Week 7 - Living as a Foretaste - Day 33 - Wednesday

We go to church so as not to be alone—alone in our joys, alone in our suffering, alone in the every-dayness of our lives, alone in the important passages of our lives…We go to church to tell people we love them and hopefully, to hear them tell us the same thing”
- Ronald Rolheiser

For love to be present, there has to be someone doing the loving and someone receiving that love. We are the recipients of God’s love and, in receiving, we are then able to pour out that same love. We need each other to be able to practice this abundant life Jesus invites us to. By living this life, we make it possible for others to experience the life God is inviting them to.
Scripture:
• Spend some time slowly reading and meditating on John 13:35
Reflection
• How can the way in which we love one another allow others to experience the reality of the Kingdom of God?

Practice:
• One way to practice loving others is by paying attention to them. Ask someone to tell you their story. Listen deeply. Tell that person how much it means to you to hear their story. How does this story give you a deeper understanding of your friend, of God, of yourself? As a result, how can you love this person more?
(Adele Ahlberg Calhoun, Spiritual Disciplines Handbook p. 131)