Let’s continue to share in these Daily Bible Readings and reflections from Sacred Space as we go through these very challenging times.
September 1: Luke 4: 31-37
Let us pray to be given the grace to listen to Jesus and be touched by his authority and power.
September 2: Luke 4: 38-44
Jesus spoke from the still point of his life, from his core relationship with his Father. I need my moments of stillness and reflection to anchor myself and rediscover my true identity and direction.
September 3: Luke 5: 1-11
I pray for grace for the whole church, that all communities of believers may be full of courage as they carry out their mission.
September 4: Luke 5: 33-39
Jesus invites us to be made anew, to let go of anything that might hold us back or impair our ability to receive the Good News.
September 5: Luke 6: 1-5
Any time is a good time to do good, and laws are good only when they are in the service of love. God’s central concern is the well-being and happiness of humankind. Let this be my central concern, as well.
September 6: Matthew 18: 15-20
Dialogue and consensus are key in the Christian community. To what extent do I seek consensus? And to what extent do I try to prevail with my own will, plan, or opinion?
September 7: Luke 6: 6-11
As I watch the scribes and Pharisees react to Jesus curing a man, I am reminded of my own tendency to close my heart to the suffering of others and even to the presence of God. I look at Jesus and ask to have his compassionate heart when faced by human suffering.
September 8: Matthew 1: 1-16, 18-23
Emmanuel means “God is with us.” This is the most consoling of statements. Often I can be lonely and feel that there is no one around for me. But here is Good News: God is with me! This is my salvation, that God is never far away. God is with me, so let me be with God! I thank God for the constant opportunity for prayer.
September 9: Luke 6: 20-26
I try to see which beatitude touches me today. I pray for a listening heart. To what extent do I live the Christian life in the perspective of the beatitudes, as the seeking of blessedness and happiness.
September 10: Luke 6: 27-38
Jesus turns our thinking upside down! Love of enemies is so contrary to human nature. You ask me now to bring my enemies into my heart and show mercy to them. Let me spend time pondering how merciful you are to me. That will make me pause before judging and condemning my enemies.
September 11: Luke 6: 39-42
God sees each of us from the inside. God sees us with a generous and compassionate gaze. God does not despise or condemn us for our failings. Lord, today help me gaze at others as kindly as you do.
September 12: Luke 6: 43-49
Help me to discern where my life is built on sand and where it is built on solid rock.
September 13: Matthew 18: 21-35
God’s love is limitless, endless, ongoing. Thank you, Lord, for forgiving me seventy-seven times and more. Give me the grace to forgive someone today.
September 14: John 3: 13-17
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. God sent the Son into the world in order that the world might be saved through him.” I gaze in wonder at the depth of God’s mercy.
September 15: John 19: 25-27
I meditate on Jesus’ compassion and the compassion that fills the universe.
September 16: Luke 7: 31-35
We can be hardheaded and impossible to please. Am I fickle, difficult to please, shifting in my beliefs and attitudes? I pray for stability, grounded in gratitude and a teachable spirit. Let me be counted among God’s children.
September 17: Luke 7: 36-50
Forgiveness is for all, and the greater the need the more generous is God’s response.
September 18: Luke 8: 1-3
Jesus always understood his mission as something to be carried out with others, never on his own. He chose ordinary women and men to share his ministry.
September 19: Luke 8: 4-15
I look at what goes on in my own heart when I hear the word, and I ask for an honest and good heart that welcomes the seed so that it bears abundant fruit with patient endurance.
September 20: Matthew 20: 1-16
We are all coworkers in God’s vineyard. We can each be confident that he will deal not only justly but generously with us. The vineyard owner, in his mercy, rewarded all equally. When am I tempted to consider my work and time more valuable that others?
September 21: Matthew 9: 9-13
Jesus said, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” We are called to a loving and merciful relationship with God and others. Mercy is at the center of our Christian life.
September 22; Luke 8: 19-21
Jesus identifies those who hear the word of God and do it with his innermost circle, his own family. I ask for the grace to be able to put into practice the word of God in my life.
September 23: Luke 9: 1-6
Prayer invites us to let go of hostility, antipathy, and hurt, both from us to another and from another to ourselves.
September 24: Luke 9: 7-9
A true disciple has a faith-filled desire to know Jesus and to grow in an ever-deepening relationship with him.
September 25: Luke 9: 18-22
Lord, to follow you I, too, must embark on a personal discovery of who you are. Give me the grace to walk this faith journey. May I not keep you at arm’s length by putting a protective shield around myself, but help me rather to daily embrace you on the path of discipleship, with its pains and joys.
September 26: Luke 9: 43b-45
Jesus is the Savior who shows us the depth of God’s love through his suffering for us.
God is with us in our suffering.
September 27: Matthew 21: 28-32
Help us to guard against pride. May I never presume upon God’s faithfulness to me by disregarding his will and forgetting all God has given me and taught me thus far.
September 28: Luke 9: 46-50
Jesus’ own disciples jockey for key positions of influence. The only antidote to this kind of arrogance is humility. Jesus points to the dependence of the children as our model. Am I free of the attachment to position and influence in the community? Do I have the generosity to appreciate God’s work in others? Can I show patience to others, which Jesus shows to the disciples, as he constantly tries to show them a better way?
September 29: John 1: 47-51
Lord, help me to “see you more clearly, love you more dearly, and follow you more nearly, day by day.”
September 30: Luke 9: 57-62
People admire Jesus and are inspired by him, saying, “I will follow you.” But they have their own concerns to deal with first. Can our practical concerns of family and work become a path rather than a block to following the Lord? Lord, help us follow you wholeheartedly in the days ahead.