El OTJ/ OSMTJ DEVOCIONAL MENSUAL de mayo 2024


ORACIÓN INICIAL

En el nombre del Padre y del Hijo y del Espíritu Santo. Amén.

Dios todopoderoso de amor y compasión, hoy venimos a Ti con inexpresable gratitud por el amor que nos has dado. No somos dignos de ese regalo y nos cuesta aceptarlo. Saber que nos amaste tanto que nos diste a tu Hijo como sacrificio por los pecados que cometemos está más allá de nuestra capacidad de comprenderlo completamente. Por favor ayúdanos a entender completamente para que podamos compartir las buenas nuevas de Tu amor con los demás. Te lo pedimos en el nombre de Tu Hijo Jesucristo.   Amén.

LECTURAS DE LA SEMANA DEL 26 DE MAYO DE 2024

 Salmo 29 (NVI)

 Dad al Señor, seres celestiales, dad al Señor gloria y fortaleza. Dad al Señor la gloria debida a su nombre; adorad al Señor en el esplendor de su santidad. La voz del Señor está sobre las aguas; El Dios de gloria truena, el Señor truena sobre las aguas que corren. La voz del Señor es poderosa; La voz del Señor es majestuosa. La voz del Señor quebranta los cedros; El Señor quebranta los cedros del Líbano. Hace saltar al Líbano como un becerro, al Sirion como un toro salvaje. La voz del Señor golpea con relámpagos. La voz del Señor sacude el desierto; El Señor sacude el desierto de Cades. La voz del Señor tuerce las encinas y desnuda los bosques. Y en su templo todos gritan: “¡Gloria!” El Señor está sentado sobre el diluvio; el Señor está entronizado como Rey para siempre. El Señor da fuerza a su pueblo; El Señor bendice a su pueblo con paz.

Gloria al Padre, al Hijo y al Espíritu Santo;

como era en el principio, es ahora y será por los siglos. Amén.

 El Evangelio: Juan 3:1-17 (NVI)

There was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus, who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. He approached Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God. Because no one could perform the signs that you do if God were not with him. Jesus responded, “Truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” “How can someone be born old?” -Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter their mother’s womb a second time to be born!” Jesus answered: “Truly I say to you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. The flesh begets the flesh, but the Spirit begets the spirit. You shouldn’t be surprised when I say, “You must be born again.” The wind blows where it wants. You hear its sound, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it goes. “So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” “How can this be?” -Nicodemus asked. “You are a teacher of Israel,” Jesus said, “and you do not understand these things? Truly I tell you that we speak of what we know and bear witness to what we have seen, but you still do not accept our testimony. I have spoken to you about earthly things, and you do not believe; How then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? No one has ever ascended to heaven except the one who came from heaven: the Son of Man. Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.” For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save it through him.

MEDITATION

How to see the love of God

(From Keith Christensen – December 21, 2020)

There is a very specific way that the love of the invisible God became visible: God sent his Son. Don’t expect God to send you a cloud that looks like a heart to confirm his love for you; Don’t expect him to send a nice blue bird to perch on your shoulder to show you his love; Don’t expect him to send inexplicable warmth to your chest. God’s love for his people is not a vague feeling that we are somehow supposed to feel in the environment around us. To show your love for him, don’t wait for him to send you a promotion, an unexpected income, relief from pain, or a new and improved version of your spouse that’s a little nicer. Don’t look for him to send you the ability to live your best life now as a demonstration of his love. No! If you want to test his love, see how he sent his son.

If you want to know that God loves you, look with faith at the words of the Bible, and you will see there the only begotten Son of God hanging dead on a cross, crushed by God his Father who loved him, for love of us. . Note carefully that Christ did not die so that God would love us; He died because God did. We lose control of God’s love every time we lose sight of the cross. This is love: He sent his Son so that we might live and have propitiation for sins. Can you look at this bloody tree and wonder if God is love? When you consider the work of Christ, you think with delight and wonder: “O my soul, what amazing love God has shown!” But because? Why don’t we hear about the work of Christ and conclude, “Wow, this is love!” Why don’t we see the cross and think with uncontrollable joy: “I see the love of God manifested there!” God sent his Son! Even though we know this, our hearts can still be hard and hesitant to see that God loves us. We can fight to be convinced of God’s love, even in the face of the cross. Why might that be?

It is not just losing sight of the cross that can make us question the love of God. I fear it also happens because we so grossly devalue the cross, as if the fact that the Son of God dying on a cross for our sins wasn’t enough to move the needle and assure us of God’s love for us. God gave us his only Son, but we often have a hard time believing that God loves us because he hasn’t given us other things. He has given his Son as my savior! Yes, some will say, “That’s good; but it is still difficult for me to know that he loves me because he has not also given me a wife who will be good to me during this temporary earthly life.” He has given his Son so that I can live! “It’s true, but I still have a hard time knowing that he loves me because he hasn’t given me a more pleasant or fulfilling job.” He wanted to crush his only Son for my iniquities! “Yes, and I appreciate him a lot, I really do, but at the same time, look what he hasn’t done for me: I’m not that attractive, or smart, or rich, or talented, or privileged, or healthy, or happy.” like other people are, and I would really like to be some of those things. I just can’t be sure he loves me in their absence.” “If only I didn’t have to live paycheck to paycheck, or had more discretionary income, or had an easier life, or had less stress, or more comfort, or more friends, or more respect, or…”

“Being saved from sin and the wrath of God and eternal hell, that’s really nice and all, but I guess it’s not really my love language. That is not what God or others should do to let me know that I am loved. Of all beings, God should know that, right? We doubt God’s love when we see the accomplishment of the cross as a small thing, compared to other things we might want and care more about. Therefore, what clouds our vision of God’s love can often be idolatry.

Now, I’m not trying to be harsh or trite. I know there are things we go through in this fallen, sin-cursed world that are not as insignificant as many of the things I listed above. Perhaps one doubts God’s love because he took away his child, or took away his spouse, or because it does not take away some great physical suffering, or does not take away great loneliness, or does not take away persecution or abuse, etc. . I do not intend to minimize these sufferings; I only intend to maximize the cross of Jesus Christ and maximize before our eyes the real love that God has for us, which he showed at Calvary. There is nothing difficult or bad that should make us ask, “Does God really love?” Because we see the cross! No trial or failure should make us question whether or not God delights in giving himself and giving us all that is good. We must not doubt that he is happily

committed with all his heart to ensuring for all his people all blessings for all eternity. We do not need to question these things because God’s love has been manifested among us in this way: He sent his Son as a propitiation for our sins, so that we might live through him. Furthermore, if we fix our eyes on the cross, it will help us trust that God has loving purposes for allowing us to experience pain, loss, disappointment, or stumbling.

God could not have shown greater love than He has! Let me say it again: what God did in sending his Son was the greatest possible love that God could have shown us. The only begotten Son of the Father is his eternal delight and the very radiance of his glory. This is the one God sent for us. Sending Christ is a greater gift than if God had given us all other things except Christ combined. Because of who Christ is, we know that God could not have shown us greater love than he showed us when he sent his Son for us. We need to repent of all the times we look at what we have on the cross and come away dissatisfied with the love of God and unconvinced of the love of God, because of something else we don’t have. And then, after lamenting our painful, idolatrous devaluation of God’s inexpressible gift, we need to look again at the cross and contemplate anew God’s love for us. We see in the cross God’s love even for sinners like us, who doubt his love and devalue his Son, who take the great grace and salvation he offers too lightly and too often. This is how you can teach your soul to sing: “What wonderful love is this, my soul!” This is how you see the love of God.

CHRISTIAN POEM

What wonderful love is this?

What wonderful love is this, oh my soul, oh my soul,

What wonderful love is this, my soul!

What wonderful love is this that caused the Lord of bliss

to bear the terrible curse for my soul, for my soul,

To bear the terrible curse of my soul!

When I was sinking, sinking, sinking,

When I sank, I sank;

When I sank beneath God’s righteous frown,

Christ laid aside his crown for my soul, for my soul,

¡Cristo puso a un lado su corona por mi alma!

A Dios y al Cordero cantaré, cantaré,

cantaré a Dios y al Cordero;

a Dios y al Cordero, que es el gran YO SOY,

Mientras millones se suman al tema, cantaré, cantaré,

Mientras millones se suman al tema, ¡yo cantaré!

Y cuando esté libre de la muerte, seguiré cantando, seguiré cantando,

y cuando esté libre de la muerte, seguiré cantando;

y cuando esté libre de la muerte, cantaré su amor por mí,

y por la eternidad seguiré cantando, seguiré cantando,

¡Y por la eternidad seguiré cantando!

[Autor anónimo]

 

LA ORACIÓN DEL SEÑOR

Padre nuestro, que estás en los cielos, santificado sea tu Nombre. Venga tu reino, hágase tu voluntad, tanto en la tierra como en el cielo. Danos hoy nuestro pan de cada día y perdónanos nuestras ofensas, como también nosotros perdonamos a los que nos ofenden. Y no nos metas en tentación, sino líbranos del mal. Para ti es el reino, el poder y la gloria, por los siglos de los siglos. Amén

BENDICIÓN

Amado de Dios, vete ahora en paz.

Ve al amor. Ve a servir.

Vayan con la bendición infinita del Dios Único, Verdadero y Vivo.

Padre – Hijo – Espíritu. Amén

[Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia]

 

  

Presentado respetuosamente por Lori Toro,

Sacristana del Cuerpo de Capellanes, OTJ

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