CALUMNY

 

An acquaintance spread calumny about Mariam. She chose to remain calm.

Mariam told the Master, "I don't need to fight . . ."

Rabbi Jesus answered her, "Because you've got a peaceful conscience."

Sometimes others make statements which are patently untrue. Just ignore them peacefully - you don't have to take part in every argument to which you are invited.

Choose your spiritual and emotional battles wisely and well. 

Go out to bat only when it is really needed. Leave the rest to God.

The mills of God grind slowly, but they grind exceeding well.

And sometimes the greatest action taken by God over years is to lead the perpetrator of injustice to realization, penitence and ultimate holiness.

Don't begrudge others their path to forgiveness and mercy. They have their own story, too.

SIGNATURES

 

Mariam heard of another who signed documents without fully understanding the document contents. This had disastrous results.

Rabbi Jesus told her, "It can take years to get out from under the boot of an injudicious signature."

Do not sign what you have not read or understood. Do not sign surety for others. Do not sign for loans which have very high interest rates. Save for what you need. Do not be shy to ask for help when appropriate. Reuse, recycle, be happy with preloved items. Do not waste money. Do not spend more than you earn. Do not begrudge others their good fortune. Be happy with your own lot in life - it is your personal road to sanctity.

Above all, be prudent.

REPENTANCE

 

Mariam repented past failures.

Rabbi Jesus told her gently, "I forgive. It is your failures that make you great. Because they make you humble."

We are all sinners. We have all failed. Let us not be judgemental of the weakness and failings of others, while neglecting to take our own sinful natures into consideration.

Don't obsess about past sins. Repent, be forgiven through the sacrament of reconciliation, and move on. Just don't repeat that particular failure again. You know better now.

Bow your head before God's mercy, compassion and forgiveness. Bow your head in mercy, compassion and forgiveness to others. 

And grow in meekness, inner silence and humility.

Image with thanks to Freepik AI generated content by CN Whittle

FRUITS

 

Mariam heard of lawlessness and much suffering in a society which denigrated God.

Rabbi Jesus told her, "They are picking the fruits of a society which lives far from God."

Stay close to the Almighty, so that the fruits of your family and community may be peace, joy, patience, humility, loyalty and holiness.

DEFENCE

 

Mariam was witness to an interviewee who skirted the issue of the harsh realities of pregnancy termination procedure, and how there are women who lose their lives during the procedure. Sometimes not only the infants or infants die, but the poor mother too. 

Mariam said to the Master, "The interviewee neither answered the question directly, nor could defend the procedure."

Rabbi Jesus answered soberly, "They cannot defend the indefensible."

WEAKNESS

 

Come, follow Me

Mariam felt inadequate as a disciple. She told the Master regarding herself, "You have taken the weakest of the weak, the smallest of the small . . ."

Rabbi Jesus answered kindly, "And the most loving of the loved."

Love is the answer. If you have great love, God will be able to do great things through you. We may be small, yet the grace of God at work within us  has the power to inspire us to deeds which may prove mighty.

St Paul tells us the following:

2 Corinthians 12:9-10

9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

LACK OF FEAR

 

Mariam had been in many dangerous situations during her preaching ministry. Looking back, she marvelled, "How is it I was never afraid?"

Rabbi Jesus answered her, "The Spirit of God walked with you."

Trust in God and you will never journey alone.

Image with thanks to Freepik AI generated content by CN Whittle

POWER

 

Once, Mariam was influenced during her decision-making by guidance from a trusted acquaintance. The final decision turned out to be a disaster. Mariam could not blame the acquaintance, as the decision was Mariam's alone - as was the responsibility to clear up the mess.

Rabbi Jesus told her, "The power of peer."

Be careful whose counsel you accept. Listen to many. Trust few. And always turn to the Lord your God in prayer for guidance. You may not always understand the promptings you receive during prayer. 

We see the immediate picture. God sees the ultimate goal. 

Trust in Him and you will be founded upon dependable  rock.

ACTIONS

 

Mariam was speaking with the Master about actions and their consequences. 

She said to Him, "We never know where our actions may lead."

Rabbi Jesus answered, "It only takes one pebble of goodwill from the top of the mountain to overflow the world with an avalanche of goodness and love."

Be that pebble.

Image with thanks to Freepik AI generated content by C Whittle

SCALE OF JUSTICE

 

Mariam was harshly treated and was left in tears. Afterwards, she tried to fathom if she had been responsible in any way for the event which had overtaken her.

Rabbi Jesus soberly told her, "Be peaceful. The scale of justice is more heavily weighted in your favour."

Avoid taking on undue trauma when you have been sinned against. Sometimes the situation really was not not fault in any way at all.

Pray for the perpetrator. Often they do not know what they do. They sin today, and have to answer to the Supreme Judge in the eternal tomorrow. 

At least the person who has been hurt has the peace of an innocent conscience.

FOR THE LOVE OF ANIMALS

Rabbi Jesus told Mariam, "Interaction with animals teaches you how to be a better human."

Mariam smiled and nodded. Animals had given her many moments of joy and companionship over the years. They had also led her heart to become softened and compassionate towards our human and sentient neighbours on this earth.

Never underestimate fur angels or the power of love.

Image with thanks to Freepik AI generated content by C Whittle

DIGNITY

 

Mariam declined to scrabble for profit. To have enough for daily needs is sufficient, she decided. 

Rabbi Jesus observed, "Your dignity is worth more than money."

Dignity lasts for eternity. Money lasts until the day we are called from this earth to our judgement in the next world.

Choose the one that lasts.

WHO ARE YOU REALLY?

 

Mariam felt low. She told the Rabbi, "At the end of the day, I am nothing to anyone."

Rabbi Jesus answered, "You are everything to Me."

Be confident. We may feel down and emotional at times, yet we remain unutterably precious to the God Who made us and saved us.

Image with thanks to Freepik AI generated content by C Whittle

TRUE LOVE

 

Mariam pondered arranged marriages. She asked the Rabbi, "Is it more sensible to marry a financially comfortable person you do not love, or a financially impoverished person you do? Love does not pay the bills or the mortgage."

Rabbi Jesus answered, "But it makes the struggle to pay them sweeter."

Life may not be easy. But remember: true love always finds a way.

REVENGE

 

Mariam was pondering the concept of revenge in peoples' lives for past injustices. Immediate and long-term revenge - hot and cold.

Mariam jokingly remarked, "Revenge is best served cold."

Rabbi Jesus gently replied "Actually it's best not served at all. How do you put right the injustice of past destroyal of lives by a new destroyal of lives?"

PRAYER OF INTERCESSION

 

Mariam was on a fast, praying for someone who had a difficult moral decision to make.

Mariam told the Rabbi, "Last time I prayed and fasted like this for someone who was poised to make a sinful decision, it did not stop this person."

Rabbi Jesus answered, "It did, however, cause mitigation of the consequences so the results were not as serious as they could have been."

Only God knows the power a prayer of intercession may have.

(Oxford Minidictionary: Mitigate v. make less intense or severe)

REPENTANCE

 

Mariam repented past failures with tears and remorse.

Rabbi Jesus gently comforted her, "(I forgive.)  It is your failures that make you great. Because they made you humble."

All past sins which are repented are washed away by the Saviour.

Do you have heartache? Perhaps you may find comfort in the Prayer Chapel of Repentance

https://churchinterfaith.blogspot.com/2017/03/prayer-chapel-of-repentance.html

WILL THERE BE ANIMALS IN HEAVEN?

 

Little Miss Miepie

Mariam loved her other-species friends. She asked the Rabbi, "Will there be animals in Heaven? "

Rabbi Jesus answered, "Without animals it would not be Heaven."

When the Son of God came to earth, the first witnesses to this blessed event were His gentle animals.

Be tender to our neighbours on this earth. True humanity is nobility of thought and action.

Don't be cruel to sentient beings, torture animals or kill them.

True love means to fully obey the command, "Thou shalt not kill." [1]  (Lest blood stain thy hands and possibly delay thy entry into heaven.) 

[1] Exodus 20:13

ROLE OF A PRIEST

 

Mariam asked the Rabbi what her role as a priest was.

Rabbi Jesus told her, "Here is the answer to your question. Be a witness to the Truth.

I am the Truth."

To be a priest is simple. You don't have to do. You simply have to be - a witness to the truth that Jesus Christ the second Person of the Trinity was born to save us from our sins. He lived among us, died by execution to redeem us, and was resurrected on the third day.

That is the truth.

All we have to do is to sing it out to the world.

Without ever ceasing.

All priestly actions will flow naturally therefrom.

Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer | John 17:1-26

When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.

“I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.

“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

John 14: 6

Jesus answered, "I am the Way and the Truth and the Life."

Is God calling you to be a priest?

If so, why not seek ordination?

With thanks to Biblia.com

KINDNESS

 

Mariam witnessed a friend save the life of an ill bird. She was deeply touched. 

Rabbi Jesus told her, "To be truly human is to be truly kind."

Let us love one another and the beautiful world God made.

UNFOUNDED RUMOUR

 

Mariam was approached with accusation of an unfounded rumour which had followed her for years. She felt distressed.

Rabbi Jesus told her, "People can say ugly things about you; they can't make them true."

If your conscience is clear, be at peace. You would be far more troubled if the actions wrongly imputed to you were in fact true.

Innocence of heart leads to peace of soul.

EMBARRASSMENT

 

Let us live and love our life! Jesus at Cana, the Son of God Who changes water into wine

Mariam felt embarrassed at having shown spontaneous emotion during a social gathering, which caused raised eyebrows among some of her colleagues.

She told the Rabbi, "I made a fool of myself. I should have more decorum."

Rabbi Jesus told her, "You will never be an anonymous nonentity."

Embrace your personality which God gave to you.

HOLY COMMUNION

 

Mariam had received communion. All that day she felt strengthened and contented, despite various difficulties which came her way.

She asked the Rabbi, "What happened?"

Rabbi Jesus answered, "The altar bread difference to your day."

Go to the sacraments and receive Holy Communion from time to time. This strengthens you in readiness for eternity.

ANCIENT ARGUMENTS AND FORGIVENESS

 

Mariam remembered an ancient argument: thus keeping the memory fresh.

Rabbi Jesus told her, "Don't chew the cud of old hatreds."

Let it go. Perhaps you were unfairly treated. Perhaps the other didn't understand what you truly meant to say. It could be you made a mistake. Possibly the other was mistaken. Maybe you acted wrongly. It may be that the other treated you wrongly.

It doesn't matter. When we pray to the Father for forgiveness as we forgive others, let our forgiveness be total and generous.

It is only sensible. Perhaps our soul will be called tonight for our judgement. Why go before God unprepared through lack of forgiveness for events so very long ago.

GLASS CEILING

 

Mariam had worked for years in an employment environment, in which she felt she had hit her so-called glass ceiling very quickly. 

She asked the Rabbi, "What have I gained at all from these years of work?"

Rabbi Jesus answered her, "A wealth - a fortune of knowledge."

Knowledge is never lost. Experience will always stand to your stead.

ETHICS AND THE ISSUE OF ABORTION

 

Mariam was studying ethics in relation to the issue of abortion.

She told the Rabbi, "It is clear in the ethical field that the father has the responsibility in his role as father and protector of the child to  . . ."

Rabbi Jesus answered, "Accept the law of life above the law of death."

Mariam pondered thereafter. How hard it is for a father who wishes to acknowledge his unborn child, and the mother chooses abortion.

Let us all consider well that the act of love is not a light matter, neither sport nor fleeting amusement. The act of love transmits life, and should be respected as such.

ETHICS IN MARRIAGE AND THE ISSUE OF ABORTION

 

Mariam was studying ethics in marriage and the issue of abortion.

Rabbi Jesus told her, "Neither the man nor the woman can forswear their total responsibility and commitment to the child whose life their love helped to awaken."

TEMPTATION

 

Let us turn to Jesus Christ for His Grace when we are being tempted to do wrong

Mariam was undergoing temptation to do wrong.

She turned to the Rabbi, and said to Him, "Even here there are temptations .  .. "

Rabbi Jesus answered, "Wherever you are, the snake uncoils."

Be on your guard against the wiles of the devil, clever schemes used by satan to ensnare us through temptation, threat or intimidation.

Ephesians 6:10-18 tells us to be strong in the Lord and in His Mighty Power. We are to put on the full armour of God, so that we can take our stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Therefore put on the full armour of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord's people. 

In the New Testament of the Bible, the Book of Revelation makes use of ancient serpent and the dragon several times in order to identify satan or the devil (Revelation 12:9, 20:2).

LETTING GO OF PAST SADNESS

 

Mariam decided to let go of past sadness. She destroyed old letters with bygone memories.

Mariam told the Rabbi, "The purpose of life is to grow, always grow. To move rapidly past . . ."

Rabbi Jesus answered, "Oceans of hurt, universes of pain."

Life is a school of learning. Often there is the pain of love, love lost, death and sad events in a fallen world being made new by the Saviour.

Yet earthly life is not the final destination. 

Mariam realized, "We are moving towards ..."

The Master gently answered, "A new wholeness in the Resurrected Christ and His Kingdom."

Have faith. Trust in God's strength. Sadness and suffering does not last forever. The cross will end in the glorious Kingdom.

YOUR GIFT

 

May your words fly like leaves all over the world, bringing beauty and joy wherever they go

Mariam thought wistfully of great artists, who have such genius, whereas she had to struggle to produce a mediocre artistic effort.

Rabbi Jesus gently told her, "You have been gifted with words.  You will paint the world with them."

We all have different talents. Embrace your unique gift.

WHO IS MARY?

 

Mariam asked the Rabbi about His Mother, "Who is Mary?"

Rabbi Jesus answered, "She is la Serenissima."

The most Serene, most Sublime.

TRUE LOVE

 

Mariam asked the Rabbi, "What did you come to teach us?"

Rabbi Jesus answered, "The mystery of true love."

Love may be misunderstood. The appearance of love may be commodified in certain instances. The authenticity of love in a relationship may be abused by betrayal, rejection, misunderstanding, deceit. Yet, despite mishaps in life, true love is perennial.

 True love encapsulates innocence and belief. True love is innocent in that it never seeks anything for self, but has pure affection and best will for the other. Belief is essential because - despite all the tragedies and problems our world faces - all will often come right in this world, and always in the next world. 

Love truly will conquer all - even if sometimes it seems to face an uphill struggle.

 

PROPHET

 

Mariam sensed that some of her acquaintances appeared uncomfortable in her presence. 

Rabbi Jesus told her, "People generally are uncomfortable about a prophet."

Perhaps Almighty God is using you to bring prophecy to a situation. When God sends a prophet, it is because people have not taken heed or cannot hear God's Voice concerning the matter.

Every individual is baptised priest, prophet and king, our threefold call to holiness. Do not be surprised if God makes the choice to deepen your commitment in service for His Kingdom.

With thanks to free clipart library

DO NOT JUDGE

 

Mariam spoke with a friend who was emotionally distressed after being judged by another in the name of religion.

Rabbi Jesus told her, "It is frightening what misapplied religion can do."

Misapplied religion can warp attitudes, bring forth fruits of narrow-minded and hard-hearted attitudes, and may result in undue regimentation and disregard for others' feelings.

Let our spirituality and religious seeking be wholesome and supportive of our brothers and sisters in the Lord.

Let none of us judge another. We do not always know the whole story. Only God can know, and He alone is the merciful Judge.  (Matthew 7: 1-5}

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%207%3A1-5&version=NIV