Magnanimity

Magnanimity comes from Latin: magnus – great + animus – soul = “great soul.” To have a great soul. 

What a great word!  Why don't we use it more?  The desire to have a great soul should be at the core of what motives everyone who follows Jesus Christ.  Doesn't something happen inside when you think about possessing a great soul?

Jesus displayed magnanimity on the cross. He persevered in harsh mistreatment yet prayed, "Father forgive them…."  

Stephen displayed magnanimity at his stoning: He had the face of an angel and responded to his mistreatment with "Lord, do not charge them with this sin." To endure injustice while simultaneously responding in humble patience and trusting wisdom is the Christ-likeness we desire.

When Nelson Mandela invited his white jailer as a VIP guest to his inauguration as president of South Africa, and he invited the prosecutor of his trial to lunch, that was magnanimity. 

The dictionary states that the quality of being magnanimous is - “loftiness of spirit enabling one to bear trouble calmly, to disdain meanness and pettiness, and to display a noble generosity.” 

Abolitionist author Harriet Beecher Stowe said, "What makes saintliness in my view, as distinguished from ordinary goodness, is a certain quality of magnanimity and greatness of soul that brings life within the circle of the heroic."

In this most difficult of times, let us think big and love greatly with joy and hope in our hearts.

Let's all try to be magnanimous today!

Thoughts on the Trinity.

We believe in a Triune God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit –each person distinct and yet perfect in unity and purpose. 

God the Father, The Creator, is knowable through the wonder of creation.  Being in awe of the vastness and preciseness of creation can fashion a knowing in our hearts. “This cannot be an accident," we think, “there must be a God.” Throughout history, most people have engaged thoughts of God through nature. 

Jesus, The Son, has a story that is full of visuals; his birth, the miracles he performed, his teaching moments that fill the New Testament. Because he was one of us in the flesh, he is the most relatable. We can sympathize with Jesus and learn from him how to cope with our troubles from seeing how he coped with his. 

To know the Holy Spirit requires more of us.  We must exercise our spiritual eyes.  Because the Holy Spirit is spiritual; it is not in space; it has no shape or color; our imaginations cannot picture it. The Spirit's gift comes from the fact that it is spiritual.  Its role is to provide us with spiritual eyes, giving us the ability to see God at work in the world. 

The Trinity works in perfect harmony. The Holy Spirit prepares us to receive the Son of God, the Son leads us to the Father, and the Father bestows the eternal life that comes to everyone from believing in God. Christ is alive in the world through the Spirit, and the Spirit empowers those who believe in Christ to respond in joyful obedience to the Father.  What a gift we have in the Holy Trinity! 

Let us invite the Holy Spirit into our hearts today asking that we might know the wonders of our God.

Come Holy Spirit

Send us from heaven

A ray of your light.

 

Come Father of the poor,

Come giver of gifts,

Come, shine in our hearts.

 

Most consoling of consolers,

Soul’s welcome guest,

Pleasant coolness.

 

Rest in toil,

Heat made bearable

Solace in our tears.

 

O most blessed light,

Fill the depths of hearts

Confident in you.

 

Without your power,

There is nothing in man,

Nothing unstained.

 

Clean what is filthy in us,

Freshen what is withered,

Mend what is broken.

 

Relax our rigidity,

Warm our coldness,

Straighten our crookedness.

 

Give to your faithful,

Confident in you,

Your sevenfold gifts.

 

Grant us the reward of virtue,

Grant us to die in your grace,

Grant us joy without end.

 

It is good to remember the God Christians worship revealed himself by providing a delicious tasting wine at a party.  Now isn't there something fabulous about that! The wedding at Cana in Galilee was the occasion when Jesus performed His first miracle. (John 2:1-12) He not only took water and turning into 90+ point wine, but he also made a lot of it ... 150 gallons of excellent wine.  Whoever says God is boring, religion is dull, and out of touch with real-life needs to read this story. Jesus is the ultimate party guest! He brings the wine.  He brings the joy.

Why do we see religion as dull and irrelevant?  When Jesus came into a town, do you know what he did? He healed every one of anything that afflicted them. In Luke 14:40, it says: "At sunset, the people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of sickness, and laying his hands on each one, he healed them." Can you imagine the mood of the people healed of their illness?  Trusted me, there was a party in town that night.  Everyone who became well would be laughing and dancing and praising God. 

The God we believe in is a God who brings healing and joy.  If there ever was a time we need that God, it's at the end of 2020.  On the night Jesus was born, an angel appeared to a group of shepherds near Bethlehem and proclaimed, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people." Good news - great joy - that's what Jesus Christ is all about. 

Humanity yearns for hope, meaning, and purpose.  Without God as a vital part of our existence, only emptiness and futility remain. There is no denying that life is hard, especially this year. We could find reasons to despair on every corner. If ever you feel tempted to frown, if the news headlines are too much, or if your day was just plain awful, look to Jesus for joy. And remember, he is the great winemaker, the one who heals, who gave his life that we might live. 

This is good news of great joy!

Apostle Paul during one of the worst experiences of his life, realize that we can overcome ANY obstacle with God on our side.  He wrote to his friends in Philippi:

"I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I find myself. I know how to make do with little, and I know how to make do with a lot. In any and all circumstances, I have learned the secret of being content—whether well fed or hungry, whether in abundance or in need. I am able to do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Philippians 4:10-13

We all are coming out of one of the worst years of our lives, full of moments where we have felt discouraged and insecure.  The way to insure next year will be different is to put our trust in Christ.  Join me in starting each day with Paul's words:

I am able to do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Philippians 4:10-13

When we turn to Jesus Christ, we can do things we never dreamed were possible. Or survive things we wish we never had to face.  2020 is nearly gone, 2021 is full of promise.

Be positive.  Lean on Christ.  He will give you strength. 

The fullness of JOY 

is to behold 

GOD 

in everything

Julian of Norwich

Do ever feel like God withdraws from you, that God is not close to you?

You are not alone, the writers of the psalms also felt that way.

• Do not abandon me, O Lord; do not stay away, my God!  Ps 38
• Do not stay away from me! Trouble is near, and there is no one to help. Ps 22
• Do not banish me from your presence; do not take your holy spirit away from me.  Ps 51

 Clearly, the people who wrote the bible must have felt it too.
 
I do not know if God is distant at times, but I do know it feels that way sometimes.  

So how do we manage that? How do we live when God feels distant?  

We remember.

• We remember a moment when He felt so close. 
• We remember a liturgy where our spirits sored with the joy of His closeness.
• We remember the bread and the cup overflowing with his presence.
• We remember a song or hymn that touched us deeply.
• We remember a line from the bible that soothed our hearts .

 When I am feeling distant from God I remember a poem that really made me feel better:

“One night I dreamed a dream.
As I was walking along the beach with my Lord.
Across the dark sky flashed scenes from my life.
For each scene, I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand,
One belonging to me and one to my Lord.
After the last scene of my life flashed before me,
I looked back at the footprints in the sand.
I noticed that at many times along the path of my life,
especially at the very lowest and saddest times,
there was only one set of footprints.
This really troubled me, so I asked the Lord about it.
“Lord, you said once I decided to follow you,
You’d walk with me all the way.
But I noticed that during the saddest and most troublesome times of my life,
there was only one set of footprints.
I don’t understand why, when I needed You the most, You would leave me.”
He whispered, “My precious child, I love you and will never leave you
Never, ever, during your trials and testings.
When you saw only one set of footprints,
It was then that I carried you.”

“Our hearts are restless, until they can find rest in you.”

Saint Augustine (354–430)

 

"The most important hour is always the present. 

The most significant person is precisely the one sitting across from you right now. 

The most necessary work is always love."

Meister Eckhart