Yield
Heavenly Father, help me to still and quiet my soul that I may accept the authority of your Fathership. Help me to recognize the oneness and the unity that Your Fathership holds me to. May I walk with grace as I walk alongside my brothers and sisters in Christ. May my words and actions point to the truth of Your Word. Open Your Word for me today Lord, I long to hear Your voice. Amen.
I have been working on an Advent book of Lectio Divina. In the past week I have been reworking 20 days of scriptural reflections with my eye on sending my work off to the printer by the end of this week. As I took a shower (a place where God often speaks to me) I realized that it was Wednesday and I was reminded that I had one more Lectio to “produce.” I sat down after dinner willing myself to ‘pound one out’ before we had to leave to go to Mass for All Saints Day which also happened to be Confirmation at our Parish. I had the Lectio all set to publish when Holy Spirit pressed my ‘pause’ button. Coming home from Mass I knew that what I had written was my ‘instruction’ and not so much that of my Father’s instruction and I did not want, “many to falter because of your instruction (Mal 2:8).” I went to bed and lifted this to the Lord. In prayer this morning the Lord gave me a word, [Yield]. As I reflected on this word, [yield], different definitions came to mind.
Yield: To slow down and make way for others; to give the right of way to another; to allow others to go ahead of ourselves.
This Sundays readings call on us to reflect on where God is asking us to yield in our lives. As Christians we are called to yield to God and to each other. The definition of love repeated again and again in Catholic circles is that to love another is to will the good of another. When we love God, we must yield to Him. We must will His will. His will after all is for the greatest good. When we love another, that will mean that we have to yield something of our own will for their greater good. Put another way…
And I will show you a still more excellent way…Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, endures all things. (1 Cor 12:31-13:7)
As you read the Sunday readings, ask yourself these three questions. Each question though very similar may have a very different answer.
Where is God asking me to yield?
With whom is God asking me to yield?
What is God asking me to yield?
I have included the scripture verses that spoke to my heart this week along with one last reflection question from the Gospel?
Malachi 1:14-2:10 Have we not all the one father? Has not the one God created us? Why then do we break faith with one another, violating the covenant of our fathers?
Psalm 131 I busy not myself with great things, nor with things too sublime for me. Nay rather, I have stilled and quieted my soul like a weaned child
1 Thes 2:7-9,13 We were gentle among you…with such affection for you, we were determined to share with you not only the gospel of God, but our very selves as well.
Matthew 23:1-12 For they preach but they do not practice.
To practice what we preach is to yield to our own high standards. Lord, where am I Pharisitical in a place of my life where I need more ‘practice?’ Lord, where am I called to yield my high standards for a still more excellent way?
Please pray for me this coming week that I may yield my writing, especially this Advent book, to the will of the one who inspired it. May the anxieties of this world yield to the peace of Christ in each of your hearts this week. Amen.
