded into the person God wants us to be.

Let us be united as 1 under God’s loving care despite our personal differences as we learn and watch out for each other. Amen.