Morning Devotion for the season of Eastertide
Monday, May 30, 2022
Joan of Arc, Visionary, 30 MAY 1431
The Invitatory
Alleluia! Christ is risen. The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia."
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son: and to the Holy Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end.
Amen.
Praise ye the Lord.
The Lord's Name be praised.
Reading: 2 Corinthians 3:1-6
Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Surely we do not need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you or from you, do we? You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by all, and you show that you are a letter of Christ, prepared by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets that are human hearts.
Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are qualified of ourselves to claim anything as coming from us; our qualification is from God, who has made us qualified to be ministers of a new covenant, not of letter but of spirit, for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
Meditation – Michael Palmisano
I find myself in the sobering position of writing my final morning meditation for The Redeemer community. Today, I can look at my files and see a total of 170 meditations written over the span of two years. I share this not to commend myself, nor to seek any recognition, but as a means of reflecting. What had begun as a forced discipline of the pandemic in March 2020 has become a lifegiving habit of The Redeemer clergy. Every few days we are provided the opportunity to read, pray, and think about Scripture so that we might be able to share something of the Spirit’s movement with you. Each opportunity to do so is a privilege.
When the apostle Paul wrote to the churches in Corinth, he did so as a compassionate pastor. The love we see expressed for his people therein is admirable if not saintly. Paul makes the declaration as a lover for his beloved (the Corinthians) that their hearts have been bound together in a mutual and reflective union. For Paul, it is the love which he has given them that has been made manifest through them – his beloved. Anything which he has given of himself has been given back to him in equal or greater measure through them. Is it not indeed the case that a mere flicker of love has the potential of burning, spreading, and dividing yet without diminishing?
When I think of the hours I have poured over Scripture, I think of you all. My heart has been filled by your willingness to hear the Spirit speaking through me, and moreover, from you calling out said Spirit from me. I thank you for each opportunity you have provided me to share a measure of the Spirit’s movement and word to me. In ways neither you nor I may ever be privy to, this shared engagement has given us something by which our hearts have been bound together in mutuality and in reflection of God’s movement. Together we have listened to the Spirit moving, and together we have made a habit of ordering our lives around the Word of God. Together we have provided this gift for one another. Thank you.
“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you” (2 Corinthians 13:13).
Michael+
The Lord's Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy Name,
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those
who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.
Closing Prayer
O God of unchangeable power and eternal light: Look favorably on your whole Church, that wonderful and sacred mystery; by the effectual working of your providence, carry out in tranquility the plan of salvation; let the whole world see and know that things which were cast down are being raised up, and things which had grown old are being made new, and that all things are being brought to their perfection by him through whom all things were made, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
