Scripture Scribbles: February 16, 2025

the Gospel

Luke 6:17, 20-26

Jesus came down with the Twelve
and stood on a stretch of level ground
with a great crowd of his disciples
and a large number of the people
from all Judea and Jerusalem
and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon.
And raising his eyes toward his disciples he said:
            “Blessed are you who are poor,
                        for the kingdom of God is yours.
            Blessed are you who are now hungry,
                        for you will be satisfied.
            Blessed are you who are now weeping,
                        for you will laugh.
            Blessed are you when people hate you,
                        and when they exclude and insult you,
                        and denounce your name as evil
                        on account of the Son of Man.
Rejoice and leap for joy on that day!
Behold, your reward will be great in heaven.
For their ancestors treated the prophets in the same way.
            But woe to you who are rich,
                        for you have received your consolation.
            Woe to you who are filled now,
                        for you will be hungry.
            Woe to you who laugh now,
                        for you will grieve and weep.
            Woe to you when all speak well of you,
                        for their ancestors treated the false prophets in this way.”

the scribble

Over the past few months, the Lord has been leading me on what I have come to think of as a Catechesis of Joy.

The place he has taken me most recently to teach me about joy is his cross.

This surprised me because it is a place of agony. It is a place of darkness. It is a place of nakedness and humiliation.

So how can it be a place of joy?

The answer to that question is the mystery into which he has been drawing me:

The cross is the place he takes me as his bride.

And that bridal union with him is the fullfilment of every hunger, every ache, every longing in me. He is the husband I am made for. He is faithful. He is strong. He is tender.

Mother Teresa said, “Pain and suffering have come into your life, but remember pain, sorrow, suffering are but the kiss of Jesus—a sign that you have come so close to Him that He can kiss you.”

And his kiss is the sweetest. Even as the horror of the crucifixion unfolds.

He invites me to be with him there.

To open my own sufferings to him.

In the nakedness is total trust.

In the agony is redemptive power.

In his death my belovedness is sealed.

And in the resurrection my joy is complete.

Blessed are you who are poor,

                        for the kingdom of God is yours.

            Blessed are you who are now hungry,

                        for you will be satisfied.

            Blessed are you who are now weeping,

                        for you will laugh.

Today’s devotion was written by Lucia Parker